The world at their feet

SBS prepares for the event that, for just a few weeks, makes it king of the castle

S long as no one scored, it was always going to be close. Or we lost because we didn't win. Until I watched SBS's coverage of the World Cup four years ago the comic profundities of television soccer commentators always reminded me of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and its wonderful baggy-pants clowns Vladimir and Estragon, desperately waiting for something to happen. The game seemed all middle: like Godot's funny tramps, we never stopped waiting for goals that never seemed to arrive. At least not often enough for my liking.

In soccer, as in theatre, I used to think, there is a very thin line between teasing the audience with the threat of agonising boredom and actually be boring.

Be assured this won't be the case with SBS's coverage of the 2010 World Cup starting in Johannesburg on Friday, June 11, in the newly renovated and highly symbolic Orlando Stadium. Based in the heart of Soweto, on Mooki Street on the eastern edge of one of the once troubled precinct's first suburbs, the 45,000-seat sports complex is a stone's throw from where the anti-apartheid student uprising erupted in 1976.

This year's World Cup is the first to be held in Africa and SBS will cover not just the tournament but also the diverse cultural and political aspects of Africa. This World Cup, like no other football event before it, is about more than what happens on the pitch.

It will be exciting, culturally charged TV and to say it will be covered extensively is an understatement. The network's two TV channels and its radio outlets -- commentary will be available in 13 languages -- will be crammed with live games and delayed telecasts of the 64 matches. In addition there will be commentary panels, post-mortem chat shows and magazine profiles.

If history is anything to go by, more than half of Australia will be watching.

Four years ago an incredible 8.8 million people (63 per cent of the population) tuned into SBS's coverage. For a month Australians managed to find the usually low-rating station with ease, despite many of them being only occasional soccer fans.

"It's our...