Coca Cola World Cup Tour

A couple of weeks ago Vital, in conjunction with the World Cup sponsors Coca Cola, offered a free competition to win a pair of tickets to the World Cup Tour event at Earls Court last Thursday.

Out of habit of entering any free competition that comes around ,rather than any real expectation of winning, I entered and to my surprise I won one of the pair of tickets on offer.

So last Thursday morning you could have found me, stood outside Earls Court with my son in a bitterly cold London, waiting for the doors to open with Chelsea's main stand visible in the background.

We were told to be there for ten o clock sharp but at half past nine we were provided with some entertainment when a group of South African musicians arrived in traditional costume to entertain us and very entertaining they were, providing a drum melody and traditional singing, whilst all the time keeping smiling in what must have seemed like antartic conditions to them.

Once the doors were opened we were issued with wrist bands which determined when you were photographed with the World Cup and when you were requested to watch the World Cup promotional video.

Once inside there were many interactive events that you could partake off , all of which were free.

You were also issued with complimentary food and drink vouchers.

There was an area with approx 30 table footballs, which seemed the most popular event belying the assumption that everything has to be high tech. My son and I had three games of which I managed to lose two although I have taken the positives from these defeats and will learn from them, in what is a transitional time for my playing skills.

In what was an exclusive there were nine PS3's in the arena all conncected to play the newe EA Sports FIFA World Cup 2010 game. I cannot claim to be an expert on these but my son who spends many an hour on the like was very impressed and no doubt a request to purchase said game will be forthcoming when it is released.

There was also a large screen version where you could enter a tournament and the winner on the day got to play the special guest, Wayne Rooney at the end of the day.

Elsewhere there was a display of football skills where you could learn football tricks and an area where you could have your gaol celebration filmed and the most original would win a trip to the World Cup finals( I was banned from entering, as my son determined my Angus Young of AC/DC duck walk coupled with the Bill and Ted air guitar too embarassing for words)

The 3D FIFA World Cup promo video was everything you would expect, colourful, happy and loads of Coca Cola product placement.

The actual World Cup which is made of 18 carat gold and weighs thirteen pounds was mounted on a plinth in a see through case and we queued up in twos to have our photographs taken with it,which some wag remarked is the nearest an Englishman will get to holding it.

Throughout the day there were various musical sets from K'Naan, Kid British with the event being closed by a live set from Indie band The Enemy.

Sadly time constraints meant we had to leave before Wayne Rooney's appearence but it was an enjoyable day out and my thanks go to Coca Cola and Vital.

Baskerville Meets FIFA