A World Cup dilemma

[JohnG]

A World Cup dilemma – this may all be academic as we may get knocked out in the first stages !!
I have to decide by Wednesday if I want to apply for tickets for the later stages of the World Cup through the Englandfans membership. I have no chance of getting tickets for the early stages as there are a few thousand ahead of me in the queue due to the “caps system” where you get awarded caps for going to away games. There are a lot of rich Englandfans members who can afford to go to New York etc for meaningless friendlies just to be awarded Caps to allow them to get tickets for the World Cup. I refused to apply for tickets through Fifa as they only allowed you to buy tickets with a Mastercard and I only have Visa cards and think it’s disgraceful that they can dictate which card you pay for things with.
To stand a better chance of getting a ticket you are better off saying that you don’t mind what category ticket you get, this usually leads to you getting a category 1 ticket which will be the top of the range. For the Euro 2004 in Portugal I ended up paying about £110 per match which I think is far too much, but that was offset by the cheapness of food and drink in Portugal. The price for a World Cup Final Category 1 ticket is £408 (or approximately £4.50 per minute) with the Semi Final ticket being £272, and you have to pay up front for them now, so these people have your £680 in the bank for a few months. If your team doesn’t get to these stages then you get your money back, but I remember after Euro 2004 it took over 2 months for them to get round to refunding the money and the refund is made to your credit card. They don’t refund the exorbitant booking fee that they add on to the price of the ticket.
I’m getting stick from my mates who I go to England games with for my stubborn attitude, but I really think that they are taking the mickey with these prices and the amount of time they keep your money before the game. My thoughts at the moment are that I don’t want to go as it will cost a fortune in getting there and in staying there as all the flights to Germany will be 4 or 5 times more expensive than normal. I’ve also got the feeling that we won’t do enough to stop the scumbag element travelling without tickets and there will be trouble. I’m being told by the lads that I’m cutting my nose off to spite my face, but I really do object to handing this much money over to these people when you consider that my first ever season ticket cost me £7.50
Sorry for the long rambling nature of the post, but it helps to get my thoughts in writing !

Edit. Also it's worth noting that they refund the money to your credit card so you end up having to spend that money anyway

[Ian J]

As a money saving compromise why don't you buy a pair of tickets for next summer's test match against Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge instead and take me with you

[LFC_SL]

Well if England don't get far, just think of the quality games you could potentially watch, as a neutral

That is if it works like how I'm assuming it'd work

P.S. Why waste your money on a cricket team that got lucky and will be found out in '06?

[JohnG]

If England don't get through then you don't go to the match. The tickets are sold to all nations on this basis and only the teams that get through get the tickets. So Fifa will be selling these same tickets as they are selling to England fans to all the other nations as well - imagine how much money they are taking in advance from hundreds of thousands of people They stick this money in the bank and make a huge amount of money in interest and then give it back 2 months after the tournament has finished to all except the 2 teams who got through to that match.
I think I've decided that I don't want to give any of my money to these people and I will treat myself to another event, something like a few stages of the Tour de France or maybe one of the RAC Rally events - Sweded or Finland would be great to go and see.

[LFC_SL]

Now I get the tabloids when they call Blatter hypocritical for wanting to cap wages and for them (+ UEFA) being less than enthusiastic about compo to clubs for using their assests for free

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by LFC_SL

Why waste your money on a cricket team that got lucky and will be found out in '06?

They have been remarkably lucky haven't they as they were lucky enough to win the Ashes back in a series described by those that know what they are talking about as the best test series ever and before that they were lucky enough to easily beat Bangladesh fairly easily. This was all after returning back from a series in South Africa where we were lucky enough to beat the South Africans easily.

We were very lucky to have won all three series in 2005 but this only continued the streak of luck from the previous year where we luckily managed to not only beat the West Indies 4-0 over here but also beat New Zealand 2-0 after having returned from giving the West Indies a sound but no doubt lucky thrashing in their own back yard.

You have previously commented in a different thread that England were lucky to have won the Ashes due to rain whereas the truth is that the only result affected by rain was the draw at Old Trafford that we would have won if so much time hadn't been lost to rain.

There is a moral here

[Adrenochrome]

Originally Posted by Ian J

They have been remarkably lucky haven't they as they were lucky enough to win the Ashes back in a series described by those that know what they are talking about as the best test series ever and before that they were lucky enough to easily beat Bangladesh fairly easily. This was all after returning back from a series in South Africa where we were lucky enough to beat the South Africans easily.

