2003 World Cup launched in Soweto
The Soweto Cricket Oval became the focus of international attention on Thursday when it was turned into dazzling scene of colour and song for the official launch of the eighth ICC Cricket World Cup to be staged in South Africa in February and March
Media Release
02-Nov-2001
The Soweto Cricket Oval became the focus of international attention on Thursday when
it was turned into dazzling scene of colour and song for the official launch
of the eighth ICC Cricket World Cup to be staged in South Africa in February
and March of 2003.
More than 400 guests - who included South Africa's Minister of Sport and
Recreation Ngconde Balfour and the International Cricket Council's chief
executive officer Malcolm Speed - were treated to a taste of what Africa's
first cricket World Cup will be about.
In an event televised around the world, Mr Balfour performed the ceremony of
raising the new 2003 World Cup flag for the first time on a day in which the
eye-catching official logo and Dazzler, the tournament's zebra mascot were unveiled.
The president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, Adv Percy Sonn,
said it was symbolic that the launch function should be staged in Soweto
where so much of the future of South African cricket lay. It was, he said,
demonstrably the greatest cricket function that Soweto had ever hosted.
More than 100 Soweto schoolchildren, dressed in bright World Cup regalia,
celebrated the event by taking part in a mass cricket clinic.
The SA Post Office's chief executive officer Mr Maanda Manyatshe also used
the occasion to reveal the first in a series of 13 World Cup postage stamps
and hand over commemorative issues.
The guests, who included the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, Mr
Ronnie Kasrils, and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Aziz Pahad,
were reminded of Ali Bacher's prophetic words, uttered in a speech to the
Wisden Dinner in London 12 years ago, promising that cricket in South Africa
would survive its international isolation and that "out of Africa will come
something new. It will be dazzling, it will be strong, it will be good."
As the executive director of the 2003 World Cup, Dr Bacher's use of the word
"dazzling" in 1989 now takes on special significance. The collective noun
for zebras is a "dazzle" and the World Cup mascot - a zebra in 12 cricket
poses - will be known as Dazzler.
Nathan Reddy, of the agency TBWA Gavin Reddy, who designed the logo and
mascot, explained that the zebra colours represented the fusion of black and
white peoples and the cultural diversity of South Africa.
Dr Bacher reaffirmed the World Cup's mission statement that promises to
enhance the lives of South Africans in all walks of life through the event.
He said the teamwork of the United Cricket Board, the International Cricket
Council and the Global Cricket Corporation, who hold the television and
sponsorship rights, would ensure the success of the tournament, as would the
strong partnerships that had already developed with, among others, the SA
Post Office, Department of Trade and Industries, Reserve Bank, SA Sports
Commission and SA Mint.
Mr Speed, who came to Soweto from London especially to attend the launch,
emphasized the scope of the event internationally when he announced an
expected television audience of 1 billion people. He said he was confident
that South Africa would deliver an excellent event.
The World Cup's information website was also launched with a big-screen
sneak preview. It can be accessed on www.cricketworldcup.com