Cape Town Stadium and Mexico

I recently had the opportunity to attend a soccer match at the new Cape Town stadium, which was built for the 2010 World Cup. Even at a glance, the Cape Town stadium is gorgeous. The flowing, circular lines that outline the stadium against the backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean make it a beautiful sight to behold. I was told that the design was taken from the shape of a Zulu woman’s hat, which I now notice it strikingly resembles.

The energy in the stadium is electric. The energy fills me with excitement; until a fleeting ping of regret hits me as I close my eyes and imagine the tenable exhilaration that must have permeated the stadium during the World Cup games. A deep breath of the warm summer air brings me back to my own time and space and I find myself in my seat in the upper level of the stadium.

I have been both inspired and appalled by the racially motivated discourse here, but I giggled when I was told that the “wave” has been ascribed a cultural history. The “wave”, that collective action within a stadium that behests fans to stand and lift their arms in sequence as to have the effect of a wave, is apparently Mexican.

I visit my closest ally in the retrieval of information, Wikipedia, to confirm this. Apparently there may be some truth to this. There are rumours that this successive motion of stadium crowds originated in Mexico. Ironically, it does mention that in North America it is referred to merely as the ‘wave’. I’m unsure if this is a case of homogeneity wining again or if perhaps Mexico’s renounced proprietorship was a condition of NAFTA. Regardless, the Mexican Wave went around the stadium five full times before withering out to the distraction of the game… the next beer… or whatever. It’s funny that I had to learn about my neighbouring country while on another continent!