World Cup Countdown – pensioner dies in ticket crush

You have to hand it to FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, for its sheer unashamed brazenness when it comes to selective reporting.

Its website is not a source you would want to heavily rely on, judging from some of its recent covering of events. One that springs to mind was its report of the Republic of Ireland v France World Cup play-off game last November, which featured one of the most controversial moments in international soccer, i.e., the Thierry Henry handball.

The FIFA site stated, “France skipper Thierry Henry won the match for the hosts when his angled pass amid a goalmouth scramble was met by the head of William Gallas.”

Speaking of mad scrambles, those FIFA chaps seemed to miss something again this past week when it ran its “All smiles as fans book seats” story about the remaining half a million World Cup tickets going on sale to the public in South Africa last Thursday morning.

All smiles? Not quite. A 64-year-old pensioner died while queuing in central Cape Town, number 565 in the line, while there were riots at other selling points.
The Cape Town queue, like others around the country, began to build up last Wednesday afternoon, with people skipping work to get their hands on the prized tickets for the 64 World Cup matches.

Around 120,000 of the tickets were available to South Africans for as little as $19, the lowest price at a World Cup for many years.

To add to the frenzy, FIFA announced that 300 late tickets would be released for the final -- a game it previously said had been sold out -- for $142.

In the capital Pretoria, police used pepper spray on people fighting in the doorway of a FIFA outlet, while fights were also broken up in Johannesburg.

Television pictures showed desperate fans - and ticket touts - scuffling over the discounted seats, having queued all night with no food or water.

Tempers flared as the computer system serving 11 outlets in the nine host cities crashed minutes after opening.

The discount followed dire sales in South Africa, where football is largely followed by those with limited access to the internet or credit cards. The complex system used by FIFA on its website was alien to most locals, who are accustomed to paying cash for their tickets on match days.

Officials acknowledged mistakes had been made and launched a new system of sales through ticketing offices and supermarkets, hoping to sell out the tournament as they are keen to make sure no empty seats remain when games are beamed to living rooms and bars across the globe this summer.

Over 2.3m of the 2.7m tickets have now been sold for the tournament, which kicks off on June 11. Of the tournament's 64 matches, 29 have sold out, including the opening and final matches, and both semi-finals.