As the England team prepare to fly out to South Africa, we’ve got another report from the Umbro team over there, telling us how the country is gearing up to host the world’s biggest football tournament. Here’s Claire in Cape Town with the latest…

“So! We’re now down to single digit days to kick off and Capetonians are getting used to the sight of a complete stadium on their drives to and from work, as depicted above from Ocean View Drive (which also has great views of the city and the harbour by the way).

Cape Town’s streets and suburbs are virtually starting to buzz and hum with activity, excitement and the inevitable vuvuzela* outburst.

* (Reference compliments of Wikipedia):

A vuvuzela, sometimes called a ‘lepatata’ or a stadium horn, is a blowing horn approximately one metre in length and commonly blown by fans at football matches in South Africa. They require some lip and lung strength to blow and emit a loud monotone like a foghorn or an elephant.

South Africans’ excitement is also emerging and being expressed with true African creativity!

A stroll down the fan mile reveals a vibrant ‘Afro-recycled’ tree made from discarded plastic bottles (milk, detergent or fabric softener), which resembles a floral totem pole containing masques and motifs.

You can buy the wares of travelling artists at Greenmarket Square, like this happy piece below:

Those with more intricate beading skills are also diversifying their products to satisfy the hoards of fans that are hopefully going to be looking for some memorabilia to take home as souvenirs….”

Plenty of artistic endeavours taking place in Cape Town! We’ll be catching up with the Umbro team throughout the tournament to see what the tournament is like at street level.