Exciting times

Almost all SA 2010 stadiums are due to be completed this month. The exception being Green Point Stadium, due for completion on December 14. Mbombela will be complete within a couple of weeks, Peter Mokaba should definitely be finished this month. At Moses Mabhida, seats are in place, roof is in place, pitch has been laid, literally leaving the finishing touches before the stadium's official inauguration. Obviously PE's Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium was completed in June. Green Point Stadium is currently undergoing facade, pitch and seating installation concurrently, preparing the beauty for the world spotlight. Soccer City is practically finished - seats in, pitch laid, facade complete. What's left is just the surrounding landscaping. Here are some gems of our nearly completed semi-final venues.

The interior of the Moses Mabhida Stadium. Courtesy ethekwini girl, flickr.

Exterior Moses Mabhida shots courtesy of Leftfoot, SkyscraperCity.

Green Point facade going in place - Mo Rush

The Peter Mokaba Complex

The new asset to the Polokwane area is being well-received. Despite fears of the future use of this sports stadium, the Peter Mokaba Complex, when complete, will be the only world class facility with a capacity of 40 000 or more in the Limpopo Province. This province, with the highest number of registered football players in South Africa, has been yearning for a Newlands, Absa Stadium, Elllis Parkesque facility, and finally they are receiving. The burgeoning Polokwane municipal precinct, one of the fastest growing municipalities in South Africa is finally being recognised.

The stadium itself is simple, yet effective. It has an ingeniously designed roof over the main stand, with supports resembling a baobab. Facilities are of the highest order with all bases from executive suites to players changing rooms, to press facilities, to toilets covered. The bowl has been impeccably designed for the watching of soccer and rugby. Slightly concave stands, reminiscent of our own Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, will ensure all attention is directed squarely to the field of play. A comfortable, world-class facility will welcome Polokwane residents with open arms, come completion date towards the end of this month.

All images courtesy Ranma Saotome, SkyscraperCity

The Mbombela Stadium

Up country, in South Africa's Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces we find what can probably be described as 'typical' South Africa. When foreigners envisage SA, what do they think of? More than likely, they think of wide open bushveld expanses. They think of savanna and the big 5. There are 2 stadia in this setting, The Peter Mokaba Complex and The Mbombela Stadium. It is therefore fitting that both of these masterpieces have strong African design concepts.

I focused on the Peter Mokaba Complex in my previous post. Today, I focus on the next 'African' stadium, the Mbombela Stadium of Nelspruit. This stadium, I must confess, is one of my personal favourites. It is a perfect rugby and football venue. It has all the luxuries of any state of the art stadium including: Multiple suites and press boxes, changing rooms, 2 big screens, 44 000 seats etc. What amazes about this build is the ability of the architects and engineers to entwine African design features with a beautiful, modern, fully functional, world class venue. For example: The stunning giraffe figures may, to the layman, seem like an ornamental tie-in to the nearby Kruger National Park. Yet this giraffe structure is imperative to the stadium. The neck holds in place the cantilever roof, the back holds up the second tier, while the front and back legs add support for the roof and second tier. A merger between functionality and African architecture that takes the breath away.

Other African tie-ins are: Zebra stripe patterned seats and multi-coloured walls, many with Ndebele design patterns. All this culminates in a great, intimate venue, in which spectators are close to the action and can feast on the great footballers about to grace our shores.

All pictures courtesy, Levi Guimaraes, Flickr.

Mbombela Stadium officially complete.

The Mbombela Stadium built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup has officially been completed. It was handed over to the Mbombela local municipality a few days ago. Now all that's left is for the surrounding roads and landscaping to be completed.

All courtesy Tadpolefarm, Skyscrapercity

The testing of the ring of fire

On Wednesday evening, the lights on the newly renamed Cape Town Stadium were tested. These lights, forming the ring of fire create an extraordinary view. The pictures below should give one an idea.


Pictures taken by Bruce Sutherland, City of Cape Town.

First international at PE's 2010 stadium

FINALLY, the new Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth experienced its first international soccer match, when Bafana Bafana played Japan on Saturday, and the venue for eight matches during next year’s World Cup – including a quarter-final and the third-place play-off – proved a resounding success.

With tickets all unreserved and costing just R30, the best seats – around the halfway mark – were already taken when we arrived an hour or so before kick-off. Our seats were nevertheless superb, with Japan playing towards “our” goal for the first half.

The atmosphere was fantastic, with the crowd in festive mood. And those put out by the vuvuzela cacophony can take comfort in knowing that a wad of cotton wool in each ear mutes the sound sufficiently for you to still enjoy being part of the throng.

By the time the game started, the place was almost full to its 48 000 capacity, with fans even taking up seats on the top tier.

The surface looked superb, with passes rolling along the grass like woods on a bowling green. Sure the match, which ended in a goalless draw, did not contain too many fireworks, but at least Bafana did not play ultra-defensively and made one or two scoring opportunities. The Blue Samurai showed they are a well-drilled outfit and were probably unlucky not to score on a couple of occasions.

But once again, three cheers to the stadium itself, which showed it will prove an ideal showcase during next year’s football fiesta. Roll on the World Cup!

With over an hour till kick-off, the stands around the half-way line were already packed.

