JAPAN: SOCCER FANS DEMAND FIFA INTERVENE IN GROWING CONTROVERSY OVER WORLD CUP TICKETS

Record ID: 640607

  • Title: JAPAN: SOCCER FANS DEMAND FIFA INTERVENE IN GROWING CONTROVERSY OVER WORLD CUP TICKETS
  • Date: 4th June 2002
  • Summary: CU OF COMPUTER SCREEN
  • Embargoed: 19th June 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SAITAMA/TOKYO, JAPAN
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAEEGSGPERU6BF4TTL3TJBPDMFS
  • Story Text: Desperate soccer fans are demanding FIFA put a stop to problems with an internet ticketing system which is leaving thousands of emtpy seats at World Cup matches.
    Japanese Prime Minsiter Junichiro Koizumi has called the situation "unbelievable".
    Fans and officials across Japan have expressed dismay over the problem, and are calling for quick action.
    Desperate foreign fans inundated the FIFA ticketing centre in downtown Tokyo to try if they could get tickets to see the game they travelled thousands of miles for.
    "This is the fifth World Cup I've been to and this is easily the worst organised I've ever known. The tickets are available and they are not being sold on the ground. If you go to the ground, they say, 'use the internet.' How can people use the internet if they're on the ground?!"
    "Also, there's nowhere here (Japan) that FIFA is distributing the tickets that have been left over and sent back from other countries, so the grounds are half empty. And we people who have come from abroad can't even get in, we have to wait outside! This is an absolute scandal and it's disgraceful for Japan!"
    exclaimed Neville Turner from Australia.
    At internet Cafe's across Tokyo frustrated supporters did their best to purchase some of the thousands of remaining tickets via the Fifa website. But the system was clearly overloaded, with most screens at one cafe frozen with non-responding Fifa website.
    "I've tried to go on the FIFA site, I think as most supporters have in Japan. The FIFA site keeps crashing, everytime people are actually using it, it's completely unavailable, which means for every match, there's a lot of empty seats. The only way people can actually get tickets is through touts and scalpers," lamented Oliver Dennis who travelled from Dublin Ireland to see the games.
    So far FIFA and the organising committees have been mute on the possibility of selling tickets by means other than the internet.
    But pressure is clearly growing for FIFA to find a solution to the problem.
    Japanese Prime Minsiter Junichiro Koizumi called the situation "unbeleivable".
    "I want them to do something about this problem, there a lot of people who still want to buy tickets, I cant believe this has happened, having empty seats is unbeleivable" he told reporters.
    Meanwhile soccer's world governing body FIFA has announced it will hold a crisis meeting with Japanese and South Korean officials about World Cup tickets.
    The sight of empty seats is bad for the image of football's most prestigious event. They are also a worry for broadcasters because they make for bad television pictures and sound.
    Officials are starting to show signs of nerves on the issue.
    The Korean Organising committee says it is considering using rent-a-crowd tactics to fill the empty seats, possibly bringing in children, high-school players, policemen or volunteers.
    FIFA has already launched an investigation into why there were around 3,500 vacant spaces at Friday's opening match in Seoul when Senegal upset defending champions France 1-0.
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