World Cup Fever!
Posted Jun 11, 2010 01:15:26 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The agonizing wait for the billions of fans of the “beautiful game” is over. The quadrennial World Cup has kicked off in South Africa.
The host team and Mexico played to a 1-1 draw in the opening game.
And while Canada didn’t make it this year, Canadians across the land are joining the global party. With its ethnic diversity and soccer-crazy immigrants, cities such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver will be great places to experience the month-long spectacle that dwarfs the Olympics.
Sports bars across the country and throughout Waterloo Region are ready to welcome the crowds of fans who will soon be celebrating victories and drowning sorrows.
Because South Africa is six hours ahead of eastern time, many bars will also be opening early. Allen Fox, owner of Kelly’s, a British pub in Montreal’s West Island may have summed it up best when he said, “it’s a month of bliss.”
On a sad note, former South African president Nelson Mandela did not attend this morning’s opening ceremony in Johannesburg.
Mandela is grieving for his 13-year-old great-granddaughter, who was killed yesterday in a car crash on her way home from a World Cup concert in Soweto. It’s a major disappointment for South Africans, who were hoping their frail 91-year-old ex-president would make a rare public appearance.
Also, with World Cup “fever” sweeping the Earth for the next month, some employers may be a little anxious about workers calling in sick. The games will mostly be played during the Canadian work day. But Dianne Hunnam-Jones, a district manager for Toronto staffing company Robert Half Canada, says employers can make the tournament work for them.
She says bosses can use the World Cup to boost workplace morale by offering flexibility to employees who want to watch games.
