Eggs? Check..Milk? Check. Rooney? Check..
A dozen eggs, orange juice, toilet paper, some ground beef, chicken breast, mayonnaise, cornflakes and 2 tickets to Nigeria vs. South Korea.
FIFA are so desperate to save the World Cup in South Africa this summer that they are selling 500,000 tickets in South African supermarkets.
To date, FIFA and South Africa have shot themselves in the foot with extortionate air fares and hotel fees, leading would-be visitors to show the African country the finger this June and stay home to watch the tournament on TV.
South Africa should have used the world’s most famous event to showcase their country but instead, the 1.6bn they have spent on stadiums and hotels will yield empty seats and cold beds.
How panicked must FIFA be to have to stick World Cup tickets at the checkouts of stores, for shoppers to buy on a whim, like a copy of People or a candy bar.
Still, FIFA and South Africa deserve everything they get. What’s sad is, that without trying to rip people off, this could have been an amazing tournament enjoyed by over a million visitors who had never been to Africa. The football will still be amazing, no doubt–but the tournament is already a failure.
So this probably means more vuvuzelas, right? Crap.
-for shoppers to buy on a whim, like a copy of people
You can buy clones in the checkout line?
The two big problems have always been the distance-costs of travelling to SA and the fact that its the most violent country in the world (or 2nd behind Columbia but its the same).
Ripping people off on lodging didnt help but it is not the dealbreaker. The violence and total costs are.
Look at every major event like Olympics and such and you will see people gouging others. SA is no different. What is different is that there are no decent lodgings to start off with which is why you have the docked boat options, the 7oo miles drive to hotel options and things like that.
To claim that without the lodging gouging, millions would have come is total BS and is just as bad as the BS they tried to push about SA being able to organize something when theyre one step above Haiti.
The political correctness surrounding africa is the big problem no one wanted to admit to. Everyone wanted an african WC because. No reason,..just because. To prove to the world that they were capable.
Right off the bat, this wasnt done to give players and fans a top quality tournament but to feel good about Africa.
Because…
Of course, if this doesnt affect the quality of the games (that will be affected a lot more by bringing in more mediocre teams in the final phase, again, not because it will give a better show but because of losers wanting in), then this really wont matter to any fans in the world.
And americans will be thrilled that the SA failure will push the 96 Atlanta Olympics off the podium as the worst organized and managed (and lets not forget the bombings that I believe were never solved since the patsy they blamed it on was found to not have been the one) sporting event ever.
Americans live in denial but those games at the ultimate when it comes to mismanagement, dumbass decisions, lack of common sense or any sense.
South Africa will now be the standard for badly organized sporting event.
Let’s not forget all the issues for travelers once in SA. There’s no public transit infrastructure and the stadiums are scattered around the country. With horrible roads – that leaves you to (a) either stay in one city and see only the games in that city (which doesn’t work with the WV ticketing process of following a team b/c they move from city to city or (b) incur even higher costs for attending because you’d have to use short-haul carrier flights to move you around the country. Bad and worse. We were planning to attend, saw the price for a family of 4 and said screw it. We’ll be in the FIFA Fan Zone in paris – why the hell not when comparing the alternative?
the Atlanta Olympic bombings were committed by radical Eric Rudolph, who was arrested and tried
Hey wait a minute I have tickets to South Korea vs Nigeria. C’mon Obafemi Martins and Mikel vs Chung Yong Lee and Ji Sung Park!!! Exciting stuffs.
Maybe you’re thinking of the Anthrax attacks. Also, to suggest that this is some sort of politically correct (I hate that f**king term, by the way) pat on the head for Africa is bulls**t. Fifa cares ultimately about making money, not about advancing social causes.
guy lafleur: #1 dad
Sure it was, I personally know people who were planning on going before the flights reached 3000 bucks and the hotels became 1000 a night. Security was a factor, but that certainly would not have stopped thousands from going, who were being told that they would be safe, by FIFA, South Africa and by their Football Associations.
Speaking of the Atlanta Olympics… Weren’t surplus tickets sold through Home Depots here in the US? I know they were a title sponsor, but if something is already in place as an effective distribution network, then what’s the problem? Should they put tickets in outlets that are hard to get to or find?
FIFA, well-meaning as usual, I assume, wanted people to move around the country, see the sights, and spend money following their teams. There aren’t enough friggin rental cars and coach busses in the country and if you’ve ridden once on a bus in Africa, you’ll never do it again (I speak from experience). Had they just assigned certain groups to certain towns/stadiums – so fans could stay in one place (hotel/city/campsite, whatever) for their stay it would have made the situation EXPONENTIALLY better. Hindsight being 20/20 – one would think with their past experience doing this, it wouldn’t have been as much of an issue…but have any WC’s ever been held in a non-first world country? Most large cities can accommodate the lodging/dining/transport easily. This may have been an entirely new hurdle for FIFA. Fun for them….
That is the creepiest picture ever posted on here. Move over Terry-Tranny.
