World Cup News

Big headlines in the SA papers this week about Fifa reducing the prices of category 2 and 3 tickets to R140 after many people have paid up to R840 for them. Apparently about 30% of the 3 million tickets are being reduced and made available only to South Africans. Fifa are also increasing the number of category 4 tickets - the cheapest seats and exclusive to South Africans - to ensure that the stadia are full, especially for the group stage matches. The furore is because two months ago Fifa denied they would sell discounted tickets! Now they are saying that "re-categorising" tickets is not the same as "discounting", but they now face a logistical challenge to re-categorise all the seating to correlate with the numbers of tickets.

There have also been problems with the jerseys. Fake Bafana Bafana (SA team) jerseys with the Protea emblem are being sold on the streets for R250, compared to the genuine replica jerseys with the emblem that sell for R1500. However, the SA Football Association has also been "mistakenly" selling "genuine" jerseys without an emblem for R599. To correct this error, they have offered to print the emblem on the R599 jerseys if the owners take them to specific places.  But they have no idea how many people will choose to do that - another logistical nightmare coming up!

It is also reported that people using the Gumtree website have been offering some unusual items for world cup fans, such as Bodyguards - apparently the security company, Boomgaard, has been swamped by unqualified candidates wanting to be bodyguards attracted by the glamour of the idea! Also someone on Gumtree is offering naturist accommodation with a clothes-optional home stay. And you can also buy a hot-dog stand on which you can make and sell, not only hot-dogs, but also boerie rolls, burgers, bacon and egg rolls etc during the tournament.

Finally, if you come to SA and are worried about traffic fines, there is a website offering a traffic fines toolkit which tells you how to contest fines, and gives you checklists on motorists rights at roadblocks, speedtraps etc. http://www.trafficfinestoolkit.co.za/