MTN Fan Zone – Football World Cup 2010 South Africa

30 November 2010 16:10 GMT

So the Football World Cup ended some time ago and hopefully we have accepted the fact that it wasn’t to be (once again) for England and we’d prefer to forget a particularly embarrassing performance.

While the whole tournament was rather disappointing for England, South Africa was ecstatic about being able to host the World Cup, hoping the event would leave a lasting legacy for South Africa’s economy, infrastructure and social development.

The country prepared for the event with the renovation as well as construction of several venues in order to host the matches and accommodate the huge number of fans that visited for the duration.

While thousands of people attended matches live at the stadiums, full of World Cup spirit and Vuvuzelas readily in hand, many venues also organised screenings for the unlucky fans that didn’t get their hands on pitch-side tickets.

One of those venues was the Montecasino complex in Johannesburg’s northern suburb Fourways. Hailed as “Gauteng’s Premier Entertainment Destination” (www.montecasino.co.za) the organisers arranged 25 days of live football screenings in the open-air Piazza which became home to thousands of local and international visitors over the 2010 WorldCup.

The pre- and post match entertainment included live interactive games and performances from some of the country’s finest artists, plus the chance to win last-minute tickets to the matches and other prizes. Additionally, proceeds from the MTN Fanzone will be going to charity.

A stage and permanent LED screen were installed in the main outdoor viewing area, with content being fed to the LED screen using a Hippotizer Rackmount Critter. Local production company Sound Stylist, who worked with our South African representative Tadco, saw this as the perfect opportunity to test out their new HippoCritter:

“The HippoCritter was the perfect solution for the large amount of media required for playback. This included sponsor’s video footage, adverts, logos and live visuals from the fan parks. In addition, the onboard special effects offered a thrilling backdrop for the entertainment dancers and live bands.”

AV Technician at Sound Stylist, Barrett O’Grady smiled:

“The HippoCritter offered an exciting and hassle free solution to our real-time video playback requirements...All in all a great World Cup event.”