Organisers of next year's African Nations' Cup (ANC) are so keen to get started that they opened tickets sales on Wednesday September 26. It is still more than two weeks before those organisers will find out who will actually be playing in the competition and it will be a month until the exact fixtures have been decided on.



No matter, at least they know that South Africa will play the opening match at the Soccer City in Johannesburg. And they know that South Africa will play the third and fifth matches of the tournament in Durban.

Given that South Africa did not even manage to qualify for the last two continental tournaments, some would say that is where their participation will end. But that would be being unkind to Gordon Igesund and his team. After all, they only lost 1-0 to Brazil recently, a result Igesund was "very satisfied with," and they beat Mozambique 2-0.

Bafana Bafana's prowess probably does not matter much anyway. The organisers are banking on a public still drunk on 2010 World Cup euphoria to pack out the stadiums to watch powerhouses like Nigeria, Senegal and Morocco. They could end up watching Liberia or Zimbabwe instead, but who cares? The tickets will be cheap so they shouldn't mind.

That is one thing the organizing committee seems to have got right so far. Prices range from R50 (US$6.25) to R200 (US$25) which is considered especially economical for an international sports fixture. Consider that South Africans pay R40 (US$5) for a league match, between R70 (US$8.75) and R250 (US$31.25) for an international cricket match and well over R300 (US$37.50) to watch the national rugby team and you will agree that football is reasonably priced. Perhaps in part because fans are not quite sure what they are paying for, yet.

Luckily it is not everyone who will play the lottery before they can watch a match. That right has been restricted to South African fans only. Sensibly, sales for the people on the rest of the continent will open once the final draw has been done. They will not get the additional discounts offered to the locals but at least they can choose who they will be watching.

The segregation of the market is practical if organisers are correct in their belief that South Africans will not disappoint them the same way the Equatoguineans and Gabonese did to their administrators. Empty stadiums in those two countries left a hollow haze over the tournament they co-hosted last year and South Africa is determined not to repeat that.

Given that their involvement in continental football has only entered its twenties, South Africans should still be enamoured with it, no matter who is playing. Ironically, South Africa's history with the ANC dates back to the beginnings of the competition but for forty years it remained an outsider.

South Africa was part of the quartet who founded the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in 1956 in Lisbon. Along with Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, and were due to play in the inaugural competition the following year but they were disqualified from doing so. Their Apartheid policies saw them kicked out and Ethiopia advanced to the final without playing a minute of football.

Only in 1996, did South Africa taste continental clashes when they hosted the same tournament that they made their first appearance in. A fairytale unfolded when a smiling Neil Tovey held the trophy up with Nelson Mandela at his side. Bafana Bafana would go on to make the final in the next edition of the tournament as well but could not defend it.

That competition, in 1998, was held in Burkina Faso and is still talked about as one of the best ANC's ever held. The Burkinabe are said to have been hosts like no other: friendly, passionate and giving. South Africa's ANC co-ordinators are hoping for the same from their people, even if they only find out who to be friendly to and passionate about once they've already paid to do it.

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