Have you escaped the World Cup?

I hardly ever watch football since I don't really like it much. However I have watched a few of the matches during the current world cup though its an on off affair which takes place whilst watching something else and occasionally flicking back and forth for a peek at the football channel to check the score .
As for the vuvuzelas, I don't mind them at all and it seems they are there to stay having already made a presence in some of South Africa's neighbours in the last decade or so. Unless something drastic happens I don't see their demise any time soon as they definitely add to the atmosphere, WIN or LOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sure there are some people who are not football fans and are tired of all the hoopla about world cup. Even as a football fan, watching the games on tv here in the U.S. is becoming a little annoying with the constant vuvuzela noise or bees humming-like noise. There is nothing wrong with putting an African touch to football especially when the event is being held on African soil for the first time. However, I think those vuvuzelas horns should be blown when a team scores or a player made good move on the field instead of constantly blowing these horns.
I can only imagine what it is like for those watching the games in the stadium.
Finally, having said these things, I think it would be unfair to only ask this question when the world cup is hosted in South Africa unless the same question was asked when the event was hosted in other countries.

Ofcourse we in South Africa have had the World Cup hype for six long years now and have watched in dismay whilst our government has spent almost 5 billion US dollars on the event when over half of our own people live in abject poverty and are starving. Worldwide television and soccer visitors are not seeing the shanty towns and millions of our people living without flush toilets and no electricity. A recent survey revealed that over half of South Africa's children are undernourished. ie There was no need for our government to spend billions of rands on 8 new stadia when only millions could have been used to refurbish existing ones.
FIFA is looked upon as a bunch of bully boys by many South Africans. For months now they have been arrogantly strutting around South Africa as if they own the place. Sepp Blatter is wrong to say that the vuvuzela is part of African culture. Infact it is a fairly new phenomonon at soccer matches and many Africans detest the sound of them.
There are one or two good things about the world cup for South Africans;- 1. Crime has eased off during the last week and 2. South Africans are reconciling in their support of our team Bafana Bafana.

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A reassurance for Frank - the BBC have been showing the situation "worlds away" from the world cup that is in reality only streets away - some of us at least are aware of the one sided allocation of spending for the world cup. As a non-fan, I would also rather the money had been spent on humanitarian purposes, but I can see that there may be some future benefit that is yet to be seen - perhaps the new stadiums will be available to the local population afterwards, who may not have otherwise had such faclities. I live in hopes!
I would like to thank the BBC for their diligent reporting on such issues, and not being (too) football-centric. I also understand where the frustration on crazy spending is coming from - we not in the same situation exactly, but the G8/G20 is "coming to town" here in Ontario, Canada. The homeless have been moved along, the bins removed, the street vendors shunted elsewhere and a l.o.t. of money has been spent on security. On the upside, I do see improvements in some of the facilities available, and some sprucing up of some areas. I understand that Huntsville will also be getting a new stadium out of this. Yet, the upcoming G20 is not often mentioned (unless Greece is in the same sentence), and surely it is far more important and has greater repercussions that the world cup ... (you may disagree .. the whole 1966 thing seems to have gone on for ever!)

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What im sick of is watching a news channel and getting sport, there is no news on the sports channels!

delenne87. Good point about possible long term benefits. However most of the new stadia are ofcourse situated in the cities and not anywhere near rural areas where most poor people reside. My point about refurbishing the existing stadia is, for an example to be seen in my city of Durban. A new very beautiful stadium costing billions of rands of taxpayers/ratepayerrs money, intended for service delivery to the poor, now stands adjacent to a wonderful world renowned rugby stadium, that could have been refurbished for one or two million rand. It is all about prestige with our ANC government and seemingly little about the millions of poor people in South Africa. FIFA recently rather boastfully stated that it has made billions of US dollars in profit at this World cup in South Africa even before it had barely started. I take it all back if FIFA contributes a chunk of the huge profits to the benefit of the poor people of South Africa. I somehow doubt that FIFA will however.

[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]I am only sick of teams that haven't worked hard enough yet expect to win, teams with unfit, overweight, age-cheating players whose real ages are begining to show in the world cup! You get away with it for a while but it catches up with you before long.
Watch teams like Germany, England and Brazil play and watch many of the African teams play. While players from these other teams play with so much zeal and determination, the African players on whose soil the world cup is being played on for the first time, and probably for the last time for the next 100 years simply lack the same sort of zeal. While the English players literally were ready to die on the field in the match against USA, Nigerian, Algerian, and Cameroonian players walked around the field as if it was some sort of catwalk competition.
Are these same African players not from the same continent that gave the world the Cameroonians of Italia 90 and the Super Eagles of USA'94?
Are African FAs becoming more shambolic and corrupt rather than improving on their failures of the past?
What is really wrong with us Africans?
What is wrong with Nigeria?

I am not a soccer fan by any means but have tuned in to watch the SA matches. After being very disappointed after the last match I doubt I will be tuning in to many matches. On the point of the stadiums: I doubt very much that those newly built stadiums will ever be filled up again. I agree that the money would have been better spent in revamping the existing stadiums. While it might be relatively crime free with the duration of the WC things will be back to 'normal' straight after the final whistle has blown and the SA taxpayer will be living with the high crime and the lavish expense of hosting the event.

I detest the vuvuzela and I dislike football, but if other people enjoy football and the World Cup, then good for them.
We cannot all like the same things, can we? While the rest of the world is going football crazy I simply find something else to do. I've even taken up a new hobby.
That way, we are all happy.
We only live once - enjoy life!

Football (soccer) has to be one of the world's duller games. World championships ending in scoreless ties followed by a dumb luck shoot-out are an absurdity. The goal net needs to be wider and/or higher to give the spectators something to watch. Scoreless ties and shoot-outs are not worth watching

This much I have never been any worldwide football lover, but millions football fanatics do silly things. 2010 is a year for Africa world football feast, nevertheless since South Africa won to host the football madness, the West unsympathetically keep criticizing every move Africa does for fun. Indeed it is loud and it is fun - In Europe every year the world witness drunk Europeans and hoodlums rum around the city with the ugly lousy songs. What a fuss for African vuvuzelas?

I am not a sports fan, but supports my country when playing any other country in the world. Be it cricket, rugby and now football.
Bieng a South African living abroad, I could not be prouder of our achievement in hosting the world cup. This is dispite all the wingers predicting otherwise.
I do not think that in the history of the world cup, there is one country that has managed to have eradicated poverty at the time of hosting, and often long after that.
We as Africa should celebrate this achievement.
Oh! I wish the African teams representing us will ensure that the world cup remains on the continent.
As for the mighty vuvuzela. I just regret that I can't blow it yet. I just love it.

The world would be a better place if we spent more money on schools and infrastructure and less on steroid driven thugs, the couch potatoes that watch them, and the coliseums built to practice this madness.

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It is not rocket science change the channel, simple!

I have never watched or enjoyed football but have actually gotten into this, as a south african, to me its not about the football. some may complain about the vuvezela, which Frank, actually have been a part of south african football for a while and generally not detested by most africans, what i am sick of is people complaining. its here, embrace it, no amount of complaing is going to change the money spent. At least its boosted the general morale and has gotten most white south africans supporting what as traditonally been a black sport in this country.