Latest Premier Soccer League News
Ngocbo awarded Guinness World Record for World Cup matches
South African football fan, 29 year old Thulani Ngcobo who hails from Soshanguve in Gauteng has set a brand new Guinness World Record for “the most FIFA World Cup™ matches attended by an individual”, after attending 21 full matches at the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, according to Guinness World Records.The number of matches to beat was 20 and at the end of the Chile vs Spain encounter at Loftus on Friday night, Ngcobo officially set a new record of 21 matches.
After winning the MTN8 Last Fan Standing competition in South Africa last year, with a prize to attend 38 FIFA World Cup™ matches during 2010, Ngcobo submitted a claim to Guinness World Record, which revealed that no previous claim existed. With no previous record holder in place, after an intense research phase during which researchers took into account the locations and times of the matches and calculated the humanly-possible permutations of achieving such a record, they set the number of matches to beat at 20, which they believe requires a serious and concerted effort on the contestants’ part. The Chile vs Spain match, was Ngcobo’s 28th of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, and the 21st full match towards his Guinness World Record.
According to the organisation that vets and validates global record attempts, in order for a match to be considered “attended” and to count towards Ngcobo’s record, the contestant needed to be present from the kick off (signalled by the referee's whistle) until the end of the game (signalled by the referee's whistle or when the final penalty of the shootout has been taken.
Due to Ngcobo’s tight schedule of matches during the group stage, when he attended up to two matches a day on many of the days, he either arrived after kick off or left before the final whistle during seven of the matches in order to make another match, resulting in these not counting towards his goal of 21 matches.
“I’m really proud to set this Guinness World Record as a South African and to show the world how much we love the game. This is the most amazing experience of my life, it’s unbelievable. I’m so passionate about football and even though it’s very tough and exhausting, with lots of travel and very little sleep, I’m loving every moment. I used to tell everyone that I “live, eat and sleep football”, but now I really know what that means. Ayoba MTN!”
Veli Mabena, General Manager: Brand & Communications at MTN South Africa: “We are proud of Thulani’s achievement as this has been a very challenging task. He has been the ideal ambassador for MTN - the fact that he still shows energy and commitment no matter the circumstances - his ‘can do’ attitude exemplifies our brand values.
Ngcobo had a “Witness Sheet” which had to be signed by two (2) independent witnesses at the various stadiums (spectators sitting next to him) to validate that he watched the full 90 minutes. Supporting material, such as match ticket stubs, photographs and video footage, were also required by Guinness World Record to verify the claim.
Guinness World Record adjudicator, Jason Curran, who arrived in South Africa this week to scrutinize Ngcobo’s claim, presented Ngcobo with an official Guinness World Record certificate for his efforts, after Ngcobo watched his 21st full match of the 28 matches attended so far, at the end of the Spain vs Chile encounter at Loftus.
But it didn’t all end at Loftus. With 10 more matches after the Chile vs Spain match, including a few round of Last 16,all of the Quarter finals, Semi finals and Final still on his schedule, Ngcobo will try to further the president set, by attending these matches as well in the coming weeks, aiming to ultimately set the record at 31 matches.
Guinness World Record adjudicator, Curran who sat next to Ngcobo during the Chile vs Spain match explained after he congratulated Ngcobo on his achievement: “We always encourage applicants to try to stretch themselves to set the best possible record in order to maintain their official Guinness World Record holder status for as long as possible.
So it will be great that Thulani will continue his record attempt after achieving the target set, so that he can achieve the highest number of games possible, which will then be logged as the official record in our book.”
Ngcobo, or “Ngcobo 2010” as he is commonly known, became the luckiest football fan when he entered and won the MTN8 Last Fan Standing competition in South Africa last year, with an incredible prize to attend 38 FIFA World Cup matches during 2010, travelling more than 17 000 kilometers to watch about 3420 minutes of football live. The MTN8 is a football tournament featuring the top eight teams in the South African premier league, during which tournament sponsor MTN ran the “Last Fan Standing” consumer competition for supporters during the tournament.
