FIFA On A Manhunt For Ticket Holders

Anyone who watched the South Korea – Greece game would’ve noticed something peculiar: the stadium looked awfully empty relative to the average World Cup match (you know – full). In fact it was really disappointing just to glance into the stands and see so many cold, plastic seats (or plush sealskin, perhaps).

FIFA was disappointed too, since they claimed to have sold the tickets. A lot of them: 8,000 tickets just decided not to show for the game. And now they’d like to know where they’ve disappeared to.

Let’s work on some theories:

i. The game itself: South Korea weren’t yet exciting and Greece’s 2004 win was at the cost of the spectators, so they’re still not quite putting the duffs in seats like Planet España. If you’re a neutral planning to spend some hard-earned for a tournament with plenty of available tickets, this isn’t going to be the game to choose.

ii. The vuvuzelas. Not a gripe, but if you’ve purchased tickets and didn’t quite realize what 90 mins of vuvus in your ear sound like, the television might just sound like the answer.

iii. The Jabulani. The game is entirely different. It’s nothing even close to the quality we’re used to, unless you happen to prefer crosses sailing 50 meters high every single time. In which case your taste is suspect.

iv. The time – 1:30p. The World Cup is a big deal, but so isn’t making a living, and if one must work, one must punch that timesheet.

v. FIFA lied and far more tickets went unsold than declared.

I’m working on the last theory, for one reason: this isn’t exclusive to South Korea – Greece. Most games have featured a number of empty seats, and today’s game between Japan and Cameroon was a prime example. There seemed thousands and thousands of empty seats, even up to 30% to the naked eye. And this with an African country in participation.

In a word: dreadful.

The day’s glamor game from a footballing perspective, Netherlands versus Denmark, saw Soccer City with a number of empty orange seats surrounded by Oranje fans. At least that was uniform. The day’s biggest name, Italy, enjoyed some empty seats, but also a great deal of rain, so that can be forgiven.

For whatever reason, the World Cup is appearing on television to be anything but a World Cup in the stadiums. Just another day in the life of FIFA.