Bafana's London date settled at long last
November 03, 2006 Edition 1

Nkareng Matshe

Johannesburg: English third division club Brentford yesterday confirmed for the first time that they had been approached to make their stadium available for the Nelson Mandela Challenge between South Africa and Egypt on November 15.

"The game will most probably go ahead (at Griffin Park)," said a club spokesperson. "We have spoken to the organisers (Star Meridian) about hosting the game here and, in all probability, it will go ahead, although we still have to finalise certain things."

It was the first bit of good news for the South African Football Association in the saga, after they had appeared to be making a mess of the match by leaving it entirely up to brokers to stage.

Star Meridian were also delighted that Brentford, with whom they claim to have a working relationship, were now singing from the same songsheet.

"Everything has been resolved, including the financial obligations which were outstanding. We have engaged the stadium management and Safa officials and they are happy," said Meridian chief executive Alex Nortey.

He and his team now have to repair the damage done by negative publicity and uncertainty regarding the game, but he blamed unnamed South Africans for sowing doubt. "Most of the negativity has come from South Africa, not London, not Egypt. Hopefully we can now move away from that and concentrate on organising the game," he stated.

After all the hullabaloo, Star Meridian will now have to find ways of attracting fans to fill the 13 000-seater stadium. By Nortey's own admission, his company could hardly lure spectators to the Ghana-Togo clash which they staged at the same venue on August 16.

"We have been working closely with the local media to create awareness of the Mandela Challenge, and I'm confident of a good turnout. There are only 500 Togolese in England, so there wouldn't have been too many people at the match. But it's different with South Africa and Egypt."

Star Meridian's attempts to lure fans will be boosted by news that Ahmed "Mido" Hossam, arguably the African champions' most celebrated player, will be included in Egypt coach Hassan Shehata's squad.

Mido is based at London club Tottenham Hotspur.

There is a thick layer of frost on the grass this morning. The unny: is out and it is beautiful day.

Enjoy your weekend! pring:

:daisy:

This is probably the wrong area to post in. Although this is travel related, is not just travel and it is immigration related and aslo not...

We are going to SA for a nice 2 week holiday... and I am soo excited. To add to the excitement, we are due to move into our brand new house 3 days before we leave to go on hols....but that is another story!

As you know, I had my little angel boy last year, an he has his own SA passport which is great... but something just occured to me now.... we are here on Ancestral Visa and since he was born here, we didn't apply for him to get a visa. How are we going to get him back in the country without a visa in his passport??

This is the last thing I was thinking about and now my heart is skipping beats...

what now? Any advice??

I managed the UK to SA trip fine - but I now have 5 boxes (approx 50kgs each) in SA that must come out here and the cheapest quote that I have receiced so far is £150 per box (by air....)

So if anyone can help out - please let me know.

Just want to say thank you for your consistence in keeping this forum alive for so long. I am learning so much through it!

Well done and thank you again!!

Well we have had two days of the white stuff already this week.

The temperature dropped quite suddenly on Wednesday and we had the first dusting of the dreaded snow. nowtime:

Yesterday and today have been pretty much the same, ( just more snow)

All I want for christmas is some sun and a braai ( I do miss the SA Christmas in the sun when it is cold and miserable).

But then my family all think it is marvellous when it is cold and snowy for Xmas ( I must say that the Xmas spirit and feeling is totally different... and nice)

Where would you rather be?

I send computer magazines to a friend regularly. Once I've send him the magazine with the CD taken out of the holder. Never thought to check until he called and said the important CD is missing. Since then they have changed the plastic holder to a sealed paper envelope. Almost every month I will find an envelope torn open and the CD is gone. Must be a regular "customer" that walks away with it. Amazing how they get away with.

Baie geluk met jou verjaardag! Mag jou jaar sommer baie lekker vreugdes inhou en die Here ryklik voorsien in al jou behoeftes.

Geniet jou dag - hoop daar is melktert op die spyskaart daar in Belgie!

Sal 'n koppie tee aan hierdie kant drink en aan jou dink.

Mag ons sommer nog baie van jou stories hier lees.

Happy Birthday to hantam, Squid_Vicious, Spacegirl and Safferbeauty

:bday3:

may you all have a wonderful day

:jive:

well, there you have it, my son wants to know

Why does the Moon shine?

So do any of you know the answer off the back of your hand then

:haha: