What if we had hosted Brazil?

* BOITSHEPO BOLELE | Friday June 11, 2010 00:00

What if we had hosted one of the competing teams here in Botswana? This kept racing in my mind as I watched the Matlho-A-Phage TV programme this past week. The programme had hosted the Director of Sports, Falcon Sedimo and an officer from Botswana Football Association. The two men were at pains to explain our benefits from the World Cup, if there are any at all. The two technocrats explained quite well that to host Brazil or any team is an expensive undertaking. Firstly there are appearance fees and these are international players who do not come cheap. They further informed us that Zimbabwe had recently played a friendly match with Brazil and that the Zimbabweans paid approximately P10 million for the friendly game with Brazil. Before you fall off your chair, let's discuss why this was a masterstroke on the part of Robert Mugabe.

Why we should have chosen to host Brazilian team and paid any price to do it.Much of the history of the World Cups can be told by telling the history of Brazil in the World cups. Brazil is the only country to participate in all 17 World cups. Brazil has been five times champions. Several of the best players of the history of football were Brazilian and most of them left their register in the World Cups. The Brazilian team has a multitude of fans, worldwide. It therefore goes without saying that when you host Brazil, you are hosting the world. Furthermore, Brazil has the largest black populace, it comes first even before Nigeria in terms of numbers. Furthermore, it has produced the most celebrated football star, Pele. It is reported that Pele is the first soccer player to achieve massive international acclaim. Personally, I got to know about Pele and about Brazilian football long before I got to know about FIFA as a sporting body and I believe it goes for a lot of people like me. His name is regularly mentioned today, more than a quarter century after his retirement.

What were the immediate benefits of the P10 million transaction?Zimbabwe, a country that has suffered from bad media and a tattered international image, now reports over 3, 000, 000 searches on this game alone. The UK Guardian newspaper has headlined ROBERT MUGABE SCORES WORLD CUP COUP WITH ZIMBABWE-BRAZIL FOOTBALL MATCH. There were similar reports in the UK Telegraph and hundreds of other international media. Over and above that the match is reported on the Brazil2010 World Cup blog. This will positively place Zimbabwe in the history books, as the Brazil 2010 World Cup experiences are chronicled. This was a chance to place Zimbabwe, or Botswana had we taken the opportunity, on international spotlight, including grabbing the attention of the international tourist. It goes without saying that the world's most powerful media will follow teams like Brazil, and other such giants, to the ends of the earth at their own cost.

The tourismIt is reported that over 60,000 people came from near and far to watch the game or just to experience the players in a relaxed environment. It has since been reported that people who would otherwise not be able to travel to South Africa to see Brazil play, for varied reasons, opted instead to travel to Zimbabwe to experience the team there and in the processes travelled around the country to experience the beauty of the land. This is what we could have netted for ourselves had we hosted Brazil or a similarly popular team.

National healing'It was a day of peculiar collisions, more than when Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai strolled onto the pitch and competed with Kaka, millionaire of star Real Madrid and Brazil, for the crowd's biggest cheer. Rarely had politics and sports danced such a curious tango', reports the UK Guardian newspaper, and this my dear brethren is what we missed, an opportunity for the nation to lay aside differences, some of which are crippling our social fabric, and come to the party as one nation. An opportunity to rebrand the country and to get permanent name recognition. An opportunity to inspire the youth for both football, sporting excellence but also to imprint in their minds' memories of what is possible. This is particularly so, considering that most of the football stars, Pele included, come from a background that is poor and rural - the same background of our youth today.

Business networkingBrazil was colonised by Portugal and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the business community of Mozambique and Angola has strong ties with Brazil. In so many ways, hosting Brazil may have attracted the attention of the business community of these neighboring countries.

The priceThe Matlho-a-Phage debate was honest in discussing the financial position of the sports administrationm - that P10million was way out of budget and as the host kept repeating 'gore ntsiana gone go sena sekgwama'. But truly speaking, whose budget was it anyway? How have other countries paid for similar engagements? Could the business community have refused to pay for the undertaking. Before we go any further, it is reported that in Zimbabwe, a country with an approximate 94% unemployment and very much dependent on aid, was able to host the Brazilian team through private sector sponsorship. It is also reported that the general populace were willing to pay triple the normal ticket prices for the game. This is excluding the marketing opportunities, the benefit to informal sector through sale of sports apparel and hospitality. It is my conviction, that there was more than enough money from the private sector to pay for hosting a major team in Botswana and I sincerely believe that the investment would have boosted all sectors of the economy in both the short term and years to come.

What nextNot all is lost, just because we have not attracted a team to play here, be it for free or at a cost doesn't mean we are out. It doesn't mean we are not benefiting. The World Cup demonstrates the interconnectedness of nations. That we are one and without lifting a finger you can benefit from the efforts of others. Since time immemorial, the world had come to Africa to quieten the wars, to arrest HIV/AIDS and other such illness, to bring aid - but for the first time in recent history, at least in my lifetime, the world is coming to Africa to share memories.

The world is coming to play and this by its very nature involves humanity peeling away the superficial layers of race, geographic boundaries, and social divide and embrace each other's humanness. It was a spectacle to watch at the OR Thambo as the teams arrived, the world was down to sporting wear and that alone is a great equaliser -  greeting strangers with a smile and a song, embracing and celebrating. To the business community, this is one very big cocktail, and like all cocktails the night before major business transactions, it allows the world to open up, it gives the guests a chance to know each other and appreciate each other and most importantly like each other. Yes like each other! It is a well-known fact that people do business with people they like, when people like you they trust you, they give you breaks and they choose to give you a chance. They buy your products, they incorporate your culture into theirs. It is my belief that after this World Cup, we shall have fewer complaints regarding 'the racism' of the international markets, we shall have fewer barriers to trade, we shall have more joint partnerships with the world - we shall have more people coming to Southern Africa and yes coming to Botswana.

We have every reason to celebrate the World Cup and to be hopeful of what is possible in the long-term.* BOITSHEPO BOLELE writes in her personal capacity and her views do not reflect the views of any organisation she may have professional links with.