Ngcobo’s name was drawn as one of the weekly winners, and became one of eight finalists, who were eventually pitted against each other in a 40-question Football Trivia Quiz about the World Cup dating back to the 1930’s and the MTN8 tournament. Ngcobo came out with flying colours and was announced as the ultimate football fan.
“MTN prides itself in providing its customers with truly Ayoba experiences to ordinary South Africans and breaking the Guinness World Record is truly a prize money cannot buy. Congratulations to Thulani. Through competitions such as the MTN8 Last Fan Standing, Ayoba campaign and our 2010 World Cup activations, we are rewarding fans who have been loyal supporters and MTN customers,” concluded Mabena.
Interesting stats:
Thulani’s favourite goal of the tournament: Siphiwe Tshabalala's goal at the opening game vs Mexico.
Best moment: Opening ceremony at Soccer City.
Best game: Portugal vs Korea (7-0) and also enjoy Argentina's games.
Kilometers travelled by car: over 7500 km
Kilometers travelled by air (flights): over 7000 km
Hours of sleep: Thulani has only slept a total of about 65 hours in the last 14 days
Minutes of football watched: 2165 minutes of football
Average number of media interviews per day: 9 interviews a day
Thulani’s journey can be followed at http://www.lastfanstanding.co.za/ or via Twitter at www.twitter.com/ngcobo2010
SA Soccer Fan sets new Guinness World Record today
The number of matches to beat is 20 and at the end of the Chile vs Spain encounter at Loftus today, 25 June, Ngcobo will have broken the record.
“Ngcobo 2010” as he is commonly known, became the luckiest football fan when he entered and won the MTN8 Last Fan Standing competition in South Africa last year, winning an incredible prize to attend 38 FIFA World Cup matches during 2010, and travelling more than 17 000 kilometers to watch more than 3400 minutes of live football.
Since the start of the World Cup up to last night, Ngcobo has watched 26 matches during the group stage, but only 20 of the matches count as full credits towards his record (during which he watched the full 90 minutes). In cases where Ngcobo arrived at a match late (after the start whistle) or left early (before the final whistle) in order to get to another match, those matches do not count towards his Guinness World Record attempt.
Ngcobo, who has been attending up to two matches a day, will today again attend two matches. First he’ll attend the Korea vs Ivory Coast at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit at 16h00, where he will rush off, to be flown to Tshwane by helicopter for the Chile vs Spain match at 20h30 at Loftus, where he will officially break the Guinness World Record.
Follow Thulani on Twitter today to keep up with his record at www.twitter.com/ngcobo2010 and read his blog at http://www.lastfanstanding.co.za/
Support is slippery… but my blood is still Green and Gold
As anyone who saw the South African fans leaving in droves this evening could tell you, support is the slipperiest substance known to humankind.Tonight something fairly tragic happened - Bafana Bafana lost 3 - 0 to Uruguay and were shunted (almost) out of the first round of the Soccer World Cup.
Now, whether you feel that some potentially dodgy calls by the ref were to blame or that Bafana truly did play a far sloppier game than Uruguay, the universal truth I'm sure is that it's depressing.
I watched with millions as Khune (a man we'd all come to know, respect and love) was given a red card and taken out of the game and I watched (and felt like crying) while Uruguay's phenomenal number 10 laid another goal on us, effectively sealing game.
More tragic than any of this though was as I also watched, with mounting disgust, the thousands of "soccer fans" flee from the site of their country's defeat before the game had even ended. As one of my friends on Twitter observed "probably gone to take their mirror flags off their cars".
That's bad form people, supremely bad form.
You're not a supporter because your team is winning... you're a supporter because they're your team.
Bafana will not go gently through the rest of this tournament... so why should you?
This is the same team that South Africa united behind against Mexico and dammit, this is the same team we should unite behind for all the rest of the games!
Bafana never stopped believing in you, Mzansi so why have you stopped believing in them?
Until the last whistle of the last game
Until the last Bafana player lies defeated in the mud
Until the last bit of spin leaves Jabulani lying still... I will support Bafana Bafana, I will support my country and my blood will be Green and Gold!
