November 29 – Durban’s new 70,000-seater World Cup stadium opened today, but rain kept the crowd down to around 15,000.
The stunning Moses Mabhiba Stadium is one of six venues built for next year’s finals and will host a total of seven matches at the 2010 tournament, including one of the semi-finals.
The venue opened with a South African Premier League match between AmaZulu and Maritzburg United.
Capacity was restricted to 22,000 with only the lower tier of the stadium used and sold out a week before the match, but rainy conditions kept thousands away, a league spokesman said.
Durban City manager Mike Sutcliffe said that aside from a few minor glitches they were pleased with the way things had turned out.
He said: ”There were some people in lower areas of the stadium who got wet so they wanted to then move.
“Now, our new events legislation says that if you’ve got a seat with a ticket number, you can’t move from that seat.
“Those are things we’ve got to educate the public about.”
Sutcliffe is nevertheless confident that the stadium will be a hit during the World Cup.
He said: ”You spend a couple of years putting concrete into the stadium, but until you bring people in it means nothing.
“The atmosphere was absolutely electric.
“We had people just screaming and shouting and having fun.”
The stadium’s outstanding feature is a cable car which ascends to a viewing platform at the top of a 350 metre arch, which spans across one side of the stadium to the other.
Visitors are able to travel to the top of the arch above the playing surface and have panoramic views of the nearby shoreline and city.
Durban is the second of the new stadiums built for the World Cup to be opened, following Port Elizabeth in June.
Stadiums at Cape Town, Nelspruit, Polokwane and Soccer City in Johannesburg, which will host the opening match and final, are due to open by February.
Four other World Cup venues have been renovated and were used during the Confederations Cup in June.
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