(Photo by Hamish Blair/Getty Images)
The Confederations Cup has been a PR disaster for the 2010 South African World Cup organizers in many peoples eyes. During the two-week tournament, incidents, while not directly involving the event, had a major effect on the competition as a whole.
Egyptian & Brazilian players had their hotel rooms looted, two senior reporters were mugged in what was described as an "intense confrontation" by those involved, two sports promotional companies reported a robbery and a kidnap sparking a public outcry.
While fans, managers, players, TV groups, travel companies, sponsors and crucially FIFA's top dogs have all given their thumbs up, it's equally important to take a look at those few incidents where security was breached, despite the vote of confidence by the figureheads.
Deputy Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula said "Government has spent US$124-million on security. No country is going to do that if we are not serious about the safety of those attending games,” but unfortunately, it's the player room robberies that has received the most publicity.
Firstly, staff were blamed for taking cash (US $2,500) and valuables from the rooms but later, the controversial debate on whether prostitutes were present with the players has sparked even more discussions.
Is anybody really surprised? I will be totally amazed if there is not at least one serious incident during next years World Cup campaign. But then again, FIFA must have these issues regularly when choosing an economically poor region to host their next tournament.
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