Population: 3,888,180
Province: Gauteng
Average temperature in June: High: 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 Celcius). Low: 42 degrees Fahrenheit (6 Celcius).
Average precipitation in June: .30 inches (7.6 millimeters).
Brief history: Originally a small farming village, the town of Johannesburg grew upon the discovery of gold in 1886. Since then, Johannesburg has grown into what is today the largest city in South Africa. Finding gold will do that to a small farming village. Amazing how that works, no? But despite its status as the nation's largest city, Johannesburg is not one of South Africa's three capital cities. However, Johannesburg is the capital of the South African province of Gauteng. For those that may be unaware, provinces in South Africa are equitable to states in the United States. So to extend the comparison, Johannesburg is to Gauteng as Harrisburg is to Pennsylvania, only Johannesburg is also the country's largest city.
During the age of Apartheid, the outskirts of Johannesburg played host to the South Western Townships (abbreviated and referred to as Soweto), a black township in a then white city of Johannesburg. Today, Soweto is a part of Johannesburg, but it is still an overwhelmingly black portion of the city. Aspeaking of Apartheid, in his early life, Nelson Mandela lived for a bit in Johannesburg, going from job to job as a youngster.
As mentioned above, Johannesburg is today the largest city in South Africa. And while it is not one of the country's three capitals (more on them later in the month as all 3 are hosting World Cup games), it is the business and financial hub of South Africa. Johannesburg is not the city that is going to dazzle you with history, but rather is more the important business city in South Africa. Not every South African city has this and I hesitate a bit to use such comparisons, but if you are going to compare it to a German World Cup city, that city is Frankfurt. Same type deal, not a whole lot of national history, but very important financially.
Here is another Johannesburg oddity, it may not be any national capital, but it does house the nation's largest courthouse. No one said that South Africa (and particularly Johannesburg) was completely normal. Johannesburg is also home to the largest airport in all of Africa, O.R. Tambo International Airport.
United States Sister City: New York City, New York
Venue #1: Soccer City
If you are going to start with a venue, you might as well start with the venue that is hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup Championship. The capacity of Soccer City is 91,141, which is the larger of any stadium in this World Cup and 16,000 people larger than the stadium that hosted last year's World Cup Final, Olympiastadion in Berlin. If you are wondering why the surrounding area seems so barren and rather unattractive, it is because Soccer City is located firmly in Soweto. There are plans to liven it up and here is an artist's rendition of what Soccer City might look like in a month. I'm also not familiar with grass in South Africa, so it very well could be that during their summers (our winters) the grass just dries up completely there leaving nothing but dirt. And once winter begins there (our summer), the grass grows there. Soccer City first opened in 1989, but has been refurbished for this World Cup to the point where it is almost impossible to recognize the old from the new.
2010 World Cup games being played in Soccer City:
June 11: Group A: South Africa vs. New Mexico
June 14: Group E: Netherlands vs. Denmark
June 17: Group B: Argentina vs. South Korea
June 20: Group G: Brazil vs. Ivory Coast
June 23: Group D: Ghana vs. Germany
June 27: Round of 16: Group B Winner vs. Group A Runner-up
July 2: Quarterfinal game
July 11: World Cup Championship Game
Venue #2: Ellis Park Stadium
Viewers of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup will no doubt recognize this as one of the four venues used for that tournament. It was at this venue a year ago that the United States lost to Brazil in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup championship. The capacity for Ellis Park is 62,567. This stadium was originally built as a Rugby stadium and outside of Orlando Pirates matches, has not hosted a major soccer event until the aforementioned Confederations Cup. Aspeaking of the Orlando Pirates and Ellis Park, twice has disaster struck in this stadium. The first was on April 11, 2001 when a stampede resulted in the deaths of 42 people. The second was on January 17, 2007 when Mother Nature revealed her power in the form of a wind storm that blew some of the advertising boards usually on the sidelines onto the pitch. A torrential downpour immediately afterwards resulted in a game abandonment. Three players and a linesman were struck by the flying debris, but fortunately, no one was seriously injured.
2010 World Cup games being played in Ellis Park Stadium
June 12: Group B: Argentina vs. Nigeria
June 15: Group G: Brazil vs. North Korea
June 18: Group C: Slovenia vs. United States
June 21: Group H: Spain vs. Honduras
June 24: Group F: Slovakia vs. Italy
June 28: Round of 16: Group G Winnter vs. Group H RUnner-up
July 3: Quarterfinal game
Lastly, here are some more pictures of Johannesburg to give you more of a visual image of the city.
(Thanks to Wikipedia in addition to several web sites dedicated to Johannesburg and South Africa. Stay tuned as I look at the other cities hosting the 2010 World Cup in the upcoming month.)
If they have those stupid horns again that makes bee noises, I'm not watching.
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