Tag Archives: Rich Mkhondo

FIFA frees up Confederation Cup tickets

Given the embarrassing start to the Confederations Cup, with a near-empty Rustenburg stadium last Sunday, FIFA is to hand out free tickets to schools, soccer clubs and youth organisations to ensure that the remaining matches are played to full stadia, reports the Cape Argus.

FIFA Media Head Nicolas Maingot has said that “And if we look at previous Confederations Cup tournaments, South Africa is not doing badly at all.   He compared average tickets sales per match to the 2003 Confederations Cup in France in 2003 at almost 31 000, and over 37 000 in Germany in 2005.   Current Confederations Cup attendance is 33 170 per match on average.

Trade union federation COSATU has encouraged South Africans to buy Confederations Cup tickets.  “The low turnouts at some matches have been a serious embarrassment to the country and must be improved upon” said COSATU spokesperson Patrick Craven, probably one of the more intelligent statements made by the trade union in a long time, as reported in The Times.

Rich Mkhondo, spokesperson of the Local Organising Committee, has continued his bizarre media comments:   “We have informed the people and marketed and organised this event, but we can’t force people to buy tickets.”   He confirmed that the LOC would not cut ticket prices for the Confederations Cup.

Confed Cup ticket prices won’t be reduced

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has slammed the 2010 World Cup Local Organising Committee for the poor attendance at the Spain/New Zealand Confederations Cup game in Rustenburg on Sunday evening.  The game was played to a virtually empty stadium, with most soccer fans seen in the lower priced standing area.

USA Today reports that 2010 Local Organising Committee spokesperson Rich Mkhondo said that despite the poor turnout, ticket prices will not be reduced.   “The South African nation’s job is to host the event, not attend it” is the astounding quote attributed to Mkhondo!   He added: “You can take the horse to the water, but you can’t force it to drink that water”!   He expressed doubt whether an extra 100 000 unsold seats can be filled if they are given away.   Can this man really be representing the best South African interests in making such nonsensical comments?   Is there bad blood between FIFA and the Local Organising Committee in making Mkhondo utter such absurd statements?

Blatter was not happy with the empty seats, evident from the television broadcast of the Rustenburg match.  He suggested to the local organisers that they should have done more to fill the empty seats, including giving them away for free.

Attendance at the Opening Ceremony at Ellis Park was marred by problems in getting shuttle buses from the designated parking areas to the stadium.   Many soccer fans arrived late as a result.