The first step in co-operation between SAFA, the PSL and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa has been taken.

Just recently, the three bodies signed a memorandum of understanding and co-operation that will ensure SAFA and PSL are exposed to the Confederations Cup in 2009 and the World Cup in 2010. The objective, of course, is to maximize the transfer of skills and knowledge from FIFA to SAFA and the PSL, so as to leave behind a lasting legacy which will ultimately benefit South African football.

Collaboration between the three bodies is already under way in the area of media operations, with FIFA and the LOC taking under their wing a number of media officers from PSL clubs and training them to be venue media officers at the Confederations Cup and the World Cup.

As such, the LOC’s media operations manager Goran Havik and his team are escorting a few PSL media officers, as well as SAFA and the PSL’s media and communications teams, on a learning and training excursion to Euro 2008, which will be jointly hosted by Switzerland and Austria.

The trip is scheduled for 13th-17th June to Vienna, Austria.

I am happy to announce that I am fortunate to have been chosen as one of those accompanying the LOC team to Austria.

It says a lot about the direction Santos FC is moving and is a testament to the professionalism in which we always try to do things.

I am looking forward to the trip and will use it to further my knowledge of how things are organised at the highest level of the sport.

After that, when we return from Austria, the learning process is expected to become even more intense as we prepare for the Confederations Cup in this country in 2009 – but I’ve always enjoyed challenges and I’m up to tackling this one.

And, in the long run, whatever knowledge I pick up from my FIFA/LOC experiences over the next few years, will ultimately benefit Santos FC, in that I can plough back all this learning into making this club run even more efficiently.

Rodney Reiners
Engen Santos
Media and Communication
e-mail: rodney.r@santosfc.co.za

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COLUMNS