The City of Cape Town has described the hosting of the first two World Cup matches at Cape Town Stadium as “without any major hitches”, and has expressed its satisfaction with the overall smooth running of the events, and the “good jol” enjoyed by the fans.
Mondays’ match between Italy and Paraguay had all the potential to go off the skids, with pouring rain, hail and freezing cold weather before and during the match, as well as a strike by the staff of Stallion Security prior to the start of the match. The soccer fans dressed warmly, and barely complained about the weather on Twitter, despite estimates that the temperatures had dropped to below zero inside the Stadium. They were barely aware that a strike had been threatened, and that the police had brought in SA Police Services (SAPS) students, with World Cup volunteers also helping in providing security services.
The match on Monday was attended by 62869 spectators, 17670 of them walking along the fan walk to the stadium, and 18 500 walking back to the city centre. The new MyCiTi shuttle to the Stadium was used by 15000 spectators, and 10 000 used it to get back to the city Civic Centre. The train service was used by 15000 fans. The park-and-ride service at Century City and at UCT were the two most highly used such facilities. A significant number of fans used their cars to get into the city, probably due to the weather, and this caused a big traffic gridlock on roads into the city, especially on the Eastern Boulevard. The adverse weather also led to reduced attendance at the five Fan Fest areas.
Last Friday’s match between France and Uruguay attracted 61400 spectators. The rail service was used by 20000 spectators, 11000 used the MyCiTi shuttle bus service and 30000 walked the Fan Mile to get to the Stadium. The Fan Park on the Grand Parade had to be closed, with 42 000 visitors throughout the day. It is estimated that 250 000 persons visited the city center, and 100 000 the V&A Waterfront on that day.
The City of Cape Town has requested that soccer fans make their way to the Stadium as early as they can (gates open 3,5 hours prior to the start of a match) and to travel light, to reduce the security search time. Information can be found on the City’s website www.capetown.gov.za or by calling tel. 0800 65 64 63.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com
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Thanks for posting these stats Chris. It is good to get through hype and speculation and see actual numbers about fan attendance.
Thanks for your support Glenda, and for reading our blog. We will be fully booked in Cape Town this weekend, with England fans pouring into Cape Town.
[…] The City of Cape Town has described the hosting of the first two World Cup matches at Cape Town Stadium as “without any major hitchesâ€, and has expressed its satisfaction with the overall smooth running of the events, and the “good jol†enjoyed by the fans. Mondays’ match between Italy and Paraguay had all the potential to go off the skids, with pouring rain, hail and freezing cold weather before and during the match, as well as a strike by the staff of Stallion Security prior to the start of the match. (Whale Cottage) […]