media briefing
21 November 2007
In 2006, the Gauteng Provincial Government bid for and won the right to host
Soccerex, the world's leading convention on the business of football, for three
years from 2007 to 2009.
A lot of work has been done by ourselves working in collaboration and we are
very excited to be on the eve of the first ever Soccerex convention in Gauteng
from 25 to 28 November 2007.
We are hosting Soccerex, not just because of the passion our people have for
football and everything to do with the beautiful game. We did it because we had
taken a conscious decision to build Gauteng as a preferred home of competitive
sport, as the Home of Champions.
Our drive to build the competitive sport sector of the economy is motivated
by our commitment to address poverty and underdevelopment in our province and
our country. Competitive sport has the ability and the potential to not only
provide lots of enjoyment and entertainment for our people, but, critically for
us, to create more jobs and grow our economy.
Our strategy is therefore to attract major local and international events to
Gauteng and in the process build the sport sector of the economy and open up
increasing economic opportunities for our people.
We were therefore extremely pleased when we won the bid to host Soccerex for
three years in a row. Soccerex, as the top football convention worldwide, is
ideally suited to form a partnership with ourselves in these endeavours and
assist us in our efforts to grow the business of football in Gauteng.
Our aim is also that Soccerex should contribute to our preparations to host
a successful Federation of International Football Association (Fifa) World Cup
in 2010 and we are pleased to note Fifa President, Sepp Blatter's close
association with and support for Soccerex.
Major events such as Soccerex and the World Cup bring thousands of
international visitors to our province and help us market and position our
province as a globally competitive city region. They give us an opportunity to
showcase the immense opportunities that Gauteng and indeed the country as a
whole have as a destination for tourism, investment and other major events.
As we know, our visitors stay in our amazing hotels, eat in our restaurants,
go on local tours, explore our music, our entertainment, our craft and other
cultural and tourist offerings, take advantage of our excellent shopping
opportunities, use taxis etc. I am told that already Sandton hotels are fully
booked for the duration of Soccerex.
Hopefully our visitors will have such a good time that they will come back
to visit and bring their families. Hopefully they will also identify
opportunities to do business and invest in Gauteng, form partnerships with
local entrepreneurs and boost the sport sector of our economy. All of this has
the potential to create additional jobs and economic opportunities in the
hospitality sector, in transport, in retail and other sectors of the
economy.
Since we won the bid to host Soccerex, we have been working with the
organisers to maximise the positive impact that the event will have in the
province and leave lasting legacies.
We have identified opportunities to use the event to support sports
development, strengthen small businesses and improve the services sector,
particularly the taxi industry.
To support small business development, we have provided subsidies to small,
medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) to exhibit at Soccerex. Carefully selected
small business exhibitors will benefit by having the bulk of their exhibition
costs paid for by the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP), the Gauteng
government agency responsible for SMME support.
Through the Gauteng Economic Development Agency (GEDA), we are hosting
business development seminars and have created linkages with other Southern
African countries in using Soccerex as a platform to build the business of
football in the region.
We will also link international companies exhibiting at Soccerex 2007 with
local entities that are looking to expand their knowledge and capacity in the
ever-growing soccer industry. This match-making process is expected to help
Gauteng-based companies in the sector, especially in the run-up to the Fifa
2010 World Cup.
To support sports development and open up opportunities for young people to
participate in the event, we have initiated a five-a-side soccer tournament in
collaboration with the South African Football Association. The programme, known
as Diski 5 GP, is part of an initiative to develop football among young people
under the age of 20.
Regional tournaments have taken place and teams from our six regions â
Ekurhuleni, West Rand, Tshwane, Johannesburg, Sedibeng and Metsweding, will
compete in the finals of the competition in Sandton on 25 November 2007. This
will take place just prior to the Soccerex Football Festival.
The competition will run alongside Soccerex until 2009. Thereafter it will
be staged independently of the event. We are envisaging that we will continue
to grow the event every year and will be attracting greater participation and
grow the competition's standards and incentives.
We are pleased that the organisers of Soccerex have made a commitment to
establish a sports complex as a legacy project associated with event. The
centre will be established in Mapetla, Soweto, and will serve as a hub for
educational, life skills and talent identification programmes.
The centre will comprise a full-size soccer field, four five-a-side areas
(each with colourful borders of red, blue, yellow and white surrounding the
green playing area) and two play courts for tennis, netball and basketball.
Soccerex has also provided impetus to improved customer service to visitors
from metered taxis. Taxis to transport delegates from the airport to their
hotels have been accredited and drivers have been trained in customer care,
courtesy and in providing generic tourism information.
The accredited taxis will be yellow in colour and will be branded to make
identification easy. They will have a central booking number and they will be
monitored and dispatched from a central point to ensure passenger safety.
Finally, we look forward to a successful Soccerex Gauteng 2007 and a further
strengthening of the partnerships we have forged as a result of this
initiative.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government
21 November 2007