By Rob
source: www.robsramblings.co.za/support-is-slippery-but-my-blood-is-still-green-and-gold
Shapa Bafana Bafana Shapa
Bafana Bafana has twelve players
- Eleven men on the field and the vuvuzela
- Men, women and children Bafana Bafana supporters
- We blow so Bafana can here our presence
- We blow because its our vuvuzela
- The sound of an elephant call
- But collectively it's a sound of yellow bees
- A sound of Afrika
- The sound of the kudu horn
- When it's blown Bafana Bafana bites
- A sound deep in our blood from the maker
- It's our Vuvuzela
- And we going to continue to Vuvuzela
- Shapa Bafana Bafana Shapa
- Shapa Bafana Bafana Shapa
- Shapa and show your sharper
- This is South Afrika
- And the gold cup is staying in Afrika
- Same soil it came from is were it's being played
- Come on Bafana Bafana
- You men now
- Lets bring it home
- This is the time
- Ke nako
Tshegofatso Ngobene™ (Hoet)
Mr. Ayoba & The Ladies
Thulani Ngcobo, nicknamed “Ngcobo 2010” - the lucky winner of the MTN Last Fan Standing competition.
World Cup Fever - Gautrain Rules!
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If you travelling with the Gautrain during the 2010 World Cup you need to know the rules or you will be left behind crying :)!!!
The whole nation is painted yellow and green
Proffesor Khumalo (der Spieler mit der Nr. 10 auf dem Bild links) schreibt gemeinsam mit etwa zehn weiteren Personen das Fussball-Blog http://diskioff.blogspot.com, welches im vergangenen Jahr im Finale zur Wahl des besten Sportblogs Südafrikas stand. Darüber hinaus gibt es auch in unregelmäßigen Abständen ein e-Magazin von Diskioff, welches ebenso auf dem Blog anzufinden ist.
Die Idee zum Interview mit Proffesor Khumalo entstand aus dem Antrieb zu erfahren, wie ein Bürger der Gastgebernation die Stimmung im Land kurz vor WM-Beginn aufnimmt. Leider blieben meine Fragen zu Sicherheitsbedenken und eventuellen Ängsten vor Kriminilität auf Wunsch von Proffessor Khumalo unbeantwortet. Es bleibt zu hoffen, dass sich diese Themen nicht zum traurigen Dauerbrenner entwickeln. Die ersten traurigen Vorboten gibt es ja leider schon.
Hello Proffesor, thanks for taking your time. Please tell us a little bit about your person and what your blog is about?
I’m writer by profession, a soccer loving person who started blogging a couple years ago in almost all the soccer websites in South Africa. In 2008 I and a couple of my friends decided to do a soccer blog were we can express ourselves and Diskioff was formed. Diskioff focuses mostly on South African football… and last year it was nominated in the South African Blog Awards in the sport category.
The upcoming tournament is the first World Cup in Africa? How are your expectations and how is the attitude of your fellow countryman towards the Fifa World Cup in South Africa?
The whole nation is overexcited and happy that the first World Cup is hosted in South Africa. The mood is just wonderful and the nation from Monday to Sunday is painted yellow and green. You see the colours of Bafana Bafana and national flag from cars, buildings, shops, ect.
Related to the World Cup the German press often referred to missing infrastructure in South Africa. Do you see an improvement in infrastructure and architecture that will help the South African population even in the long run?
South Africa has hosted the Rugby World Cup in 1995 and Cricket World Cup in 2003 and no one complained about our infrastructures. For this year’s Soccer World Cup a lot has been done from buses to trains that will transport soccer supporters to stadiums and I have to say it’s a very big improvement.
Sepp Blatter told us that there are enough cheaper World Cup tickets for the average populaton of South Africa. What are the prices and how do they fit to the average income in South Africa?
I think the ticketing pricing was done in a way that it could also be fair to some loyal South African soccer fans who don’t earn a lot of money to buy them. The cheapest World Cup ticket for South Africans was R140 (rund 15 €, Anm. d. Red.) and they all got sold out in all the World Cup games.
