It is not a metter of them lining their pockets but the disregard for the fans going that can have what is left after the have finished with it. To have an accommodation part of the OC with all the hotels lists but virtually all unavailable is truly pathetic. Then to ignore people when they have tried to make arrangements from July 16th is feeble. I have to say that the information on the MATCH site and the OC is rubbish compared with the German one. At least teeh German one kept updating us with tedious rapidity about what a football mad country germany was and how anyone trying to enter the ground with a different ticket would be shot. Noticeable that they have brought in 46,000 reservists. I get the feeling a lot of people have shown grave concerns about security.
Not to derail what is a very useful thread, but I never understood all this stuff. We are in the stadia for maybe 3 hours at a time, maximum. Surely we can put up with drinking the likes of Coke and Budweiser for that small period of time. We can eat and drink local delicacies to our hearts content before and after the game.
I have to agree with you here. It smacks a bit of the G8 protesters who witter on about Coke and MacDonalds as if they have never consumed either in their lives and hence why they are so large and successful. There were always different things to consume at each ground in Germany along with teh sponsors stuff.
fair enough. But it is a problem when they don't allow non-Budweiser beer to be sold within a certain radius of the stadium. Now that's just getting a bit ridiculous don't you think?
I don't think it's a problem that there are big sponsors - heck getting Budweiser rather than only having the various types of Castle beer available will be a nice treat - I'm just thinking that it hurts local vendors - who do want to make a buck and sell tons of Castle lager.
I'm really not sure how they can do that. If I own a shop within the radius, how can FIFA prohibit me from selling a product? I remember hearing that in Germany, but don't remember seeing it at all. If they could then I'd agree, but I'm not sure that they really can. There is a special zone where you need to have tickets to get into normally, outside the ground, but that is not somewhere that vendors could operate anyway. I wouldn't worry too much about the street vendors. They will make a killing off all of us, along with the airlines, hoteliers, restauranters and every other South African. Also I'm told by all my friends who've been to SA that castle lager tastes like piss. So maybe FIFA will be doing us a favour. It can't be worse that the last Euros where me and a mate shelled out for a round of beers, only to find out that we were drinking non-alcoholic Carlsberg. Not pleasant.
I wouldn't go as far to say that Castle taste like piss but I also wouldn't say it's my favorite beer either. But then again, I'm an American, but I don't choose to drink Budweiser - unless it's the only thing available. Sounds like this could be an opportunity for craft/microbrewers to get in on the action.
It's the nerve of FIFA to hijack a part of town and turn it into St. Louis, Missouri. It's just appalling! Besides it wasn't only inside the stadium, it was the whole area around the stadium. Which in some cities, where the stadium was out in the middle of nowhere, meant you were essentially forced to eat and drink shit. As soon as you step onto the train to head to the match, you've entered FIFA town!
In your opinion. If you dislike it so much, then eat something before the game. Be prepared. You are going half-way across the world, you are presumably there for a long period of time. You have ample opportunity to eat or drink beforehand and enjoy the local food. FIFA are often heavy handed about their brand, but this really isn't a big deal IMO. In the international world that we live in today, you'll find these big brands in bars all over the world. They provide relatively inoffensive products which are acceptable to millions of fans.
Actually I was just stating a fact. I would've stuffed myself before leaving for the stadium if I had known, but its not something I could've predicted. We are paying good money to FIFA. The least they could do is make our experience at the stadium comfortable.
Which you would describe as what? What food and drinks were you expecting at the grounds? Lobster thermidor and Dom Perignon? I mean what food can FIFA provide which would be universally acceptable? At least you will know better this time.
Yes I am struggling to see the importance of a Gourmet meal with local produce before a match. I am afraid I am one of those who go for the game and atmosphere not to consult the wine list. When talking of comfort I would far rather FIFA concerned themselves with how the and where the fans are going to stay once they have taken all the decent hotels themselves. The Germans were pretty obsessed with food rather than football. I remember one guy in Hamburg coming in ten minutes after the 2nd half began with an horrendous smelling curry and desperately looking for his seat. He tripped and the whole lot went over his shirt. Oh dear never mind.
Don't about where you are but food and the prices of are horendous wherever I go I Scotland. Pie and a Bovril and they charge the earth. I'm more interested in the important things like where am I going to stay and how am I going to get there. And will they rob me for the privilige. The curry gave ma a laugh ;-) Cant understand why people cant sit for a couple of hours without stuffin their faces ;-)
Back on topic, I still need to book flights and accomodation. So far done alot of surfing, but no buying. Went to flight-centre this lunch time and they were quoting me £900 as the cheapest return they could find, which was with SAA. I've seen quite a few a fair bit cheaper than that on the net.
