As the news buzz worldwide is filled with the sound of vuvuzela’s and everyone turns their attentions to the World Cup in South Africa, the George Media team have thrown our hats into the ring and despite yours truly drawing Algeria in the office sweepstakes —seriously conflicting any sense of support for my native England ahead of tonight’s game—everyone is having a ball.

In order to tie in the tournament to all-things IRJ now is a good time to look beyond what is happening on the pitches and enjoy the dramatic backdrop for tonight’s game at Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium: Rustenburg’s  Magaliesberg mountains. They are some of the oldest in the world and span 120 kilometres from Pretoria’s Bronkhorstspruit Dam in the east, over to Rustenburg. They also play host to platinum mining which provides employment and industry to the locality.

The Magaliesberg mountains are a perfect example of the country behind the football frenzy, and the concerns regarding vital energy, industry and infrastructural investments which will still be around once the teams have picked up their kits and gone home. To date, R17.5 billion has been spent on the five stadiums built and five others renovated to house this mass sporting event. When you consider that this is the same nation who just borrowed US$3.7 billion from the World Bank to build a new much-needed power plant, you can’t help but question the financials. Did no one think that this money could have gone to the national electricity provider, Eskom? Now we see reports that industrial action —in which two thirds of Eskom’s 32,000 staff may walk out— could threaten power cuts for the World Cup.

This sporting event has brought a promise of tourism and global focus to many, but at what cost today? It doesn’t make for popularity to highlight the real needs behind the beautiful game, but between Dutch beer companies storming seats with beautiful women and players touting mega sponsorship deals, it seems like madness that this hasn’t been given more coverage. By all means enjoy the match, but learning about the host country and appreciating it won’t hurt.