Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Hull boss Phil Brown criticised for World Cup comments


Fans gather in South Africa ahead of the World Cup draw  last year
South Africa want to show a more positive side to African footbal

World Cup boss Danny Jordaan says Hull manager Phil Brown is "ill-informed" to suggest there are doubts about South Africa's ability to stage the event.

Brown spoke out after the deadly gun attack on the Togo team bus in Angola at the African Cup of Nations.

But Jordaan told BBC World Service: "Phil Brown was saying the World Cup must be removed from South Africa.

"I found that very extraordinary. He is not well informed. I will give him a call and talk to him about it."

Brown's reaction on hearing the news about last Friday's gun attack, which killed three, was uncompromising: "I am appalled. This throws a question mark against next summer's World Cup.

"You simply cannot put the safety of players, officials and fans at the slightest risk. That is totally unacceptable."

Jordaan countered: "If there is a security breach in any country it is the responsibility of that country, not ours.

Piers Edwards blog

"If Hull lose against Tottenham Hotspur they cannot play Manchester United because Manchester United were not there, so I cannot understand why you would make such an utterance.

"There was another call that the African Cup of Nations itself should be called off. But in the 1972 Olympics there was a massacre of Israeli athletes, and the Games had to continue because otherwise it's a victory for terrorists.

"And [Arsenal boss] Arsene Wenger said if you don't do the same in Angola it is going to be a victim of terrorism. So there is one coach in the Premier League that I agree with and one that I disagree with."

Jordaan had earlier waved away concerns that remaining tickets for the World Cup games, which begin on 11 June, would be hard to sell.

We are confident because we have employed a lot of resources to safeguard the World Cup
Danny Jordaan

"Fortunately the majority of the world is not influenced by warped understanding of the African continent," he said.

"If there is a war in Kosovo and a World Cup in Germany, no-one asks if the World Cup can go on in Germany, everyone understands the war in Kosovo is a war in Kosovo.

"The world must be balanced and must not apply different standards when it comes to the African continent.

"Our World Cup is secure and we are confident because we have employed a lot of resources to safeguard the event in our country."

The capital of Angola, Luanda, is some 1,500 miles from South Africa's largest city, Johannesburg, which is roughly the same distance between London and Moscow.

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