The glare of the global football world will be on the Cape Town International Convention Centre at 19h00 next Friday, December 4, when the 32 teams who made it through to Africa’s first Fifa World Cup and their legions of fans find out exactly where they will be playing - and who they will be playing against.
And when the Final Draw is beamed to millions of homes in more than 200 countries next week, a magnificent Draw Hall and stage fit for the magnitude of the occasion stands ready to play host to the dramatic proceedings.
It’s taken 3600 hours of manpower to set up the sprawling Draw Hall and 950 square metres of timber to construct the stunning African-inspired Draw stage – which already stands ready to host the eagerly anticipated event.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa’s Cape Town Venue Manager, Teral Cullen, has been the operational head of the mammoth operation that is the Final Draw – and as the excitement mounts and the event draws nearer, she’s confident things are well in hand.
"Over the last 10 days everyone involved has put in an enormous effort. They’ve really put their noses to the ground and worked flat out, with many late nights and early mornings. The Draw Hall and stage is complete and rehearsals have already started. And with a week to go we’re very confident with our preparations, we’re ahead of schedule and ready for this event," said Cullen.
She added that while the Final Draw is being delivered by a large team of 3 254 people in total, including security personnel, volunteers, event staff, contractors and entertainers, the co-operation between all parties has been outstanding.
"There has been tremendous teamwork and communication between the city and provincial authorities and Fifa and the Organising Committee. There’s been excellent communication in particular between ourselves and Fifa in terms of assessing the requirements for this event and delivering on it. All parties involved sense we’re building something special and we’re set for and working hard to deliver a spectacular event," said Cullen.
To date, 27 of the 32 coaches have confirmed their attendance, including well-known coaches such as Brazil’s Dunga, Portugal’s Carlos Queiroz, England’s Fabio Capello, Italy’s Marcello Lippi, Spain’s Vicente Del Bosque, Nigeria's Shuaibu Amodu and of course South Africa’s Carlos Alberto Parreira have confirmed their attendance for the Final Draw.
The Final Draw in Numbers:
* 3254 people involved in the operation of the Final Draw
* 1587 safety and security people including authorities and private security staff
* 400 Host City staff
* 80 entertainers
* 500 staff of contractors
* 380 Volunteers
* 110 Organising Committee staff
* 207 FIFA staff
* Nearly a year of preparations
* The set design and complete project folder for the draw project is 5Gb big
* Stage artwork alone amounts to 1.5Gb
* Printed material for the set is approx 1100 Sq meters
* Black reflective Vinyl flooring on the set is approx 500 Sq Meters.
* The set structure consumed around 6.5 tons of steel
* The four columns consist of around 1200 meters of 50mm round tubing
* The ceiling rings used around 1400 of 25 square tubing and 200sq meters of fabric
* Around 240 sheets of wood for custom stage levels
* Onset light boxes currently contains 500 fluorescent tubes
* Covering the stage light boxes is 800Kgs of tempered glass sheets
* Covering the front light boxes are 40 sheets of opal Perspex
* Most of the set was built, printed and finished in Cape Town, by Cape Town companies. Only the steel columns and parts of the headers were manufactured in Johannesburg by a specialist welder
* 5000 hours of production of the video material to be used during the show
* 18 live broadcast units to be used
* Live broadcast of the show to more than 200 countries and territories
* 3600 hours manpower to set-up the draw hall
* 950 sq meters timber
* 56 x 5 litre tins of paint used
* 1,2km steel handrails
Source: Colin Udoh kickoff.com
