For the Castrol hospitality area at Soccer City we’ve created the Football Lodge, a space that mixes football and traditional craft skills.

As part of the build we commissioned a Cape Town based township collective to make 600 Castrol makarapas – the hand cut and painted hard hats worn by the most fanatical local fans.

The hats took a team of 11 (shown above) three months to make, each one is slightly different and we’re delighted with the end result.

Here they are on display at the entrance to the football lodge. At the end of the game our guests get to take them home as a memento of their experience.

Another South African football tradition we’ve managed to incorporate is the Vuvuzella (the very loud horn blown with alarming frequency at each and every game), in the Football Lodge they’ve been repurposed as chandeliers.