Today marks exactly two years before the 2010 World Cup final is played at Soccer City. The stadium, built during the height of apartheid, has played an immense and symbolic role in South Africa's recent past. It has hosted some of the landmark events that have shaped South Africa and is a reminder of how far we have come. It is a lot more than just a stadium.
In the middle of one of the most turbulent decades in South African history, the then National Football League, with the support of First National Bank, decided to build a football stadium just outside Soweto.
The year was 1986. South Africans had experienced two states of emergencies, the country was in flames and international sanctions were crippling the economy. A strong sense of fear and uncertainty defined the decade. The mood of the country certainly did not appear to warrant an investment in a 78 000-seater soccer stadium!
At the time, the very concept of the FNB Stadium was considered a pipe dream; its pioneers were called fools, yet, years later, the decision to build that stadium can now be regarded as visionary. Who would have believed, after all, that this patch of ground, on the edge of the country's biggest township, would one day host the ultimate football battle; the FIFA World Cup Final?
The people's game
"FNB Stadium is a landmark, an icon of South African football. Every local club dreams of playing a final at FNB," says veteran sports journalist S'bu Mseleku.
With a career that spans 25 years and credited with coining the name "Bafana Bafana", Mseleku has been privy to some of the most memorable soccer moments that have taken place at FNB Stadium, including the first game ever played there.
The stadium's proximity to Soweto was a stroke of genius, says Mseleku. "Soweto is the home of SA football."
The township is also home to two of the country's most popular teams, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. The Soweto Derby at FNB Stadium is always the highlight of the domestic soccer season.
"The event that always packs out FNB Stadium, that produces the most excitement season after season, is the Soweto Derby, the Amakhosi up against the Buccaneers," says sports journalist Jonty Mark. "One side of the stadium clad in black and white, the other in gold and black. The smell of the vendor's meat cooking outside the stadium and youngsters begging for tickets that are long sold out."
Perhaps the most memorable year of football at the FNB Stadium was in 1996 when South Africa hosted and won the African Cup of Nations. Having been expelled from the Confederation of African Football and FIFA for 30 years, the championship would be a true measure of our boys' skill and talent. Bafana Bafana started strongly, beating Cameroon, the giants of African football, 3-0 in the opening game.
But it is the African Cup of Nations final that remains firmly imprinted in the nation's memory. With only 17 minutes left before the final whistle, a young Mark Williams netted two goals in two minutes. Still on a high following the Springbok's 1995 Rugby World Cup victory, the African Nations Cup proved to be another unifying moment in South Africa as all South Africans celebrated Bafana Bafana's incredible victory.
The people's politics
It is not only football for which FNB Stadium is remembered; it is also a landmark of some of the country's most significant moments of political history.
Only two days after his release from prison in 1990, Nelson Mandela arrived at FNB Stadium to address the nation. More than 100 000 people clamoured for a space as Mandela spoke of a racially unified South Africa and called for goodwill to be exercised by all South Africans.
"Let each one of you and all of our people give the enemies of peace and liberty no space to take us back to the dark hell of Apartheid. We are going forward. The march towards freedom and justice is irreversible," he said.
Sadly Mandela would return to FNB stadium three years later to bury his friend and comrade Chris Hani. This time 80 000 people joined Mandela to pay their last respects to the man that Mandela described as "one of the greatest revolutionaries this country has ever known."
In closing his speech, Mandela addressed a few words to Hani: "We lay you to rest with the pledge that the day of freedom you lived and died for will dawn. We all owe you a debt that can only be repaid through the achievement of the liberation of our people, which was the passion of your life."
The people's triumph
The 2010 Fifa World Cup final will mark an important milestone in the country's history. Once again, we are on our way to achieving what many believed impossible, the hosting of a world-class soccer World Cup. And on the 11th of June 2010, there can be no more fitting place for the climax than Soccer City, as the revamped 94 700-seater stadium will be called.
The stadium stands as a monument to the vision of the few that built their field of dreams, despite the conventional wisdom of the time. It represents what we as South Africans have achieved in the past 20 years. It has seen the best of our times, and the worst.
In many ways, Soccer City is a reflection of ourselves: a nation born out of hope, a nation taking root during difficult and uncertain times and a nation whose true potential may only be revealed in time.
By Lindy Mtongana
