In the stands, World Cup unites African fans

Rustenburg: Ghana`s fans all wore red, yellow and green and waved the national flag as the

team took on Australia, but they spoke different languages and came from countries across Africa. At Rustenburg`s World Cup stadium, African fans said they felt united by football and eager to cheer for a team from the continent to take the trophy. So far, Ghana has about the best chance of making it to the next round, after defeating Serbia and drawing against Australia. "This is my first time in this country and I love it," said Newman Odartia Mills, from Odokor in Ghana, who has been on a three-month spiritual retreat in South Africa. "This Cup honestly has united us as Africans. I am surprised to see many people to support Ghana, people I can tell are not Ghanaian," he said, dancing with four friends and blowing vuvuzelas. He drove seven hours from Durban to see the Black Stars, the only African team to register a win so far. South African Miriam Nkele came to the game wearing her national Bafana Bafana jersey, but with Ghana`s flag painted on her cheeks. "I support my continent. These are my brothers and sisters, I must support them. My only hope is that at least two (African) teams must progress to the second round," she said. Despite the enthusiasm in the stands, Mills said more could have been done to promote the World Cup in Ghana. "There was no marketing, no special packages advertised, tickets nothing," he said. "Also I don`t understand why everything was done over the Internet, knowing very well most Africans don`t have access." World Cup boss Danny Jordaan raised that very issue with FIFA, as ticket sales to African fans fell well below projections -- a fact blamed on the Internet-only sales scheme on a continent where half the population doesn`t even have electricity. "We want this World Cup to be an African World Cup, and yet so far all the African teams involved are not coming to the party," said Jordaan. About 40,000 tickets were sold to fans from the rest of the continent, of the roughly three million up for sale, according to Rich Mkhondo, spokesman for the local organising committee. But after Ghana beat Serbia 1-0 last weekend, South African Airways had to increase its flights from Accra to meet the demand, with four chartered flights each carrying 350 people. "We had an increase in demand for flights, especially for charter flights, and had to upgrade some of our airplanes to bigger ones," said airline spokesman Fani Zulu. And ticket sales on the continent can be misleading, as many African fans came from the diaspora in Europe or North America. "I wouldn`t miss it for anything, I planned and saved for this trip," said Michael Ankobia, a 30-year-old mechanical engineer from Ghana but working in London. Egyptian Tadesse Bekele, who works in South Africa, said he`s enjoyed the pan-African spirit at most of the games where the six teams from the continent have played. "I went to the Nigerian game in Johannesburg, and it was nice to see just green and white, not nationalities," he said. "Everyone is talking about how this tournament has united South Africans across colour lines, but they haven`t mentioned how we as Africans have come together to support one another. Even white Africans support African teams." PTI