World Cup 2010: Taking to the road with Africa Kicks
I don't think we could really have avoided it any longer.
With only a couple of weeks left until the kicks off in Johannesburg, we've got into pre-match mood this week on Over To You, with a look at what seems like an imaginative way of adding a bit of background to the matches themselves.
A bus-load of journalists from the English networks and some of the language services are going on a journey through west Africa, starting in Ivory Coast, travelling through Ghana, Togo and Benin, before they end up in Nigeria ten days later.
The first ever World Cup to be held in Africa kicks off on 11 June. (Picture: Getty)
This is all being masterminded by Joseph Warungu, editor of African programmes, whom you can hear talking to Rajan on this week's programme.
He chose west Africa for the trip because this is the "football factory" of Africa - the region that produces the highest number of international players, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Emmanuel Adebayor among them.
The programmes that Joseph and his travelling companions will be producing sound absolutely fascinating.Ìý It's true that football will be providing the theme, but there's a lot more to it, as Joseph explains in the interview.
Now, I should possibly admit at this point that I'm not particularly interested in football, although Rajan's enthusiasm more than makes up for it in the Over To You office.
But if there's anyone out there who shares my feelings - well, perhaps we can compare notes at the end of the tournament as to whether there was too much football-related coverage. I look forward to hearing what you think.
Lend your voice to the accent debate
This week I've enjoyed the lively debate amongst listeners on the subject of accents. If you heard the programme last week, you'll know that listener David Corbett gave us his thoughts on the use of accents used on the World Service, particularly in voice-overs.
He feels that something neutral - Â鶹Éç English in fact - is what's needed. But not everyone shares his view, as you can hear on this week's programme.
Reith lecture
And we also have an interview with this year's Reith lecturer, the astronomer Martin Rees.
He talks about his theme, which is the importance of science, and how we must all be able to understand it if we're to face the challenges of the 21st century.
Do let us know what you think, both of what he says in our interview, and of his lectures, which start on the World Service on 5th June.
Cathy Packe is the Producer, Over To You
Over To You is your
chance to have your say about the Â鶹Éç World Service and its programmes.
It airs at 00:40, 03:40 and 12:40 every Sunday (GMT).
Comment number 1.
At 28th May 2010, Itoro wrote:Can someone told me if any africans can make it to semi final?
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Comment number 2.
At 7th Jun 2010, lochfc wrote:Listening to the Â鶹Éç sportsworld on the weekend was an amazing experience - 95% foopball of course, and endless talk about how the code should become the most popular sport in this that and the other country. Why for heaven's's sake? Isn't it popular enough already? What's wrong with rugby, gridiron, Gaelic football, baseball, ice hockey, hurling, sumo, jailai, curling, or AFL football? An AFL team has just attracted 80000+ spectators to its home-and away-fixtures 3 weeks running. What EPL team has done that? What other code than foopball tolerates (or perhaps can afford) to have three men and a dog watching international fixtures?
The Â鶹Éç reports other sports (now and then) but it actively proselytizes foopball all the time. Is the intention to relegate or extinguish every other form of team sport? In a world which increasingly values diversity, whether in the environment, languages, or whatever, are we all supposed to adore this pat-pat-pat yawnfest to the exclusion of everthing else? How many scoreless draws can one take? The weekend's sportsword was objectively a disgrace, even making an allowance for the world cup. It was like listening to an unholy coven of evangelical co-religionists all encouraging each other to take over the world.
How people can sit through a 90 minute game in the expectation of perhaps 2 moments of genuine excitement I really don't know. How about the Â鶹Éç sports team taking a genuine interest in some other sport, instead of just reporting the minimum they feel they have to? Other games have their interest and value - some far more interest, value and excitement than foopball.
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Comment number 3.
At 8th Jun 2010, ukdestination wrote:Itoro, an african team can definitely make it to the semi-finals, Ivory Coast are the best bets even if Drogba doesn't make it.It's a strong African line up though,Nigeria, Ghana,Cameroon could all make it.South Africa obviously have home advantage so any one of those could put a run together.
Rich, [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]
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