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Confeds Cup organizer: Won't lower ticket prices

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-17 09:39

JOHANNESBURG: Despite a half-empty stadium for Spain's win against New Zealand on the opening day of the Confederations Cup, organizers said on Monday they had no plans to lower ticket prices to give poor South Africans a better chance of attending a match.

Spain beat New Zealand 5-0 at the Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg, but only 21,649 fans were there to watch at the 42,000-seat venue.

"The South African nation's job is to host the event, not attend it," said Rich Mkhondo, the 2010 World Cup organizing committee spokesman. "You can take the horse to the water, but you can't force it to drink that water."

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FIFA president Sepp Blatter said later on Monday in Bloemfontein that he met with local organizers and told them he wasn't happy with the empty seats.

"We were happy with the crowd in the stadium but not with the number of spectators for the opening game in Rustenburg on a Sunday evening, most definitely not," Blatter said. "I think they could have done a little bit more."

Blatter said organizers should have tried alternatives ways to get the stadiums full, including allowing members of the community to fill the empty seats for free.

"You can take people to the stadium on buses from school, from church," Blatter said. "At Ellis Park as well, if they would have given the reamining seats to the boys and girls from the opening ceremony, they would be happy. It's a matter of feeling and not knowing how it could have been done."

Outside the financial capital, many poor South Africans struggle to afford tickets, which range from $10 to as high as $200 for the final.

"There might be some lower attendances for some games," FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot said. "This is actually not, I would say, a first in a FIFA competition. But probably we must look also at the wider picture and look at the ticketing situation when we come closer to the end of the tournament."

The opening match at Ellis Park in Johannesburg was close to a sellout, with nearly 50,000 people watching the hosts play out a 0-0 draw against Iraq. FIFA said before the World Cup warm-up tournament started that 71 percent of the 640,000 tickets had been sold for the 16 matches.

"I'm honestly not aware of any plans to change the prices of the tickets," Maingot said.

Mkhondo said the organizing committee and FIFA have been holding talks on the matter of attendance.

"Even if FIFA does do that, what guarantee do we have that 100,000 people will turn up?" Mkhondo said.

Many fans did show up for South Africa's first match at Ellis Park, but much of the stadium during the opening ceremony was empty in part due to transport problems - one of the country's main concerns a year ahead of the World Cup.

AP