Artistic Helmets To Grab World Cup Spotlight

The most eye-catching sight in the stands at next year's soccer World Cup will be thousands of jiving fans wearing elaborate headgear invented by a former cleaner in his township shack.

While the incessant blare of "vuvuzela" trumpets stirred controversy during the Confederations Cup in June -- a dress rehearsal for next year's tournament -- it was the extraordinary helmets worn by the fans that grabbed the eye. (Vuvuzela : football's beautiful noise).

The helmets, known as makarapas, are bound to stand out again in the globe's most watched event, giving unexpected fame to a humble invention.

Makarapas are made from the hard plastic hats worn by construction workers and range from simple painted designs to intricate stand-up cut-outs of players, teams or animals, often paired with giant mock spectacles.

Dancing fans wearing makarapas and making a noise like charging elephants on their vuvuzelas will be at the heart of the unique atmosphere that was such a selling point for Africa's first World Cup.

The makarapa was invented by Alfred Baloyi, 51, an unschooled municipal bus cleaner from northern Limpopo province who still lives in a dark concrete shack in a muddy township in Germiston, near Johannesburg.

Baloyi, a fanatical supporter of top South African team Kaizer Chiefs, says the makarapa was born when he saw a fellow fan hit on the head by a bottle thrown from the stands in 1979 and a construction worker friend gave him a helmet for protection at future matches.

Soon Baloyi, a talented natural artist, painted his helmet in the black and yellow of Kaizer Chiefs and then started taking orders, working in a cramped workshop at his home.

"First I was just painting them. Then as days went by I used to add horns, like goats' horns, and then I decided to start cutting and putting players on the helmets," he told Reuters.

"I am not from school, I am not educated. It is just a gift from God."

The shack reeks of paint and Baloyi's workshop is packed with fantastical designs including a helmet dedicated to one womanizing player with a half woman/half devil reclining on top.

Baloyi himself shows off his own huge headgear including giant nose and mouth with outsize teeth and a plastic guitar with music blaring from a car radio tape player tucked inside.

To read more abot Makarapas visit: www.makaraba.co.za

Source: soccer-xtreme.blogspot.com