Soccer: Codes unite to smooth way

Touring South Africa is tough. Winning in South Africa is even tougher. That's why the All Whites have met rugby and Olympic bosses to discuss some of the pitfalls, dangers and peculiarities of touring the republic as they prepare for June's World Cup.

They have met Hurricanes officials as well as others from the New Zealand Olympic Committee and Sparc. As well, All Whites coach Ricki Herbert intends chatting to All Blacks counterpart Graham Henry.

NZRU chief executive Steve Tew and New Zealand Cricket boss Justin Vaughan have also been in touch, offering their services.

Football is on a high at the moment - and not only because of World Cup qualification - but the All Whites have little experience playing at major tournaments in difficult countries. They played at last year's Confederations Cup in South Africa but it was over a shorter time and on a considerably smaller scale.

Sparc recognised the All Whites' lack of experience and knowledge and started the ball rolling. They regularly look to help organisations with planning by putting them in touch with others with experience. Sparc chairman Paul Collins is also Hurricanes chairman.

New Zealand Football boss Michael Glading met Hurricanes operations manager Tony Bedford, who has organised 17 tours to South Africa.

"These guys have been there so many times, so it can only be helpful to us," Glading said. "It has been amazing how willing people are to help. When I flew down for the first meeting, I wondered how useful it might be. But we got huge amounts out of it. The Hurricanes have manuals on pre-planning [trips to South Africa] and that was extremely useful.

"One of the things we talked a lot about was security and that was pre-Togo [when two members of the Togo football team were killed by Angolan rebels].

"It was also little things, like knowing there are no eftpos machines in South Africa so if a player needs some money, they need to go to a bank. That means you need a plan to have security before, during and after a visit to the bank."

The Hurricanes have toured South Africa annually since the start of Super Rugby in 1996 and have the best record of any New Zealand team in the Republic.

"When we were approached to offer some advice to the All Whites, we were very happy to sit down and discuss the art of touring Africa," Hurricanes chief executive Greg Peters said.

"The Hurricanes franchise has had 14 years' experience of touring the country and we discussed a whole range of topics including the logistics of touring, the climate, the altitude, how to structure a campaign, what we enjoy and what we find difficult.

"We also passed on our vast network of contacts, some of which might be useful as the All Whites management work towards getting the right balance between work and leisure activities."

For Glading, this is the biggest and most important project of his career. He has some experience of organising major events, such as Luciano Pavarotti's Worldwide Farewell Tour of New Zealand in 2005.

"We almost literally had to plan every step [of that tour] because he could hardly walk."

Herbert, team manager Phil Warbrick, high performance manager Alex Chiet and media officer Jamie Scott are to attend a three-day workshop being run by Fifa in South Africa next month.

Boredom could be one of the biggest factors the All Whites will have to contend with when in South Africa.

Aside from trainings and games, they will be largely confined to their hotel because of security issues.

The team will stay in a gated community near Johannesburg airport for the duration of the tournament - unless they miraculously qualify for the second round - and will be restricted in what they can do.

There is a golf course at the six-star hotel but the players are banned from playing golf, meaning the internet and cards will get a good workout.

"Above all, we almost have to plan every hour of every day we are in South Africa," Glading said. "They can't exactly just go wandering around the shops because they won't be allowed to leave the hotel."