I have been unhealthily addicted to flight sites over teh last 6 weeks and have been incredibly confused as to why prices change on a daily basis. Virgin Have always listed Johannesburg but have fluctuated madly from £1,000+ to around £635. Much more stable now and genaerally around £7-800. They gave up on Cape Town for a few weeks and now back every day at £1,000+ except bizarrely earlier this week everything was early £600s. Why?! What logic is there? BA No suggestion of when they were doing flights and now show 3 a day for Joberg & 1 fgor CT around £700+ for the former and £800+ for the latter. So stacks of space but surely price can only go up. SAA Bloody ridiculous site. CT was £1,720 but down to more like £1100 and Joberg similarly. Did they really sell any at those prices 12 months ahead? Joberg more like £750+ now. Joberg to CT Normally there are 20 flights a day between SAA and BA. A strange arrangement here where SAA won't list any flights but BA have quadrupled theirs and even doubled that for the last week. Presumably SAA will find some aeroplanes tucked away somewhere soon and some sensible prices will come out. Thus DO NOT buy BA joberg - CT. Stuff 'em. Am I alone in being paranoid and feeling that we are being well and truly screwed by these airlines? I would have preferred Italy myself. Especially having missed out in 1990.
If you're flying from London - have you tried Egypt Air - our tix were 400 pounds round trip from LHR to Joburg - though not the most direct due to having a stop in Cairo. But if you're looking for inexpensive - not a bad option.
Getting over there doesn't seem so much of a problem a the moment. In fact a non-direct flight is probably about as cheap as I could have hoped for. My problem is internal flights, of which I'll need quite a few. Typically internal prices look pretty cheap, about £40-£80 or so after tax, but other than the expensive BA ones, none of the budget carriers have made theirs available yet (Airlink, for example, just say they'll be available from September). My fear is that these fares will shoot up in price, perhaps adding up to £1000 to my trip (I need 6 internal flights due to not being able to fly into Cape Town but out of Bloemfontein). If hotel prices are reaching similar levels, I'm going to have to seriously consider whether it's worth it or not. The upshot is that until I know I'll be able to travel around the country, I can't book the flight to get over there, and by the time those internal flights are available, the cheap long-haul airlines might have sold their seats from England to South Africa.
have you thought about renting a car? Or I'm certain there will be decent inter-city bus transport available? cheers, John
That is a really awkward situation. I guess if they are available in September, at least you will be able to book before the TST ticket holders know where they are going. I must say that this trip is proving a lot more expensive than I had envisaged. I had expected the expensive flights (which are still more expensive than I had expected) to be partially offset by the fact that it would be cheap over there. Yet due to the lack of safety in the country (and the fact that FIFA have bought up all the accomodation) that we will be forced to pay much more than you would even in Europe. That is pretty messed up. In the past whenever I have looked foward to a tournament it has always been with unalloyed excitement, in this case I am already cursing FIFA for making such a poor choice of host.
Thought it was clear, but my point was FIFA should not provide the food. Nor the accommodation. Plain and simple. Just leave things as they would be during a normal Bundesliga match instead of hijacking local businesses and food stands to operate their cartel. FIFA should be sorting out the offside and PK rules instead. There's no shortage of work to do in those areas.
Yeah, the fluctuation in SAA flights is almost comical. They offer direct flights from the USA to SA so it would be my first choice. Could the unpredictability in the price of oil 10 months from now have anything to do with these ridiculous fares they have listed ATM?
the problem on the hotel side is that FIFA only care about the number of 5 star hotel rooms, as that's all FIFA requires for its bid. And I'd suspect FIFA block-booking hundreds of rooms isn't, as they'd like to claim, to guarantee rooms for supporters, but so they can corner the market in fleecing fans who book through them. Still, nothing can be as bad as 1992, when I checked with the FA about buying a package for Sweden for Euro 1992, and was quoted £2000 for a week's stay on a campsite. The price didn't include match tickets, nor travel to/from Sweden. I gave that one a miss. As it happens, my least attractive ticket is the Bloemfontein one. As it'd require two internal flights to/from Johannesburg to get there and back, I may see if I can cash that one in, and try and get to the game at Ellis Park the previous day instead.
From what I have found so far I am not sure that these supposedly cheap airlines are actually cheaper than SAA at this stage at all. Without stating the obvious have you gone through their site as for many of their internal flights they don't seem very expensive?
I am pretty confused on further research about the accommodation and MATCH. MATCH seem to insist that all the hotels they have will not hike their prices up and hence why many proprietors annoyed or will not join. I also get the feeling that they will not release their details until they have 55,000 rooms available oer day and they only have 40,000 at present. Whatever it is FIFA will still take what they want first. I also feel the communication from MATCH is pathetic along with their website. When involving an enormous event like this for people from all four corners of the globe they absolutely must keep people informed and along with the ticketing it has been very poor.
Just checked LHR-JNB in BA on June 22nd... 3 flights to JNB, including BA33 6h35 pm arrives 6h20 am I checked for the 24th, again 3 flights however Flight BA 33 8h45 am arrives 8h25 pm... Is that a mistake or normal practice? the other 2 flights are the same time