Favre trade the best outcome for the Bears

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By MATT MEDVED

After a ludicrous soap opera that may have filled more sports news cycles than last summer’s Vick Watch, Brett is finally a Jet.

And the Bears are breathing a hefty sigh of relief.

Although there was speculation that Number Four could land in Soldier Field, Green Bay’s decision to ship Brett Favre cross-conference may actually be the best result for Chicago.

Although his stellar 2007 campaign may have been a fluke, Favre has been the bane of the Bears’ defense for more than 15 years. Favre sports a 22-10 record all-time against the Bears and is 12-3 in Soldier Field. So much for homefield advantage.

Perhaps even more importantly, Favre was denied his wish to go to the rival Minnesota Vikings who are a quarterback away from making a serious playoff push. Adrian Peterson and the Viking defense are scary enough for the Bears to face twice a year without worrying about Favre’s token fourth quarter heroics.

Now that the NFC North is Favre free, the Bears’ quarterback quandary suddenly doesn’t look as woeful compared to the rest of the division. Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, Brian Brohm and Matt Flynn have a combined zero NFL starts. Minnesota’s Tarvaris Jackson is unproven. And how many good seasons does Jon Kitna have left in him for a Lions team that cannot protect him? Should Grossman or Orton prove to be at least somewhat decent, the Bears have a fighting chance this year to make a dent in the division.

As a Bills fan, I’m less than pleased to see Favre land in the AFC East. But the question still remains of which Favre will don the green and white in 2008. Will it be the 28 touchdown gunslinger of 2007 or the turnover machine that threw 29 interceptions in 2005?

Likely to be somewhere in between, but I’m still not sure the Jets are a playoff team with Favre onboard. There’s no doubt he’s an upgrade over the soon-to-be-released Chad Pennington and third year pro Kellen Clemens.Their receivers are iffy and although they made substantial investments in their offensive line this offseason, much will depend on how well it gels. The 38-year-old Favre will revert to his mistake prone ways if opposing defenses can get consistent pressure on him.

But the Bears don’t care about any of this. For the first time in fifteen years they don’t have to see Brett Favre at all unless both teams make the Super Bowl. And there’s an even smaller chance of that happening than there was of Favre staying retired in the first place.

‘We need to educate soccer fans’

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By ANDISIWE MAKINANA, ZARA NICHOLSON and MATT MEDVED

The SA Football Association in the Western Cape says the whole culture of soccer fans in South Africa needs to change before the 2010 World Cup and will embark on an education campaign to achieve this.

Although commentators said the 90 Minutes for Mandela football match on Wednesday night was a commercial success, it was not short of chaos, including a pitch invasion at the final whistle.

Spectators also complained of backlogs in the parking garages and the seating ar-rangement on the stands.

Yesterday a Safa Western Province meeting agreed that although the organisation of the match was largely successful, there was a downside.

Chairman Vernon Seymour said: “We are happy with a lot of things about that match: marketing, good attendance, sizeable number of white people at the stadium.”

But he admitted that there was still a lot to be done before the 2010 World Cup.

“We paid attention to the downside of the game as well; there were lessons learnt and we will correct them.

“For instance, the pitch invasion doesn’t happen in cricket and rugby matches, where there are also no fences around the ground.

“That shows we need to beef up security for soccer matches, but more importantly, we have to educate people that running on to the field is not right.”

Seymour said parking was another concern at Newlands and was a major factor in moving the World Cup.

“In future we will look at or-ganising public parking in areas like Kenilworth, Mowbray and even town and then have shuttles to the stadium.”

Another issue that needed to be addressed urgently was seating arrangements at Newlands.

Seymour said Safa-WP had received complaints that people had fought over seats in the stands. “We normally have a free-sitting arrangement in our PSL matches. People buy tickets with a seat number but would sit anywhere.

“So from this season we will look at enforcing the rule and have visible policing at the stadium. It is about educating people and it will be achieved,” he added.

Gavin Lewis, general manager for marketing at Newlands, reported that all things had gone well at the match, which had attracted a full house of 52 000 fans.

Lewis said that although vuvuzelas were allowed at the match at Newlands on Wednesday and at any other soccer match hosted at the stadium, they were still banned at rugby matches.

“It is for technical reasons at rugby matches where they have line-outs, scrums and lots of other calls and every player needs to hear the calls,” Lewis said.

He said no residents or resident associations were involved in making the rule.

Cape Town unites at Newlands for Madiba bash

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By MATT MEDVED and ELLA SMOOK

The “90 Minutes for Mandela” game at Newlands last night has shown that Capetonians can unite, says Cape Town mayor Helen Zille.

Describing last night’s World XI vs Africa XI match as “enjoyable, safe and a milestone in preparation for the 2010 World Cup”, Zille said today that it proved that Capetonians could fill a football stadium in spite of “little advertising and a short lead time”.

Last night’s match featured a boisterous and a near-capacity crowd, but was marred by a pitch invasion at the final whistle.

Security personnel had to scramble to protect the players and dignitaries.

Brazilian football legend Pelé, 66, did not suit up to play, but he did kick off the match and ran a lap around the field, hand-in-hand with Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o. He also led the crowd in a chant of “Say no to racism”.

