MAGNIFICENT FRIDAYS

On Friday 11 February 2011 the Magnificent Fridays event was introduced to Capetonians at Cape Town Station Forecourt.  A star-studded event indeed  - with a number of celebrities in attendance ranging from the current Miss South Africa, Generations Queenie, Phil Masinga, Bryan Habana and Juan de Jongh, to name but a few.  Sopranos Biking Club strutting their stuff on Harley Davidson motorbikes added in keeping the 2 000+ commuters/members of the public enthralled.

So what is Magnificent Fridays?

During January 2011 the Minister of Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA), Mr Fikile Mbalula, launched the Magnificent Fridays Campaign with the aim of sustaining the 2010 FIFA World Cup momentum generated through Football Fridays.

One of the objectives of this SRSA initiative is to galvanise the nation to support the national cricket, netball and rugby teams as they participate in their respective international competitions, i.e

Cricket (India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) : 17/02/2011 – 02/04/2011

Netball (Singapore): 03/07/2011 – 10/07/2011

Rugby (New Zealand): 09/09/2011 – 23/10/2011

The Magnificent Fridays Campaign is still in its early stages, but judging by the active participation of the Cape Town crowd, from singing the National Anthem to enthusiastically participating in various sporting codes on the Station Forecourt, one can confidently conclude that the South African pride in supporting their national sporting teams has not lost momentum since the 2010 Soccer World Cup. 

With the cricket team off to the World Cup, fans are rallying behind them.  I  am looking forward to the forthcoming cricket live broadcasts and remain committed to positively contribute towards instilling national pride by  encouraging family, friends and colleagues to wear their Proudly South African attire every Friday. Echoing the words of President Jacob Zuma to the national cricket team,  "You should know that the nation is behind you. We will be with you, we will be watching, and we will be sharing."