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LIke the blog and how we are seeing the whole of south Africa and not just the parts their government want us to see.

Viscous storm? Did he meet a sticky end?

That's a bummer. All that preparation for nothing.

"viscous storm"?! i think spell-check has stuck you in it.

Not aware that the South African government has ever had a policy of only looking at the best parts of South African....so not sure what no 1 David is on about....anyhow, moving alomn...

I'm not too sure what the "story" is here, Paul.

No business in the world would be formed on the basis of 5000 Paraguayans visiting for a month (with all due respect to Paraguay).

So is the lost opportunity simply one of a wasted opportunity to attract other South American tourists? And would that be because the football pitch was not up to scratch, or the local hotels?

I hope Paraguay gets gubbed. Playing on a sloped surface woudl have been good prep, would have made things seem easier on the day of games.

ummm 1.David..... Mossel Bay is probably one of the places the government DOES want the world to see. It's a beautiful place and any South African would tell you that a week in Mossel bay is definately worth it.

Love Mosselbaai! Many happy memories there. Peaceful and beautiful.

Paraguay's loss.

Spot on Paul, Mossel Bay is a wonderful relaxing place, and would have been an ideal stopping place for English fans being half way between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. The loss of the Paraguans was a blow but the town has made no effort to create a fan park or other facility with a big sceen to accomodate football fans, and it had two ideal locations the Arena and the Barnyard. I have waited for years for the
world cup to come here and am dissapointed for the lack of activity in this lovely town.












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Great post, Mr Fletcher. I'm sure there have been many tales like this over the years, and most don't get reported, or not reported in time. Perhaps some footie fans in SA might visit this place now who might not have heard of it otherwise.

The South Africans who bothered to learn some Spanish in this town should keep up the language lessons - it's a rather handy lingo to know.

#6 - there's plenty of story here, sorry you can't see it. And if you're wondering where the 5000 figure comes from, it's a conservative estimate - the Mossel Bay organizers said in Sep 09, "The federation has informed us that we can expect that upwards of 6 000 supporters will follow the team to South Africa."


The Mossel Bay organizers also created versions of their page in Portuguese, German, French, Dutch, and Italian.


But is there not one football pitch in Mossel Bay without a slope? Surely they should have checked that their own pitch met FIFA standards? Who fluffed that up?

As for the hotel - was that just diva footballers (hey, they may be from Paraguay, but they're still very highly paid and used to a top lifestyle) or was there really a problem with the hotel?

#8, #1 - the point is, the SA government would like more people to visit any of its quaint little towns like Mossel Bay, but sometimes places get forgotten in all the excitement.

Perhaps another article on how the people of Pietermaritzburg (Woodridge is 60km from there) are celebrating the influx of Paraguayan profit...

Afaik, there were several sites from each team to choose from. Was Paraguay the only team to change sites?

1. At 6:56pm on 13 Jun 2010, David wrote:
LIke the blog and how we are seeing the whole of south Africa and not just the parts their government want us to see.
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Like erm......... what are you on about?

1. At 6:56pm on 13 Jun 2010, David wrote:
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Dave, I thought I'd help. You don't need the government to tell you anything. Just go to if you want to know anything about them. Or try website. There's a lot more from google but you being lazy to search, I doubt if you ever thought of it.

It ant hard init?

Mossel Bay is very beautiful, typical of British Newspaper.

#14, Banyathi. If you're going to have a go at a journalist, or indeed at the English press as a whole, then make an effort to actually read the article. On this occasion, I'll save you the effort:

Paul writes: "It struck me as being a real shame because this is a genuinely scenic place, nestled on the coast with the Outeniqua mountains forming a pleasing backdrop."

Interesting blog. Never ceases to amaze me how some people simply post on these blogs just to have a go at the author, usually because they either disagree with or aren't interested in the subject matter. For my money (literally!), these blogs are the best aspect to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sport website and are on a par with the better columnists in the national papers (I'm thinking Athers, Matthew Syed, David Lacey etc).

Cheers to Paul, McNulty, Dirs, Fordyce, Mountford, etc. etc.

To the deprived residents of Mossel Bay please remember there is no shame in having a dodgy pitch ..............we've got Wembley.

"Proposed training facility (at) Kwanonqaba township pitch, encased behind locked gates, looked sad and unwanted"

Putting the fact aside that Mossel Bay is actually a lovely place..scenic and all that - I think all the national teams should have been allocated barrack style accomodation in an open draw in all struggling townships throughout S.A. - similar in style to those in 'Escape To Victory' (without the nazi element ofcourse) - instead of the untasteful scramble they all made for the best pitch and five star hotel they would be spreading wealth to those who need it. They would be allowed to invest whatever they liked in improving facilities off their own backs, employ the locals, generating life-long bonds with the places and population.

Imagine if England was based in one of the poorest shanty-towns in S.A. - people and players being forced to face poverty head-on every day. It would change lives forever. If Fifa really wanted to change the world this is the way!...Same with the favella's and slums in Brazil in 2014...make a difference! Before anyone says about Africans not wanting charity..there are poor people and ultra rich in every country - they can do it everywhere even in the U.S. and U.K. (will probably need it by 2018)

They may have missed out on the World Cup, but at least the sun shines in Summer!

We miss out on THAT every year!

@easyleesie: I love Mossel Bay too, but it's hardly "Paraguay's loss" if the facilities aren't there for them to prepare properly.

What's a camber?

As a Paraguayan, I am glad Paraguay didn't stay there! If the place wasn't perfect or as close as possible to it, then i don't see why they should stay there. It's the same as any other team. I have read that several teams have been unhappy about the places they have been using for preparation. I think it's a shame, and I'm sure the Py team would have stayed if things had been better prepared. I don't understand how the planners could have made such a huge mistake! Surely they had FIFA's standards before they set out to build the place. It's a real shame for the local people.

FUERZA ALBIRROJA!!!!

Right you are then, cheers!