A swarm of feasting flies?

What is going on here? No one else in the house and I actually turn on the television to watch the first game of the day! Hmmm! I didn't actually see a lot of it - I was reading and making phone calls as well - but the fact remains I've overstepped my brief.  I've actually chosen to watch the football.

Anyway, since it was on, what of the match between The Netherlands and Denmark - a dull first half, a swift own goal by Denmark (the first of the competition?) at the start of the second and then a goal by the Dutch towards the end of the match. One of the commentators described the first half as "boring", disallowed by Chiles who changed it to "intriguing".  Since when have these two words been synonymous, and what on earth was intriguing about that game; about any football game in fact. How can a football match be intriguing? It was pretty dull but the second half had interesting patches - the best bit for me when Poulsen (who had set up the own goal earlier on) redeemed himself with an acrobatic and spectular clearance from right on the goal line.  Without that it might have been 3-0 to the Netherlands.

I've been thinking about these vuvuzelas, which apparently aren't going to be banned in spite of many requests.  Actually, how can you not think about them when you're watching a game - it's impossible to get away from them.  But I'm puzzled - in the rules, they specifically state that there should be "no excessive noise" then go on to disallow kuduzelas but allow vuvuzelas.  How is that all consistent.  And I gather there's a subdued model of the latter being produced now - 20 decibels quieter - but hasn't everyone bought theirs already? And anyway, 20 db is still only a reduction of just over 15%, so won't make a massive impact.  I don't think they should be banned, but I do think it's a shame they're so predominant.  Part of what I really like about the African way is their music and the way it comes into so much of what they do.  Where is it? 

Now, when the football's not held my full attention, I've been busy finding other things to think about.  I was distracted a bit by the pre-match preamble from the ITV team - talking about a beauty contest.  I assumed they were referring to the teams; not sure why but anyway I was wrong - they were talking about the supporters and voted for the Danes, and I have to confess the group of female Danish supporters  they showed were, inevitably, very attractive.  But it prompted a beauty contest of my own - between the members of the two teams playing.  I vote for the dutch, who on the field looked much more attractive than their opponents.  Then I got distracted checking out several team photos on the FIFA website, and I have to agree with Jess (see comments) - the Koreans definitely have the edge when it comes to hair. 

......................

I've just spent a little while half watching the Italy-Paraguay game.  Again, not totally gripping and another draw. But there were some other parts of the programme that interested me.

This time it was on BBC1. So far all the matches I've seen have been on ITV. I definitely prefer the BBC team.  They all have a degree of charisma, look good and are informative and lively.

The whole Match of the Day package was more interesting too.  I really enjoyed the brief film of the Addo Elephant Park, where through their breeding programme they have increased the elephant population from 11 to over 500, and found the footage about the football teams that were founded at Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned) very interesting. I watched with mixed emotions - sadness, anger at the regime of the day and all that apartheid stood for, admiration for the prisoners and their persistence and resilience and glad that the world has moved on.  It's hard to believe that it's not really that long ago that South Africa was subject to sanctions and sporting embargoes because of it's racial policies.  There may still be a long way to go in so many ways for the country and the continent of Africa as a whole, but it has come a long way already.  This World Cup will hopefully leave a truly positive legacy for all South Africans and hopefully further afield in Africa.

And lastly for today, my favourite quote of the day - apparently from the Japanese team coach, who said his team were like "a swarm of feasting flies".  No wonder they won - they must have felt very at home with the sound of the vuvuzelas.