Bacher wants to market South Africa
Fakir Hassen
Cricket World Cup 2003 executive director Ali Bacher has appealed to the media to use the event to market South
Africa to the world.
Addressing the Johannesburg Press Club, Bacher said the World Cup
would run for 42 days from the opening ceremony in Cape Town on February 5,
2003, to the final in Johannesburg on March 19.
Of that, there would be 35 days of actual cricket -- far longer
than most
international sports events -- and all the matches would be
televised live
around the world.
"For 35 days, therefore, we have a unique opportunity to market
South Africa
and we dare not shirk that responsibility," Bacher said.
He said South Africans could learn from the Sydney 2000 Olympic
Games where
Australians -- including 47,000 volunteers -- had united to make a
resounding success of the event.
Bacher said interest in cricket among black people had risen
markedly in the
last three years. According to market research conducted on behalf
of the
Sowetan newspaper, one of the largest dailies targeted at the
majority black
community, cricket was now the third most popular sport behind
soccer and
boxing among its readers.
For many years, cricket had striven hard to make an impact in the
black
communities and it now seemed that those efforts had paid off.
"For the
first time we have the opportunity to make a massive impact on all
South
Africans, and particularly our black countrymen," said Bacher.
"This is a World Cup for all South Africans -- and it's very
important that
black and white participate and benefit from it. It also goes
beyond mere
bat and ball."
"At the heart of our endeavors is a commitment to black
empowerment. I am
confident that by the time the World Cup starts the South African
government
will be happy that we have indeed made a contribution to all South
Africans."
Bacher said that up to 50,000 tickets would be given away free to
bona fide
cricketers in previously disadvantaged areas. "In this regard, we
will also
not forget those white kids who play cricket in some of the poorer
communities," he added.
Indo-Asian News Service