Looking out towards the North End lake stand, with the orange players' tunnel just visible.

This Kaizer Chiefs supporter proved a great hit with the Bafana fans.

A giant Blue Samurai shirt and other Japanese calligraphy and images occupied part of the stand. It later made way for more fans.

The Bafana squad warms up ahead of the game.

With kick-off imminent, the place is starting to look packed.

A media scrum outside the tunnel awaits the arrival of the teams.

National anthem time.

Play is under way, with the Japanese on the attack.

Young fans blow their miniature vuvuzelas.

The scoreboard clock shows over 94 minutes have elapsed, with still no score.

2010 stadiums, 2010 world cup, durban stadium, fifa 2010 stadium, south africa 2010, world stadium

South Africa 2010. Some may think of this event as a curse where we show just how 3rd world we are. Many believe we'll fail. And this may happen. Bafana may, and most probably will, be knocked out in the first round. Sure, a catastrophe for the success of the tournament. There may be an incident, an attack on a foreigner. These are the perils of being in the international eye. One incident is magnified 1000x because of the focus of the world being on South Africa. This may all happen, but one thing is a given. After the 2010 World Cup we will have some of the best transport, air, hotel and stadium infrastructure in the world. This site's focus is stadia so I will be giving some in depth information on the stadia being built and renovated. All 10 to host 64 world cup matches. Here we go:

Green Point Stadium

Being built from scratch. There was much controversy at the beginning of this stadium's construction. Environmental groups labelled it an eye-sore. Architects had to come up with a design that would be of the least impact to the natural surroundings, they came up with this. A concave roof, bending inwards, glass. The outer facade linking to the down bending roof. Facade covered in a white ETFE membrane. The visual effect of the top of the stadium is that of simplicity and elegance, linking it to the clouds atop table mountain. The wavy motion of the compression ring (what holds the roof in place) above the facade is a beautiful, simplistic image.

The interior, three tiers of seating, 68 000 seats. Each seat having excellent sight lines. Will probably be the best sport viewing stadium in the world when complete.

Watch this video to get a true idea of the spectacular Green Pont Stadium

Moses Mabhida Stadium

Another new stadium. Will probably be the most spectacular looking stadium in the world when complete. The arches are already changing Durban's skyline for good. The white arches, 350m long, 106m high, act as a symbol for unity and the 'y' shape reminds one of the South African flag. The roof, a 46 000 square metre teflon coated glass-fibre membrane. The facade, aluminium cladding around 550 aluminium 'fins'. The interior. 70 000 seats in a 3 tiered bowl. Again excellent sight-lines to view an unforgettable sight

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium

The jewel of Port Elizabeth. 36 aluminium roof trusses, cladded with a perforated aluminium membrane. These trusses linked together by the same ETFE memebrane used in Cape Town. Inside, a two tiered bowl of 48 000 seats. Two 12.7x7.2m big screens.

Mbombela Stadium

A new stadium being built outside Nelspruit. The Mbombela Stadium is being built in close proximity to the Kruger National Park, and this inter-relationship is shown by the giraffe roof supports (the neck sticking out above the roof). This is an extremely clever and effective architectural design. The facade is plain and affective. The interior, a two tiered, 46 000 seater bowl covered by a cantilever roof. The stands, close to the action in a rounded rectangular shape. The roof, as you can see is lifted quite high above the stands. This is to accentuate the African, open air feeling. All in all, a truly amazing African stadium.

Peter Mokaba Stadium

The Peter Mokaba Stadium is a new stadium being built in Polokwane, Limpopo province. Again, clever architecture has been used. The 4 large structures in each corner are roof and floodlight supports. They are also a depiction of the baobab tree, a common tree in this part of South Africa. As in the Mbombela Stadium, this is a very apt inter-relationship. Despite having only a grandstand roof (the thinking was that in this area of Africa, not much of a roof would be needed because of the generally great weather) the interior is simple yet effective. 2 tiers in a concave shaped bowl providing excellent sight lines for football and rugby.

Soccer City

The calabash. Another African stadium designed to look like the traditional African calabash pot. 95 000 seats in a 3 tiered bowl with excellent sight lines to watch a world cup final. What more can you ask for

Free State Stadium

Built in Bloemfontein and home to the Free State Cheetahs. A second tier is currently being added to the grand stand. When complete a fully fledged two tiered stadium, seating 46 000 people with stands close to the action.

Ellis Park Stadium

The premier stadium in South Africa and home to Springbok rugby. Has recently had a tier added to the Northern side of the stadium. An extra 5000 seats added. An amazing venue ready for amazing matches.

Loftus Versfeld Stadium

Is currently having a new roof installed aver the main open pavilion. This installation will bring the stadium up to Fifa standards and make it ready to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup. At the moment, seats 51 000 people.

A picture of the stadium before renovation. The roof is currently being lifted into pace on the far open stand.

Royal Bafokeng Stadium

Recent host of a rugby test match between South Africa and New Zealand. Renovations currently underway to extend the seating and add a new roof over the grand stand.

What the stadium will look like when complete

So that lines up the ten host stadia for the 2010 showpiece. I'd say the best ever set of stadia put together for one sporting tournament. Hopefully in a year's time, I'll be showing you finished products rather than renders of what the future will look like. Here's to construction and progress.