Airports in South Africa coping well with the World Cup

Airports around South Africa are coping well with the increased passenger traffic for the World Cup. The Airports Company South Africa says Cape Town International which usually hosts about 110 flights a day is now up to about 150.

Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport's Immigration desk is processing just over 3600 people per hour.

Other airports around the country have expereinced the rush of the World Cup fans following their teams around the country. Some airports are operating throughout the night.

At Belle Regalo we received a rush of calls of Friday with people deseperate for last minute soccer gear and supoorter's gear. Luckily there will be matches for some weeks to come. But is is always best to plan ahead.

Mandela hoped to make an appearance

Former President Nelson Mandela said yesterday the World Cup is an important symbol of unity ariund the world. "It symbolises around the World the power of football to bring people together from all over the world regardless of language ,the colour of one's skin, political or religious persuasion," he said in a statement. Mandela's family has said that the world's statesman who turns 92 next month, is increasingly frail and rarely appears in public. However he could make a brief appearance at tommorrow's World Cup 2010 opening match between South Africa and Mexico and soccer city.
In preparation for World Cup mania people are still enquiring about Vuvuzelas; Goggolos, Supporter scarves, soccer shirts and other soccer supporter gear.

Vuvuzelas to be silent during Anthems

The govrenment urged soccer fans not to blow vuvuzelas while the anthems are being played in stadiums during the world cup 2010. The government calls on South African to stand to attention with thier hand splaced on thier sides while singing the national anthem. This guideline is applied indefinately but the appeal is now being made to ensure that the world cup stadium audiences show the neccesarry respect for the South African Anthem and those of participating countries.

More Fake World Cup goods confiscated

Western Cape authorities confiscated bogis World Cup bogus 2010 World Cup goods to the value of R 70 million in the last two weeks with the Western Cape border control unit saying it would intensify its campaign of fake goods.

To avoid the fake soccer goods, stick to legitimate companies with a strong long term track record. Belle Reaglo has been in business for over nine years in the corporate gifting range.

For more ideas, visit our soccer gifts and soccer clothing range.

Fly the Flag

The Department of Arts and Culture has urged South Africans to fly the national flag in build up to the World Cup. This will be in addition to the Football Friday and the Fly the Flag campaign which are priving to be a roaring success nationwide. Paul Mashatile, as Deputy Arts and Culture minister said that the department wanted to be painted with the countries national colours. "We are using various platforms to get the message accross of proundly wearing our country's national symbols", he said.

Belle Regalo offers a wide range of soccer gifts. Visit our website for more ideas. Some ideas include: Mirror sox; Soccer shirts; vuvuzelas; caps; bafana bafana caps; South African Flags; supporter flags

President Jacob Zuma learns the "Diski Dance" during the 50 Days countdown

President Jacob Zuma had the crowd in stitches as he treid to learn the Diski, the World Cup dance.

His theatrics capped the festivities marking 50 days to the 2010 World Cup Kick off on Wednesday. Thousands of people from the Northern Cape Province decended on Kimberley at the Galeshewe Stadium. A cacophony of drumbeats, vuvuzelas and roaring motorbikes thundered through the streets of Kimberley from as early as 8 am in a show of unity in embracing the World Cup.

Everyone is sporting their soccer supporter's shirts, if you have not yet got your staff supporter's shirts contact us on info@belleregalo.co.za We offer a range of supporter's shirts. Please note that No FIFA shirts are allowed to be co-branded, but there are a range of shirts without FIFA logos on that can be branded with your logo.

Photo by Elmond Jiyane, GCIS.

2010 Fans - Portugal

The flag of Portugal is red and green, the Portuguese coat of arms is pictured where the two colours meet. The green symbolises the hope of a nation and the red is the blood of those who died defending it.

The Portugese soccer team coach Carlos Queiroz was born 1 March 1953 in Nampula Mozambique. He was the head coach of the Portuguese under 20 youth team. Quiroz was credited with dicovering the "golden generation" of Portugues football including Luis Figo, Rui Costa, Fenando Couto, Joao Viera Pinto, Jorge Costa and Vitor Baia who went on to start internationally. He coached the South African team from 2000 - 2002.

He was Alex Ferguson's assistant manager at English club Manchester United soccer team, where he has enjoyed two spells. He is currently coach of the Portugal national football team.

Soccer Team Nick name: Seleccao das Quinas (Selection of the shields of Portugal) It refers to the five shields.

Top soccer goal scorers: Paulta. Gaols 47.

Most capped soccer players: Luis Figo. Carreer: Oct 12 1991. Caps 127. Goals: 32

Current team ranking: 5 Current team points: 1176 (as of 03 February 2010)

At Belle Regalo we sell a range of colour coordinated soccer fan clothing and soccer fan gifts. They are designed not to infringe on FIFA branding regulations.

2010 Fans - Germany

The German Flag is a horiozontal tricolour, with black, red and yellow stripes. The colours of the flag were the colours of the German soldiers in the Napolenic Wars.

The German coach Joachim "Jogi" Low, born 3 February 1960 in Schonau im Schwarzwald, is the coach of the Greman National football team and a former football midfielder.

German Soccer team Nickname: In Germany the team is typically referred to as the "Nationalmannschaft" (national team), "DFB-Elf" (DFB eleven) or "Nationalelf" (national eleven), whereas in foreign media, they are regularly described as the "Mannschaft" (Literally meaning "The Team").

Top Soccer Scorer in history: Gerd Muller - Goals 68

Most capped player of the soccer team: Lothar Matthaus. Career: 1980 - 2000. Caps: 150. Goals: 23.

Current ranking: 6. Points 1173 (as of 03 Feb 2010)

Ask us about our colour co-ordinated 2010 fans clothing for Germany.