The ticket process problems arose in the “online drawing/raffle program FIFA started. You sign up but aren’t necessarily guaranteed tickets to anything you requested. So why would I drop $4k on airfare, whatever on hotels, etc. (before the prices skyrocket at the last minute) and not know if I’m guaranteed a ticket into a stadium. Crap. Total Crap process. Security wasn’t an issue. I agree. It’s the headache and cost that’s been associated with the whole potential travel to SA idea to date.
Why is Wayne Rooney kicking a gigantic carton of milk and why is Norfolk Ned a People Magazine snob? They have quality celeb gossip, Ned! Geez.
“To claim that without the lodging gouging, millions would have come is total BS”
You’re right — it’s also the airline gouging.
If it means more South Africans have the opportunity to go, well, I’m good.
@MountainWag: “but have any WC’s ever been held in a non-first world country?”
Uh: Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Mexico (twice). But it has been over 20 years since the last non-first world WC.
Sometimes UF comes across borderline racist. I don’t know why you hate South Africa so much. I want to see how much difference the travel costs for a comparable trip or world cup. Or someone tell me how much it cost before the world cup to get to SA? I just want to know how bad this price gouging that everyone is bitching about. And as for the roads comment, thats bulls**t the interstates are fine in that country. I mean how crazy is it that a tournament in Africa is attended mainly by members of that continent? Isn’t that what normally happens? I’m not saying FIFA isnt looking to make money, but I don’t see why you should blame SA for it unless theres proof.
@Anon
I’d die before reading that s**t, but am forced to look at the ridiculous covers while in line to procure food for Ned jr and little Ms Ned.
@Arkie
I didn’t mention the infrastructure, just the outrageous gouging, I don’t hate SA, but feel that they only got a WC for votes and were not prepared for it or should have sought it. The preparation has been toot, they have hired North Korean workers to build stadiums instead of their own unemployed, workers who are being exploited by NK too. The price gouging is outrageous and while people are dying and in povety, the government has spent 1.6 billion on this tournament.
@Ned: I’m partial to looking at The Globe and The National Inquirer. I Need to know whether Santa Claus slept with Mrs. Obama, or whether Sarah Palin is now pregnant with extraterrestrial twins.
Arkie:
Even a short search at the first site I came across shows that the same flight from JFK to Jo’burg, which costs under $800 tomorrow, costs $1400 on June 10–one way. This is the direct opposite of what usually happens where flights booked short term cost a lot more than those booked months in advance. To wit, a JFK-LAX round trip flight for tomorrow on Virgin Air would set you back $1200. In June (booked now), that will cost $569.
Arkie – about their roads…see below. SA’s roads are certainly a lot better than a lot of african nations (been there. dealt with that) – but they certainly aren’t what most europeans, asians, or americans would consider standard. Interstates are semi-decent, but inconsistent. Beyond that, things change drastically. Below dated 4/14/10.
“the ANC government appears to at last be taking the correct action to address this serious infrastructure backlog as evidenced by the innumerable potholes littering South African roads. Poor roads affect everyone and for years the ANC government has neglected this critical component of our economic infrastructure; hopefully, by acting soon and decisively it can turn the situation around.
…South Africa’s road network is deteriorating because of inadequate funding and rising costs of construction and maintenance. The state has increasingly relied on private concessions to deal with this backlog, thus pricing road usage beyond what many can afford…The current road infrastructure backlog is estimated at R75 billion…years of bad planning and bad political and state administration has led to a situation in which most of our hard infrastructure is marked by decay…This is a necessity that the ANC government up until now has ignored…A recent reply from the Department revealed that a meagre eight percent of roads were in an optimal state of repair.
http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71654?oid=171297&sn=Detail
Just FYI.
Oh, and flights were $1600-$2400 R/T, per person two months ago (for mid/late june travel during the start of the cup). Quoted from Pittsburgh, DC or Charlotte, NC. Getting to europe wasn’t the problem, it was the connection to SA from europe (where most of the flights are operated by SA airways – who was previously noted on the price gouging scandal).
Just a quick note after living in SA for four months- most of the tickets to domestic sporting events (rugby, soccer, or cricket matches)as well as charter bus tickets are bought in supermarkets at counters that specialize in those sales. Most of the lcoals I talked to while I was there were somewhat surprised when they learned that the tickets were to be sold through an application process, not the supermarkets (like Shoprite, Checkers, or Pick n Pay). It may seem strange to us, but doesn’t to your average South African.
In addition, let’s start differentiating between Africa and South Africa. The continent is incredibly diverse, and South Africa is incredibly unique.
But yeah, this thing could be a total disaster.
Arkie: we don’t hate South Africa. We’re just not entirely sure they should be hosting the World Cup in 2010. On recent evidence, others might well agree. It’s great to have a tournament in Africa, and it’s long overdue, but it’s not exactly going smoothly. If anything, we hate FIFA.
@u75
They may have dropped now, but were 3k.