RIP OFF SOUTH AFRICA

ENGLAND fans are paying through the nose to watch their heroes at the World Cup.

Should Fabio Capello's team make the final, supporters will be faced with a crippling bill of around £6,400 to watch them go all the way.

As things stand, they will be lucky to get away with shelling out £3,000 to watch just one group game.

At one stage the FA handed back 6,000 of their initial 29,000 ticket allocation because fans found they were being priced out of the market.

The latest figures indicate that 68,000 diehard Three Lions followers have bought seats.

Yet that is still well below the 100,000-plus fans who crammed the streets of Cologne at the high point of the 2006 tournament in Germany.

And no wonder. The best price SunSport could find last night for return flights to Johannesburg was £1,527 with Air Portugal.

And inland flights between England's group venues of Rustenberg, Durban and Cape Town look like costing an extra £827.

Many hotel rooms come in at £400 a night and Virgin Money, who have done the sums, calculate that England fans will spend £6,399 each in flights, accommodation, food and a replica shirt if Rio Ferdinand and the lads reach the final.

Football Supporters' Federation official Kevin Miles has been in Johannesburg to witness the growing rip-offs first hand.

He insisted: "This smacks of pure greed. Prices here are becoming more an issue than fears over security.

"I am very disappointed. The South Africans seem more interested in cashing in now than showcasing their country with a view to attracting people back in the future."

So soccer's Greatest Show on Earth is also the costliest.

On top of that, supporters must also consider their safety and are being urged by the British High Commission to employ chauffeurs to avoid carjacking, robbery at traffic lights and bogus cops who impose on-the-spot 'fines'.

Miles added: "The fact is the credit crunch is still full-on.

"People are totting things up and coming to the conclusion they can fund a Caribbean holiday and watch England's European Championship qualifiers, and still have change in their pockets compared to the cost of coming to the World Cup.

"We're looking at the cost of getting here, accommodation, expensive internal flights, problematical travel to and from games, safety issues and funding for the six days between each group game if you're staying on.

"It will also be winter in South Africa so we are not talking about the complete holiday experience here.

"Sadly, South Africa is usually a decent-priced holiday location but the same rules don't apply to the World Cup.

The stadia are fantastic and the enthusiasm of the people, their willingness to help and so on is second to none.

But such high prices, even for bed-and-breakfast places, mean the whole country is in danger of missing a glorious opportunity to showcase itself in a much more favourable light."

The hope is that hotel prices may tumble before England's big kick-off against the USA on June 12.

In the meantime, the FA's official travel partners, Thomas Cook and Thomson Tours, are demanding a minimum of £2,499 for a package deal to fly in and out for one group match - and £3,999 to see all three matches.

But at least there are options on accommodation.

The 'Little England' Tent City is being set up 25 miles from Cape Town, where England face Algeria on June 18.

With mattresses, WiFi, showers, medical centre, live music, bar, security and free transport to and from England matches, organiser Kevin Kieswetter claims to have the perfect answer for fans at £560 a week.

Kieswetter said: "For about £80 a night you can stay five minutes from the beach, 15 minutes from the winelands and enjoy free luxury travel to the games."

Probably have been the same where ever they held it ?

if you think that its winter when WC starts and that the airfare return is about £600 and budget hotels are about £40 to £80 a night even in the summer. This will be one of the most poorly attended WCs in modern history (by that I mean the foreign influx) and what with that ANC maniac singing songs "Kill the boer" boer is white man, people will be put off.

I have upped my prices by 600% just for puddle supporter. The rest pay normal rates

chicken it seems like you get tremendous joy out of reading any anti south african articles

pirates Wrote:

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> chicken it seems like you get tremendous joy out
> of reading any anti south african articles


No I dont in fact it hurts me to see the reports in the newspapers in the UK and on the News. Facts are facts unfortunatley just as the next wc in Rio is going to be a rip off.