2010 Fans - France

France's Flag (sometimes called the Tri-colour) was first used in 1789 after the French revolution. It was officially adopted as the French national flag on February 15, 1794. The flag consists of three equal vertical bands (a tricolour) of blue (on hoist side), white and red.

The French soccer team's nick name is: Les Bleus (The Blues), L'Equipe tricolore (Tri-colour Team).

France traditiobally plays soccer in blue shirts with white shorts and red socks and are commonly referred to as the les tricolours or les bleus.

The French soccer team's coach is: Raymond Domenech (born 24 January 1952). He is a former french football player and manager of the French national soccer team. He is of Spanish and Catalan descent.

Team Ranking: 7 (as of 03 Feb). Team points 1117

Top soccer goal scorer: Thierry Henry. Career 1997 - present. Goals 51 (11).

Most capped soccer player: Lilian Thuram. Career 1994 - 2008. Caps 142. Goals 2.

2010 Fans - Argentina

Argentina's flag is a light blue and white triband with a yellow "sun of May" in the center.

The Argentina's soccer team nick name is Albicelestes (White and Sky blue). The coach is Diego Armando Marandona (born 30 October 1960 in Lanus, Buenos Aires). He is a former Argentine football player and the current manager of the Argentine' national team.

Top Argentina's Goal scorer for soccer in this team's history: Gabriel Batistutu: Career 1991 - 2002 - Goals 56

Most capped player in this team's history: Javier Zanetti - Carreer 1994 to present. Caps: 136. Goals: 5

Ranking (dated 03 Feb) - Ranked 8 - Points 1082

We sell a range of colour coordinated soccer gifts and soccer clothing especially for the 2010 event.

Makarapa

As the loudest and the proudest of supporters we are pleased to offer you the original Makarapa Designed by Alfred Lux Baloyi.

The Makarapa is a hand-cut and hand painted hard hat. It belongs to the typical South African football fan's supporter'sgear, and is increasingly popular with fans of other sports. Sports fans spend hours to sculpture and paint thier Makarapa's in the colours and emblems of thier club or country.

The origin of the term Makarapa goes back to the late 70's and early 80's (derived from Makarapa, meanining migrant worker and associated with the "helmets" becuase they used migrant workers in the mines of the Witwatersrand.

Today the term is a synonym for the decorated hard hat.

The Makarapa serves three purposes: It is a fan article; an individual artwork, as well as a means of promoting one's brand in the stadium as they attract a lot of media attention.

They still afford the wearer protection from missiles thrown at sporting matches,their original reason for being worn.

It's South Africa vs Mexico

Hosts South Africa will play against Mexico on 11 June 2010 at 16H00 at Soccer City in Johannesburg.

Supporter's Shirt colours for South Africa are gold and green and Supporter's shirt colours for mexico can have emerald green; white and red in them.

2010 Flag Colours

Australia

Argentina

While the cost of a specific country supporter's shirt may be too grand for your marketing budget for 2010, coupled with the fact that FIFA has very strict branding rules, you may want to consider buying soccer promo shirts that match the teams colours, but are not the actual shirts.

Soccer Matches at Soccer City

Games played at Soccer City Stadium Soccer City: 11 June 2010Match: South Africa vs MexicoTime: 16:00
Soccer City: 14 June 2010 Match: Netherlands vs DenmarkTime: 13:30
Soccer City: 17 June 2010 Match: Argentina vs Korea RepublicTime: 20:30
Soccer City: 20 June 2010 Match: Brazil vs Ivory CoastTime: 20:30
Soccer City: 23 June 2010Match: Ghana vs GermanyTime: 20:30
Soccer City: 27 June 2010 – Preliminary RoundMatch: Team 1B vs Team 2ATime: 20:30Determined by the results of group stages

Soccer City: 02 July 2010 – Quarter FinalMatch: Team 1 vs Team 3Time: 20:30Determined by the results of group stages

Soccer City: 11 July 2010 – FinalMatch: Winner semi-final 1 vs Winner semi-final 2Time: 20:30Determined by the results of group stages

Eng, Germany 'shame on you'

I was browsing through a few news paper articles about the 2010 World Cup and had to laugh when I saw a snipped of what FIFA secretary General Jerome Valcke slammed the media yesterday in Germany and England saying that they were largely responsible for portraying South Africa in a bad light.

He alledgely said" Where do we have to organise the next world cup to make everyone happy - The moon?". He urged the foreign media to afford South Africa the same respect that they did for previous World Cups in Germany, and Japan/South Korea.
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Belle Regalo is a supplier of soccer gifts and other promotional items.

End game: two more stadiums open, two to go

Appeared in the Witness - 21 January 2010.

JOHANNESBURG - Two more of South Africa's 2010 World Cup Stadiums will open to the public this weekend., with matches planned in Cape Town and Polekwane.

The opening of the 70 000 seater Cape Town stadium and 45 000 Peter Mokaba stadium means just two more venues have to be completed before pre-tournament testing before the World Cup.

These are the Johannesburg's soccer city, which will host the Tournament's opening match on June 11 and the final a month later, and Nelspruit's Mbombela Stadium.

To see the full report visit: The Witness

For 2010 gifts and all soccer gifts and promotional gifts, visit http://www.belleregalo.co.za/

A different view of 2010

This year is the big 2010 soccer event. But what do you do if your clients are just not that into soccer. What if the sound of the mighty vuvuzela makes them want to run for cover? What if the thought of crowds and the 2010 traffic is just too much to bear?

You could run for cover and take a month long vacation or you could start acting smart and buy all of your key clients web cams for video conferencing. Why not come up with a campaign specifically aimed at letting your clients feel at ease about operating in 2010.