South African football mourns the death of Eddie Lewis. He died of cancer on May 2 in Johannesburg at the age of 76. The Englishman played for Manchester United, Preston North End, West Ham and Leyton Orient (1952-1963) before arriving in South Africa in 1970. Lewis coached Wits University a white team to a famous 3-2 victory over Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs in the 1978 Mainstay Cup final.

Guest blog post by Mohlomi Maubane in Soweto, South Africa
One of South Africa's iconic tournaments, the Telkom Charity Cup, is no more. PSL chairman Irvin Khoza's announcement this week brought down the curtain on what was arguably one of the most loved tournaments in the country.

Saud Abdul Ghani, head of the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Qatar, recently unveiled a special plan for the 2022 World Cup: remote-controlled artificial clouds over the stadiums!
Powered by four solar engines, the man-made clouds would be made of ultra light carbon fiber in an attempt to bring some relief to fans in the stands and players on the field from temperatures expected to reach 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 Celsius) during the Qatari summer.

By Mohlomi Maubane
The 2010 World Cup was heralded as the dawn of a new era in South African football. This new epoch was to be devoid of the old amateurish ways in the local game where officials "forget" to perform rudimentary tasks like erecting corner kick flags for an international match.

African Activist Archive, Michigan State University

When Chris De Broglio told me the sad news of Isiah Stein's passing I knew very little about this brave Cape Town-born activist. All I could remember was that he was an exiled South African, a former executive committee member of SANROC, the heart and soul of the anti-apartheid sport boycott, and that his sons had played professional football in Britain.

A stalwart of the anti-apartheid sport boycott movement, Isiah Stein, has passed away in the UK. After serving time in prison with Nelson Mandela in the mid-1960s, Stein left South Africa for Britain where he worked tirelessly with the exiled South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SANROC).

Mzansi Football and Kickoff.com report that the captains and coaches of South Africa's men's and women's national teams failed to cast their vote for FIFA's Golden Ball as the World's Player of the Year awards are now known. According to the governing body, the 2010 World Cup hosts were one of just a handful of countries (out of 208) that did not vote.

Happy New Year to all!
Back after a month-long break, we are pleased to report that our very own Sean Jacobs made it into the opinion pages of The New York Times yesterday (Sunday, 2 January 2011) as part of the 'Around the World in 12 Months' feature.