Let’s come to sports. What do you expect of the Bafana Bafana in your homeland tournament?
As the host nation I expect Bafana Bafana to fight till the last whistle, display beautiful football and make the nation proud. We as supporters will play our role as well on supporting our boys and hoping to lift the golden cup.
Please portrait your national team. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Bafana Bafana and who are their key players?
We were weak at the back and still are a bit. However, Carlos Alberto Parreira’s camps in Brazil and Germany seems to have worked as in our friendly games we were solid. The team’s strengths is the midfield and if it’s not mobile we will be in trouble. Steven Pienaar, Teko Modise, Siphiwe Tshabalala and Katlego Mphela will be key players who can damage any team when they are on song.
What teams are your odds-on favourites for winning this World Cup?
If Bafana Bafana don’t win it… I think Ivory Coast, Ghana, USA, South Korea or Cameroon will win it. I don’t see any European or South American teams taking this World Cup in Africa.
And what do you think about the German national team? How far can they move?
Germany is one of the favourites and always predicted that they’ll lift the prestigious trophy like Brazil come the end of the event. And with Michael Ballack their talisman out due to injury I can say that they’ll end their World Cup tournament in the quarterfinals.
Which headline would like to read about the tournament in South Africa in the international newspapers following the World Cup?
South Africa hosts a beautiful World Cup. I believe this will be the best ever World Cup and to be remembered for a very long time.
Thanks for your time and good luck to you and your team.
source: http://www.jogisjungs.de/2010/06/10/the-whole-nation-is-painted-yellow-and-green/
NIKE GIVES PLAYERS “THE CHANCE” TO COMPETE, GET NOTICED AND SCOUTED AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF THE GAME
The Nike Academy offers non-contract players unattached to professional clubs a chance to enter the professional game through world-class coaching and games against elite academies and professional reserve teams. Since the academy’s start in 2009, eight players in the UK have received professional contracts.
“The Chance” marks the next stage of Nike’s “Write the Future” campaign, where some of the world’s best players including Ronaldo, Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney feature in a short film about iconic game moments where headlines are written from a single pass, or one strike can bring a nation eternal happiness, while bringing others to their knees.
Players can register for “The Chance” at nikefootball.com, where they can use digital assets to create custom campaign materials that build on the inspiration behind “Write the Future.” To support their bid, prospects can insert their image into a video that shows what their future might look like if they won “The Chance” complete with celebrity style pop culture moments. Entrants will also create a Facebook fan page to generate awareness and campaign support to get noticed.
The best 100 players from around the world are selected by Nike through Nike Elite Training events, the Nike City Cup, happening in 32 cities, as well as exposure through the digital platform. They will then be invited to a final trial in England, where they will compete for one of eight international places in the Nike Academy. These eight will have all their expenses paid to live in the UK for a year starting in July 2011 and be a full-time member of the Nike Academy.“Providing young players from around the world with the opportunity of elite coaching and state-of-the-art facilities to reach their full potential is a very powerful proposition,” said Arsene Wenger, Manager of Arsenal FC, in launching “The Chance” from the Nike Football Training Centre in Soweto, which provides high performance training facilities and HIV / AIDS Life Skills for the local community. “I look forward to actively participating in the scouting and review of exciting young players as they compete in “The Chance.”
As members of the Nike Academy, players become full-time participants at a residential training centre in England with access to elite coaches, nutritionists, psychologists and fitness conditioners, along with world class facilities to perform at the highest level.
“Nike is passionate about giving footballers insider access to the best coaching and training in the world to improve their game and fulfill their potential,” said Trevor Edwards, VP of Global Brand & Category Management. ‘The Chance’ is a unique opportunity for players to prove themselves on the global stage, take their game to the next level and even get a shot at a professional contract.”
“The Nike Academy has a number of success stories with players that have entered the professional game, helped by the superb environment that has been created,” said Ged Roddy, Director of Youth at the Premier League. “The Chance is a great opportunity to identify talented young players to show their skills, get noticed and win a place at the academy.”For more information or to register for “The Chance,” visit nikefootball.com. Players can register from 6pm GMT today.
