Stab-proof vests for soccer fans going to South Africa for the World Cup
million soccer fans attending the 2006 World Cup in Germany. FIFA, the world’s soccer body, admits that it does not expect more than 2.5 million fans to make it to South Africa this summer. Event organizing specialists say this is wildly optimistic: their estimates, based on extrapolation from bookings so far, show that the more likely number of attendees will be between 1.1 and 2 million
There is no doubt that the distance of South Africa from the two continents with the most avid soccer fans – Europe and Latin America – plays a part in suppressing attendance, but this is not the most important factor. Japan and South Korea, where the World Cup was jointly held in 2002, are even farther away from Europe and Latin America, yet 2.9 million soccer fans made it to the games.
Since worries about personal security is the reason so many soccer fans have decided to stay at home, a personal security company believes there is an opportunity to make money here by offering soccer fans personal protection gear.
South Africa’s authorities have condemned a London-based company which wants to sell stab-vests to visiting football fans during this summer’s World Cup. The BBC reports that that the national police says the company was causing “unnecessary fear.” South Africa’s football boss Kirsten Nematandani has assured visitors that all safety measures were in place.
South Africa has one of the world’s highest rates of violent crimes but the authorities say they will tighten security for the tournament.
Protektorvest, which currently sells its merchandise online, says there is a “high demand” for protective clothing and claim the stab-vests which cost close to $70 are the “No 1 personal protection for the World Cup 2010.”
Fans can add their national flag to the vest, or slogans such as “Free hugs” or “Ole.”
Protektorvest owner Sascha Cutura denied that the company was saying South Africa was unsafe. “We fulfil a need from security-conscious people,” he told the BBC.
Nematandani chastised the company’s owners and called for them to be “condemned by their own country’s officials.” “These people are out of order… we’ve never heard of such measures being taken before and there surely is no need for it,” he said, South Africa’s Times newspaper reports.
According to its Web site, the company plans to open offices near South Africa’s OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg for the duration of the World Cup. Cutura said this is where the company hopes to sell most of its vests.
The BBC’s Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says security officers usually advise foreign travelers to guard against “standing out.” She says tourists wearing stab-vests at football matches or on sight-seeing trips may attract more attention to themselves — potentially increasing their chances of being attacked. Cutura pointed out that the vests could also be worn underneath clothes to avoid attracting too much attention.
Fan groups in England have also condemned the vests.
