Sunderland 2018 Host City Bid

Cape Town’s magnificent Green Point Stadium, the venue for England v Algeria, is one of five arenas constructed specially for 2010. Over 40,000 England fans have flocked to the city and it’s a proper home from home. Everywhere you look there’s the cross of St George proudly flying and the strains of ‘Eng-er-land’ are ringing out at every turn. There’s a real carnival atmosphere and the friendliness and warmth of the South African people is a joy to experience. Everything is so well organized, from the traffic management, signage, policing and stewarding. An army of volunteers are on hand to help – this is a job that in 2018 the people of Sunderland would excel at. A feature of all World Cup stadiums is a huge perimeter cordon around the outside. You enter through a friendly but efficient security check and once inside there’s entertainment, music, merchandise stands and sponsors exhibitions. You then progress into the stadium itself. Prior to the start of the tournament the English media questioned South Africa’s ability to host this prestigious tournament but the Rainbow Nation has more than delivered. Green Point is a shining example of a modern football stadium with spacious concourses and a great view from every seat. At all World Cup venues you can drink alcohol in the seated areas – something that English football does not allow. This causes no problems at all and seems to add to the general carnival spirit throughout the ground. As we look around there are flags from virtually every town and city in England on display – and of course Sunderland is well represented. We brought a giant Sunderland AFC flag with us, handing one end to the gentleman on our right to hold. We couldn’t understand his reluctance to help until he spoke – a broad Geordie accent rang out! Everything about the evening was efficient, well planned, well organized and thoroughly enjoyable…and then the game kicked off!