In 2009 I had an idea…In 2010 that idea became a reality.
Having worked for South African Airways and travelled through many parts of Africa I was well aware as to how many of the other African nations viewed South Africa. So when the then Presidents of South Africa and FIFA, Thabo Mbeki and Sepp Blatter said that South Africa’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup in 2010 would unite the continent, I had my doubts.
I wanted to make a documentary in which we travelled through Africa during the World Cup, visiting the nations taking part, and watching games with the locals, to get a feel for what it really meant, but also to see how important football was in different ways in each of the countries that we visited.
Thanks to the generous support of Geodrill, SAB Miller, Webb Construction, Adamus Resources, Antrak Logistics, Blue Bay Resorts in Zanzibar and Travel with Flair, the idea became a reality and “Standing at the Touchlines” was the end result.
This was the first documentary that I had ever made and it was a huge challenge to take on. Mistakes were made, and lessons learned and watching it back at times I cringe, but you have to start somewhere!
It can’t have been that bad as we won an Audience Choice Award at the African World Documentary Film Festival in 2013.
I could not have done this without the support of our sponsors or the great editing of Troy Lemmey, and my fellow crew Chris van der Sandt and Quie-ying Morrison. There were also many others who helped us on our journey and they are credited at the end of the film.
As 2022 is a World Cup year, and this film came out 12 years ago we decided to load it up on Youtube and take people back to 2010 and the first ever senior World Cup Finals to be hosted in Africa.
We hope that you enjoy it and Africa is proud of the show that they put on!