Shayne Welman Wrote:

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> I have upped my prices by 600% just for puddle
> supporter. The rest pay normal rates


So what are you going to charge me as I dont support Liverpool or your lot?

What would it have cost a Saffer to go to Germany 4 years ago is the question?

As for the maniac comment, it certainly does not mean kill the white man. It is a struggle song and according to the ANC it does not have a litteral meaning. Regardless, the reference to "boer" would rather be a white afrikaans farmer not a bunch of white foreign soccer fans. It still does not make it right but that is a separate issue and has no bearing on your remarks.

Generalisations are not a good thing CnC. Unless you are widley read on the topic CnC, its problably not fair to comment.

For your benefit please go an read here www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/nec/2010/march.pdf (page 2)

alcoponnee]

I have in the past purchased a round the world ticket costing me less than £500. All I am saying is that people, in these terrible economical times feel that they are been ripped off by the South Africans. The problem is that some will go but will never return because of the price. As for my comment about the maniac well I believe that its true. We have fanatics over here who sing songs about destroying the Western world and we lock them up. He should not be allowed to sing these songs. I come from Cape Town and just because I no longer reside there does not mean that I cannot have an opinion, or cant I?

Everyone may have an opinion - I just pray that more people would have an informed opion rather than an armchair one. I hope you read that pdf page 2. The media is making Malema more important than he is at this stage. The pdf will clarify who the leader of this country is. You have to wonder why the media has not reported extensively on what is contained in this pdf. Not news worthy enough. Malema easier, sells more papers. Fear mongers. Emmigration stats needed to be increased.

So its ok to lock people up for opposing the west. Nice place to start. What next lock them up for growing a beard or not being christian or being christian? Very liberal state. And they critisize African leaders.... It annoys me that the dollop of mud in sea is economically stronger than our mineral rich country. I suppose our riches are all owned off shore! 11/1 rands to pound should still make it very affordable. Why should we not earn some of our money back from the world. According to reports though, FIFA seems to be the biggest benifactor of the event. Offshore again.

CnC have an opinion by all means, but please dont run our country down. For most that have chosen to stay, this is our beloved country and we will host a succesful world cup no matter how many ex pats and longers for the past in SA wish to see us fail.

This is a South African world cup and its time for all South Africans to stand behind it.

What's wrong with winter weather in South Africa? How I wish it was winter...

Can't comment on the prices. Haven't checked. Sounds ludicrous if true.

How about the following to provide a little bit of balance ;

Shortly before the final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup I heard a radio interview with the French Minister Of Tourism . This lady was being questioned as to whether they regarded the event as a success; to which she applied in the affirmative.

Part of her reply involved a potted pen picture of a 'typical' supporter. He was described as follows :

Male aged 40+, southern hemisphere, own business, married with two children etc., etc.

What was staggering, however, was his 'daily spend' at the event. This included air fares, accomodation, transport, tickets, food et., the lot - averaged out.

It was calculated by the Tourism department at $10,000 per day spread over the term of his stay - usually 2 weeks. ( It should be noted before you choke on your corn flakes that this individual typically had a 'partner' with him whose expenses were included in this total so $ 5,000 per day per person looks more realistic and reasonably accurate ).

It's very easy to take pot shots at the perceived 'greed' but this is an international event backed up by largely world class facilities. For as many people who regard the costs as steep there are others for whom it is 'chump change'. Certainly the type of person who will be renting luxury accomodation in Clifton @ R35,000 per day is not going to be overly concerned.

Travelling north from South Africa to any destination has been punitive since 1985 if you have to foot the bill for all the 'extras' in the country of destination. Can't say I've noticed people not travelling....................

If the attendance does fall to below the expected levels I believe it will be more to do with the overall global economic situation than South Africa being unaffordable.

Certainly it is not cheap but it does happen to be a 'once every four year' event which is priced accordingly. Furthermore there are many agencies (FIFA for example )outside of the actual service provider looking to grab a slice of the pie for many of the facilities, feature and products provided. Small wonder things get pricey!