You have to see it to believe it because the only thing missing was the cape. David Beckham arrived in Cape Town to join England’s ailing campaign to host the 2018 World Cup and, in one swoop, he saved the entire bid. The effect he has had on the people here - great and small - has been simply electrifying.
Just how electrifying was demonstrated this morning as representatives from the ten nations bidding to host both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups gathered at a stylish colonial house on the outskirts of Cape Town, in the shadow of Table Mountain.
Each nation had an exhibition stand and was allowed to show a four-minute video selling themselves to around 300 assembled media, sponsors, guests and even some of the Fifa executive members, who will be part of the vital vote in little over a year’s time. But everybody wanted to see stars and the joint Holland and Belgium bid brought along Ruud Gullit while Spain and Portugal managed to shoot themselves thoroughly in both football boots by dragging in Luis Figo right in the middle of the United States’ video, causing not a little anger and frustration.
Fabio Capello, England’s manager, drew a huge crowd when he arrived to support the England bid but even he found himself almost alone when there was a sudden burst of activity and Beckham swept in. Instantly, interviews were abruptly terminated and conversations finished so that people could join the human comet’s tail following the England star. Even staff from the rival stands dropped everything, grabbed a camera and followed. Quite amazing.
Beckham meets one of his heroes
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It is not just giggly girls who go weak at the knees either. Lord Triesman, England’s bid chairman, reckons Beckham has charmed the pants off every member of the Fifa executive he met. On his own initiative, Beckham brought a signed England shirt for each one of them – although he did a bit of autograph hunting when he somehow found a France shirt and got Michel Platini, the Uefa president, to sign it for him.
False alarm
This piece is being written from the comfort of the sixth floor of the Cullinan Hotel in Cape Town, about 300 yards from the convention centre staging the draw for the 2010 World Cup tonight. When we got back to the media centre after the 2018 bid exhibition, the convention centre was surrounded by huge mesh fences and police, helicopters buzzing overhead and officers shouting at us to get back on to the street. All a bit scary but it turns out – we hope – that police were just carrying out a sweep of the building after a bomb hoax.
Theron teases the crowd
Fortunately, rehearsals for the draw ceremony have been going well with Beckham, who is taking part, on stage last night alongside the gorgeous Charlize Theron, the Oscar-winning actress who hails from a small town outside Johannesburg. Turns out she is not only beautiful but knows her football and has a cracking sense of humour. When she rehearsed pulling the balls from the pot containing the names of the 32 teams taking part next year, she said confidently and with a wide grin: “Ireland”. Don’t worry – there aren’t 33 names in the hat for the draw.
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Tickets wanted
By the way, spare a thought for the fans in Cameroon. Africa’s top side have passionate supporters but not that many of them will get to see the World Cup. While the fans pile in from England, Germany, the US and beyond, Fifa’s ticket allocation for Cameroon is only 3,000 and most have to be bought on the internet, not something readily available over there, unfortunately.
And have a guess where the most tickets have been sold for the World Cup ... England? No. Germany? No. Italy? Not even close. No, it is that hotbed of football, the United States.