World Cup 2010 - safety preparations

With thousands of England football fans expected to travel to South Africa later this year to watch the 2010 football World Cup tournament, work is taking place behind-the-scenes by Foreign Office staff in partnership with the authorities in South Africa to ensure visiting fans have a safe and enjoyable trip.



As part of its preparations, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has this week run a planning exercise. Staff at the British High Commission in Pretoria along with staff from the FCO's Crisis Response Centre in London responded to a simulated scenario to test their consular procedures and make sure preparations to provide assistance to British nationals in the event of a real emergency are as robust as possible.

Road traffic accidents occur the world over, and the fictional scenario was based on a coach crash involving British nationals. The event was briefed to High Commission staff via a mock news report. Immediately, staff implemented emergency plans, sending out a team to the crash site to provide on-the-ground assistance to people involved in the incident.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is running a 'Be on the Ball' campaign aimed at helping England fans travelling to South Africa for the World Cup to have a safe and enjoyable trip. Further information can be found at www.fco.gov.uk/worldcup

World Cup Draw

England v USA made for Beckham..

Group A South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay,France
Group B Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece
Group C England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Group E Holland, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G Brazil, Korea DPR, Ivory Coast, Portugal
Group H Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme

As thoughts turn to South Africa next summer, it's just too tempting not to role out this World Cup classic, The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme from...Colourbox, who were on the 4AD record label in the 1980s.



Aside from this gem, Colourbox also formed one half of M|A|R|R|S, a 1987 one-off collaboration with A.R. Kane which became "a one-hit wonder of rare influence" recording dance classic "Pump Up the Volume", considered to be the first UK number one to contain samples from other songs and nominated for a Grammy Award in 1989.

090909 : 5-1

Bring on South Africa.

Nearly 20 years on, this is still awesome..