As is traditional, the World Cup trophy is making a one month long tour of the host nation.
Thousands of South African football fans, many sporting the national team’s shirt, queued for hours in Khayelitsha, one of Cape Town’s townships, to have their picture taken next to the solid gold trophy.
The World Cup trophy is only allowed to be touched by the winners and by heads of state. On arrival in South Africa, it was taken to Johannesburg to Nelson Mandela by the head of FIFA, Jerome Valcke. Mandela, of course, could touch the trophy, and was photographed grinning with his hand on the globe that tops the trophy. Mandela has been heavily involved in the arrangements for the World Cup, and Valcke said there was no question that he wouldn’t be the first stop the trophy made on its tour of the first ever African country to host the tournament.
The trophy, prior to its tour of 33 South African cities, had been on an international tour covering 81,000 miles and 86 different countries. After the tour it will be taken to Soweto, where the opening match between South Africa and Mexico will take place on June 11th.
Whilst there is not much chance of the South African team getting their hands on the statuette, as rank outsiders in the competition, thousands of fans will at least get the opportunity to see the majestic golden trophy close up and get a picture with it.
The World Cup Trophy is actually the third World Cup trophy that has been made. The original was won outright by Brazil in 1970, and so a second of the original Jules Rimet trophies was made. This was stolen in 1983 and never found. The trophy had been stolen once before and found a few days later under a bush wrapped in newspaper (found by a dog called Pickles – this is the kind of thing that comes up in pub quizzes so remember it), but after the 1983 theft a new trophy was designed, made of solid 18 carat gold. Lifting the trophy is not as easy as the elated winners will undoubtedly make it look – it weighs over 6 kilos (13.6lbs), which is 5 kilos of solid gold and a malachite base. Unlike the original, this trophy cannot be won outright, the winners of every tournament do get to keep a gold plated replica, however.
Tags: soccer, trophies, trophy, world cup tours