Jul 9, 2010 Greca Durant
When in Ethiopia, the Millennium Hall, Bole Road, Addis Ababa, dubbed as Little South Africa, is the best venue to watch the Soccer Football World Cup 2010.
For the last three weeks, the whole world has been suspended in wonderful sleeplessness and animation, kept awake by football or soccer, the one and only, truly global game, worthy of lost hours of precious slumber. All eyes and attention are focussed on soccer football and the 32 national teams, who are out-legging, out-goalling, and thrashing each other out, for glory and world adoration, in the calabash stadia of South Africa, the Rainbow Nation.
And where on earth is football passion at its most intense level? In the African Continent, of course, inhabited by millions of football fanatics, from toddlers to centenarians. Boosting football’s popularity here are African demigods the likes of Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast, Michael Essien of Ghana, and Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, the “first player ever to have won the treble of National League, National Cup and European Champions League…in successive seasons, the first with Barcelona and the second, in May, with Inter Milan,” according to John Carlin, in his article, ‘The Global Game,’ written for Time magazine. John Carlin is the author of the book, Playing the Enemy, on which the movie Invictus was based.
In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, cafés, restaurants and five-star hotels have been enticing customers with daily viewings of the football matches, which are beamed live on television, by various broadcasting channels, which include the continent’s African Union Broadcasters (AUB). AUB provides more public access to the games; in Ethiopia, the AUB soccer football World Cup 2010 coverage is telecasted through the government channel, ETV.
However, for that virtual party atmosphere and heightened feeling of being inside Soccer City itself in South Africa, attending one of the 64 matches, head off to Little South Africa @ The Millennium Hall, on Bole Road. The cavernous conference and exhibition hall is the best public-viewing venue for the World Cup 2010. Some fans come in wearing the colours of the national team they are supporting, armed with their de rigueur vuvuzelas, the booming 91 cm-long plastic horns used by African football fans to deafen each other; animal skin drums, flags, and other revelry-making items.
The Millennium Hall, dubbed Little South Africa, is equipped with six giant TV screens and dozens of widescreen, flat screen TVs, mounted all around the hall, for the fans ultimate viewing pleasure. To enhance one’s enjoyment of the games, food and drinks stalls have been set up inside, with attentive waiting staff moving around the patrons, serving hot or cold beverages like beer, soft drinks, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Top caterers dish out hamburgers, hotdogs, crisps, fries, fried vegetable or meat patties, injera, the national food, and other delectable short eats.
During intermissions, in between matches, the organizers have lined up lotteries, music from superb bands and DJs, dances, and other activities to entertain the massive gathering. An Abay Executive car from Holland Car awaits one lucky fan at the end of the Final match of the World Cup 2010.
One need not worry about safety problems. Security personnel are strategically positioned, for purposes of crowd control, from the entrance gates to the hall interiors. But for those who are still wary about joining in this kind of enormous celebrations, in spite of the tight security measures in Little South Africa, one must bear in mind that Ethiopians are capable of holding very organized and very safe affairs that involves thousands of participants. Every one coming into Little South Africa @ The Millennium Hall is there to share in the excitement, to cheer for their favourite football teams and idols, to spend a congenial evening with friends and family, in short, to have first-rate fun.
Little South Africa @ The Millennium Hall is the first-ever specially organized public viewing party of the Soccer Football World Cup 2010, courtesy of Addis Park Development & Management Plc, and ably supported by various government and corporate sponsors such as the National Oil Company of Ethiopia (NOC), BGI-St George Beer, M-Technology Group, ABC Plc Car Rental, Pepsi, Dashen Bank, Sheraton Addis, Pharmacure, Mamco, and Holland Car.
Catch the remaining World Cup 2010 matches--Semi-Finals, Third Place, and Final-- at Little South Africa @ The Millennium Hall, Bole Road, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Entrance tickets from 25 Ethiopian Birr, for Regular, and 50 Ethiopian Birr, for VIP. 1 USD=13.60 Ethiopian Birr.
Read more at Suite101: Where to Watch Soccer Football World Cup 2010, Ethiopia http://internationalsoccer.suite101.com/article.cfm/where-to-watch-soccer-football-world-cup-2010-ethiopia#ixzz0tCGWH5EX
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