Worldcup 2010 South Africa - World Cup 2010: Venue

Venue - Durban
Monday, July 17, 2006

Durban

KwaZulu/Natal, is the land of Shaka Zulu and his Impi warriors. At the heart of this province’s coastline is Durban, Africa’s busiest port city, and part of the Ethekwini Municipal Metropolitan. Durban or ‘Durb’s’ as it is affectionately known, keeps 3 million people content in a temperate climate with winter ranging between 16-25° C and summer reaching an average of 32°C.

On Christmas Day, 1497, the Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama landed in a natural lagoon which would become the site of Durban. He mistook the lagoon for a river and named it Rio de Natal (Christmas River) but it was later corrected and changed to Port Natal. Port Natal became Durban on 23 June 1835, in honour of Cape Governor, Sir Benjamin D'Urban.

In the late 1800’s, the British brought many people from India to work on the sugar cane plantations in Natal. In 1893, Mahatma Gandhi arrived from India. On his way to Johannesburg, he was denied a seat on a train because of his skin colour. Durban became the base from which he formulated his passive resistance campaign against the South African government and the exploitation of Indian sugarcane workers.

Durban The beaches in Durban and along the KwaZulu/Natal coast are exquisite with golden sand and countless hours of sunshine. The colourful rickshaw drivers are easy to spot in Durban, as they often wear beaded wearing big headdresses adorned with horns.

Only a three hour drive from Durban is the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park. It is the largest estuarine system in Africa, encompassing 13 protected areas. It is a World Heritage site and is home to a large amount of bird species. Kwazulu/Natal’s second World Heritage site, the Ukahlamba-Drakensberg Park is in stark contrast with this. For the San people, the 200km mountain range has been an integral part of their history and is decorated with a rich collection of rock painting. Ukahlamba literally means “barrier of spears” in Zulu.

The Premier Soccer League teams from this region are Maritzburg Classic and the Golden Arrows. Maritzburg classics were previously known as the Thembisa Classic before they were renamed at the end of the 2005/2006 season. This team is based is based in Pietermaritburg. Golden Arrows play their football at King’s Park.

Stadium

Durban King’s Park, located near the harbour, currently seats just over 52000 people. It was the stage for the nail-biting game in which England beat South Africa 2-1 in 2003. South Africa’s national football team Bafana Bafana, also played their first post-apartheid international game versus Cameroon in 1992 at King’s Park. After its upgrade, the stadium should seat 60,000.