Gregor Paul: World Cup in S Africa is criminal

Will the economic and political volatility negatively impact South Africa's ability to put on a great World Cup? Photo / Photosport

It doesn't feel right that South Africa has been named as the preferred bidder to host the 2023 World Cup. The Rainbow Nation has only previously stacked as the choice of the rugby romantic who judges everything with the heart.

It seemed inevitable, though, that once the cold, steely eyes of the appointed bean counters had been asked to pore over the details of the three bids, South Africa was the one most likely to be knocked out of the ball park.

France, given the stability of its government and economy, its freakishly reliable transport network, sizeable and modern stadia and proximity to other key European markets seemed to be a sitter to win the preferred bidder status. Ireland, offering similar security, was fancied to be the second choice at the end of such a thorough, clinical process.

But somehow, against all the odds, South Africa is now in prime position to win the 2023 hosting rights after it scored the highest mark in the review.

South Africa has won heads when it was only ever supposed to win hearts, and legitimate questions now need to be asked about the evaluation process.

Certainly France and Ireland may want to know how a country which has more than 50 murders a day has been deemed a better potential host of the 2023 World Cup.

There are, according to official statistics, another 50 attempted murders every day in South Africa and almost 40,000 women raped annually.

Buried in the report was one line on this which stated that South Africa has, "a history of crime against the person", which would make it seem that World Rugby has failed to realise personal safety ranks as a major consideration for fans and teams.

The report was more concerned with legacy concepts, the quality of training grounds and drug testing procedures and may have overlooked the fact that supporters may not attach the same relevance to such matters when the odds of them being stabbed or shot are high.

And the problem with that is that with an estimated 30 million people living in poverty in South Africa, a significant number of foreign visitors will be required in 2023 if they are to successfully sell all the 2.9 million available match tickets. Such an alarming crime rate has the potential to keep thousands of would-be travellers at home.

Maybe the economic and political volatility won't negatively impact South Africa's ability to put on a great World Cup but the point is it has been judged on this criteria in the report and deemed to be ahead of France and Ireland. That's the bit that doesn't make sense and will be nagging away at even those who have staunchly campaigned for South Africa to be 2023 hosts.