We were very lucky to have won all three series in 2005 but this only continued the streak of luck from the previous year where we luckily managed to not only beat the West Indies 4-0 over here but also beat New Zealand 2-0 after having returned from giving the West Indies a sound but no doubt lucky thrashing in their own back yard.

You have previously commented in a different thread that England were lucky to have won the Ashes due to rain whereas the truth is that the only result affected by rain was the draw at Old Trafford that we would have won if so much time hadn't been lost to rain.

There is a moral here

I'm pleased to see you are finally admitting they were lucky

[LFC_SL]

No mention of the defeat to Pakistan...oh how silly of me. Thats the BBCs fault

JohnG, what about F1 silverstone? - actually ignore that. Wimbledon?

[JohnG]

I think it will have to be a trip abroad to a sporting event. The Rally in Sweden or one of the other Scandinavian countries is looking favourite due to all the drunken tottie that you always see out there during the event

[shoehorn]

Originally Posted by JohnG

I really think that they are taking the mickey with these prices and the amount of time they keep your money before the game.

You're right, but unfortunately if you want to go that's what you have to put up with.
Look at me - I've already paid for all my tickets for the Rugby World Cup 2007!
That means the FFR will have my cash (and I'm not telling you how much - in case SWMBO is looking!) for TWO years!

[la gran siete]

Originally Posted by Adrenochrome

I'm pleased to see you are finally admitting they were lucky

given the paucity of cricket north of the border , do you support the English / Welsh lads? England were once captained by a Scotsman btw. One Mike Denness

[Ian J]

Gavin Hamilton and Dougie Brown both played for Scotland in the 1999 World Cup and due to a quirk in the regulations later played One Day cricket for England too.

[la gran siete]

ok

[Miron]

Originally Posted by JohnG

A World Cup dilemma – this may all be academic as we may get knocked out in the first stages !!
I have to decide by Wednesday if I want to apply for tickets for the later stages of the World Cup through the Englandfans membership. I have no chance of getting tickets for the early stages as there are a few thousand ahead of me in the queue due to the “caps system” where you get awarded caps for going to away games. There are a lot of rich Englandfans members who can afford to go to New York etc for meaningless friendlies just to be awarded Caps to allow them to get tickets for the World Cup. I refused to apply for tickets through Fifa as they only allowed you to buy tickets with a Mastercard and I only have Visa cards and think it’s disgraceful that they can dictate which card you pay for things with.
To stand a better chance of getting a ticket you are better off saying that you don’t mind what category ticket you get, this usually leads to you getting a category 1 ticket which will be the top of the range. For the Euro 2004 in Portugal I ended up paying about £110 per match which I think is far too much, but that was offset by the cheapness of food and drink in Portugal. The price for a World Cup Final Category 1 ticket is £408 (or approximately £4.50 per minute) with the Semi Final ticket being £272, and you have to pay up front for them now, so these people have your £680 in the bank for a few months. If your team doesn’t get to these stages then you get your money back, but I remember after Euro 2004 it took over 2 months for them to get round to refunding the money and the refund is made to your credit card. They don’t refund the exorbitant booking fee that they add on to the price of the ticket.
I’m getting stick from my mates who I go to England games with for my stubborn attitude, but I really think that they are taking the mickey with these prices and the amount of time they keep your money before the game. My thoughts at the moment are that I don’t want to go as it will cost a fortune in getting there and in staying there as all the flights to Germany will be 4 or 5 times more expensive than normal. I’ve also got the feeling that we won’t do enough to stop the scumbag element travelling without tickets and there will be trouble. I’m being told by the lads that I’m cutting my nose off to spite my face, but I really do object to handing this much money over to these people when you consider that my first ever season ticket cost me £7.50
Sorry for the long rambling nature of the post, but it helps to get my thoughts in writing !

Edit. Also it's worth noting that they refund the money to your credit card so you end up having to spend that money anyway

Now, with Rooney off, the answer is simple I guess.

Still, you might earn some caps for the better days if you go

[Miron]

Sorry for revamping the thread

But just in case if someone is interested, FIFA put on sale some tickets for England for the World Cup 2010 (and for all other teams as well). They did it about 2 hours ago, so there might be some chance if someone wants to go to South Africa.