Thursday, June 10, 2010

"Keep on knockin' but you can't come in..."

THE TEN host venues have all finally been topped out and now look in tip-top condition.
World governing body Fifa at last felt confident enough yesterday to announce precisely how many seats would be available in each one.
Yet more than 40,000 could be going to waste, so to speak.
The ten stadia offer a total of 514,599 seats, ranging from the 84,490-capacity Soccer City in Johannesburg to the 38,646-seat Royal Bafokeng in Rustenburg.
Tot up the venues’ gross capacities when not taken over for World Cup purposes, however, and you could squeeze as many as 556,000 bums on to seats.
Blame those usual suspects – VIPs and their hospitality suites. And, admittedly, the media – though mainly those wielding cameras.
The last 35,000 tickets are now up for grabs, being peddled yesterday at about £140 apiece for best seats – or for one-tenth as much, close to the touchline but with restricted views.
Sat behind Peter Crouch on the subs’ bench perhaps, – or the smoke from one of Diego Maradona’s fat cigars. Or just Maradona’s own fat.

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