The nail-biting match, which ended in a 3-3 draw between the Africa XI and World XI teams, was in honour of Nelson Mandela’s 89th birthday yesterday.

A message from Mandela was broadcast on video screens around the stadium before the kick-off.

“Part of the true beauty of the game of soccer is its power to unite people,” said Mandela.

“I remember how we used to play soccer as prisoners on Robben Island. It helped us keep hope during those dark days.”

Eto’o said the match was one of the best he had ever been selected to take part in.

“This is not the World Cup final or the Champion’s League final; it’s a match to celebrate the life of a great person,” he said.

“And I hope we can celebrate again with Mandela at the World Cup in three years.”

Fans blasted their vuvuzelas and waved signs saying, “Veels geluk liewe Madiba (Congratu-lations, dear Madiba)”.

Announcers described the crowd as “a full house” and fans wanting to buy last-minute tickets were turned away outside the stadium.

“The guys have been playing very well and it’s good to see more of the African guys being featured out there,” said fan Xolani Mfazo of Khayelitsha. “I do wish I could have seen Pelé play, though.”

Jimmy Mosamo, 27, of Fish Hoek, said he had come out to see favourites like Doctor Khumalo and Lucas Radebe play.

“The game has been great, it’s like a Champion’s League atmosphere,” said Mosamo.

“And there is a great mixture of white, coloured and black people here,” he said.

“Soccer truly can bring people together, just like Madiba says. It’s what South Africa has been missing.”

Zille thanked Fifa, the 2010 Local Organising Committee and Safa “for bringing this event and international soccer stars to Cape Town”.

“This match has vindicated their trust in Cape Town and the allocation of nine World Cup matches to Cape Town’s new Green Point stadium. We will treat this as a test-run for 2010, hold an extensive debrief to build on success and to make improvements where needed.”

Meanwhile, Sapa reports that Mandela marked his birthday by launching fellow elder statesmen on a venture to re-duce conflict and despair.

He was the host at a ceremony in Johannesburg to an-nounce the formation of a brains trust of world leaders, bringing together such people as ex-US president Jimmy Carter and former UN chief Kofi Annan, on a mission to tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems.

The Elders will be chaired by Richard Branson.

Stadium builders plough on regardless

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By MATT MEDVED

Demolition and excavation efforts at the Green Point Stadium site continued “full throttle” over the Easter holiday weekend, despite the threat of legal action by the Cape Town Environmental Protection Association (CEPA).

Excavators were digging through the rubble of the old stadium and articulated dump trucks were hauling payloads of topsoil on the Green Point Common when the Cape Argus visited the site yesterday.

Although an application to work on Good Friday was turned down by the city out of respect for the religious holiday, work continued on Saturday and yesterday.

“Right now we are still chasing that October 2009 deadline,” said Pieter Cronje, spokesman for City 2010.

“It’s the early days of the process but we are moving full speed ahead.”

Technical project director David Hugo said he had applied for permission to work on Good Friday but the query was rejected by the city “because of the importance of the religious holiday”.

The primary focus of the current work is the excavation of the Metropolitan golf course, where the new 68 000-seat stadium will be built, as well as the diversion of bulk services to the new site. Such services include a storm drain and a larger water main for the common.

Turf from the golf course has also been removed and sold to a construction contractor.

Additionally, the partial demolition of the old Green Point stadium has started. While the contract for the complete demolition was still being finalised, a portion of the existing structure will be used as a construction yard with offices for sub-contractors and engineers on site.

“We are demolishing approximately three quarters of the stadium under an agreement with the Western Cape province,” Hugo said.

“We have commenced stripping off the roof sheeting and façade of the building.”

The next stage will be the casting of concrete for the stadium foundations. Hugo said that the city had also embarked on a public process to agree on spatial limits for the common as well as to establish an athletics facility there.

“At the moment, the full complement of workers is not on site,” Cronje said. “Once they start the construction proper, the numbers will increase.”

The construction workers work shifts from 6.30am until 5.30pm, six to seven days a week.

The work has progressed unfettered by the urgent application to the High Court that the CEPA submitted last week, to halt the building process and return the Common to its state prior to March 26, when the construction officially began.

The CEPA has asked the court to declare as unlawful the environmental record of decision (ROD) issued by the provincial Environmental Department in October, which grants approval for the stadium to be built on the Green Point Common, as well as the revised ROD by environmental MEC Tasneem Essop in January, when she dismissed appeals against the choice of site.

Robert MacDonald, spokesman for Cape Town mayor Helen Zille, said Zille would “vigorously defend the court action”.

Cronje said that the city’s lawyers were still studying the “very bulky” papers they had been served and that it was too early to tell what their course of action would be.

“One is never flippant about any legal challenge but we feel that we will oppose this action in court,” said Cronje.

“The construction must go on; it’s not just about the stadium, it’s also about all the relevant investments. We also believe that the timing of the action is unproductive because we have gone through the statutory processes over many months with public participation and appeal.

“The stadium is not a random development, but part of the development in the surrounding Waterfront and central business district and we believe it will provide a cash injection to give the Green Point Common a facelift as a new sports and recreation precinct.”

CEPA chairman Arthur Wienburg was unavailable for comment yesterday.