Today’s warm weather was matched by a sizzling atmosphere in the city centre earlier this afternoon, where foreigners took in Cape Town’s sights and sounds (pictured right) and mingled with locals at the FIFA Fan Fest™. Downcast South Africans had shaken off enough of their disappointment from last night’s Bafana Bafana defeat to join in the action to watch Argentina take on South Korea. They were joined by hundreds of Argentinian fans who had gathered en masse, wearing their national colours.

And later toward evening, a sea of green caps, scarves and flags dominated at the Fest, with very few Greek supporters in evidence. The Nigerian supporters, on the other hand, many of whom now live in South Africa, were highly vocal and animated as their team went down 2-1 to Greece.

Raphael Awe, a Nigerian who has been living in Cape Town for the last 15 years, said he has enjoyed coming to the Fan Fest™ most days to watch matches and soak up the atmosphere. "It's well organised, but my only complaint is that it doesn't have a taste of Africa," he said. "It is not our own food, our own drinks, even our own music. It feels like we are in Europe here."

He admitted that he hadn't been to the other fan jols, where organisers are not limited to using FIFA sponsors' products.

Also at the Fan Fest™ was Western Cape provincial 2010 co-ordinator Dr. Laurine Platsky, who was escorting a Brazilian safety and security delegation. "They are here to share ideas and pick up tips from us, and see how we are managing it," she said. Brazil is hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup™.

"Brazil suffers a similar problem to South Africa regarding perceptions about crime, so they understand where we are coming from. It's about managing those perceptions.

Another foreigner at the Fan Fest™ was Australian Anthony Ciccarelli, who is in South Africa with friends for the World Cup™. "I'm having a great time, and just love the atmosphere here - even the vuvuzelas," he said.

Englishman James Ackern, also here with friends, told us how worried he is about the weather. Smartly dressed in a jacket, tie and gleaming black leather boots, he lamented that “the weather is not what I expected, and I don’t know from day to day what it’s going to be like.”

“We didn’t realise how different it was going to be from city to city – I guess we forgot how big the country is," he smiled, and said he was heading for an outdoor clothing store next, to stock up on winter woollies.

The FIFA Fan Fest™ at the Grand Parade is just one of many scattered throughout the country – and the world. There are also FIFA Fan Fests in Durban, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Rustenburg, Pretoria, Sydney (pictured below), Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Berlin, Rome and Mexico City.

Tomorrow at the FIFA Fan Fest™: Catch The Rudimentals in-between the 16:00 match (Slovenia vs USA) and the England vs Algeria match at Cape Town Stadium tomorrow. Nick E Lauder will be the late night groove act.

Head out on the jol…

Why queue when you can give your stress levels a break and head out to the Fan Jols, where there’s plenty of parking, breathing space, excellent food and entertainment … and, of course, the soccer!

• Tomorrow at the Swartklip Fan Jol, watch Contagious between 11:30 and 12:00, and the Zenande Jazz Band from 12:15 to 12:45
  
• Tomorrow at the Bellville Velodrome Fan Jol, catch Blackcurrent Jazz Band from 12:15 - 13:05, New Son Cartel from 18:30 to 19:00, and headline act the Dirty Skirts
  
• At the Oliver Tambo Fan Jol, djembe musicians, DJs and Take Note entertain in-between games.
  
  

PS… We know who’s going to win … We overheard a United States visitor and fan at a downtown coffee shop, who told the barista that he’d heard that someone, somewhere else, had calculated that the US had an 89% chance of taking home the Cup… Remember, you heard it here first!

Why do YOU watch soccer?

The Final Whistle team met up with a team of Finnish market researchers from Haaga-Helia and JAMK Universities of Applied Science earlier today. They are in Cape Town to investigate the ‘values’ behind the consumption of football, and to answer why people spend time, and money, on football. They specifically want to know what football really means to its fans. 

Headed by Drs Puronaho Kari and Risto Rasku, the team of 11 research students arrived in Cape Town on Friday 11 June, and spent the weekend trying to understand exactly what had led visitors to the FIFA Fan Fest™.

“We are here to explore international football, and find out what it is that drives people all the way here,” Dr Rasku told us. "People in the fan parks are obviously investing time and money – but what exactly are they getting in return? And what are the ‘values’ they associate with football?"

Some of these values could include the idea that football is creative, protective toward nature, innovative, cheap, fashionable, trendy, conservative or healthy, or even boring, ineffective, expensive, serious or routine…

It could be that you associate the beautiful game with freedom, broadmindedness, strength, wealth, ambition, loyalty, tradition or bright colours…

Whatever it is, the young researchers found ways of asking these intriguing questions to 400 fans on the Grand Parade – and discovered that for most of them, soccer is associated with excitement, respect and the thrill of physical performance. Soccer is also regarded as the world’s most popular sport, and fans enjoy being associated with this prestige. Fans also like the ‘international’ vibe of the game, and the way it has brought unity to South Africa.

And perhaps the most important reason of all: ‘Football is language that connects people from all around the world.’ And how right he is, as we’ve all observed during this last week…

NOTE: These are preliminary research findings - the detailed research report will be available later in the year.

Three (of the many) things you might not know about Finland:

• According to the researchers, today’s icy, blue-sky weather feels like the best of Finnish summer, and back home they’d be ‘going without their shirts’…
  
• Finland would never permit vuvuzelas to be played in public, because of the risk of hearing damage. Take one out in public and you could expect a fine of up to 200 Euros, the researchers warned (we’re not sure if they were joking…)
  
• Finland is a country of soccer fans – the sport is second only to ice hockey in popularity – and its National Football Federation is 100 years old. However, the Finnish men’s team has played in neither a World Cup nor a European cup – although the women’s team has done so.