I couldn’t help but raise a smile to this BBC blog I read the other day regarding the ‘luckiest fan in the world’.
Twenty-Nine year old South African Thulani Ngcobo has in his possession a ticket for the World Cup final,both the semis, and two of the quarters. All in all he has tickets for over half the World Cup matches after winning a sponsor's competition last year.
Fair play!
But what makes this upcoming World Cup even better has been the opportunity for ordinary South Africans to get tickets.
Yes FIFA’s decision to release over-the-counter World Cup tickets (or Soccer tickets as they have been called elsewhere) was done late, and the number available would have been less had the European allocation sold as many expected. But despite all that, the queues at the ticket centres in Cape Town and Johannesburg suggested the World Cup maybe one that is returned to the people again, instead of the suit wearing, prawn sandwich eating corporate brigade.
To contrast that with the FA Cup final, where only 50,000 of the 90,000 capacity will go to the clubs, or the Europa League final where each side will receive a paltry 12,500 each for a 51,000 stadium, it makes you realise how the real supporters have been sidelined in modern football's ever willing pursuit of greed.
Hopefully the sight of thousands of South African fans revelling in watching players they never thought they would ever see in person makes the organisers realise what the World Cup is really all about.
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