Now FIFA blames the airlines. I wonder who’s next ?

February 4th, 2010 | by: SoccerLimey | Comments Off

In a further stunningly stupid statement, FIFA now turns the blame game onto the airline industry stating that even if it could sell all of the tickets for its World Cup in June, there is currently no way for fans from participating countries to get to the African nation.

Apparently, all seats have been sold, according to FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke and it is “impossible to find a seat” . This is a blatant lie and is another typical example of the blame game that FIFA seems to be embarking on in preparation for this June’s finals.

FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke

I decided to test this dumbass theory personally, using American Airlines reservation website , and found that it took me all of 3 minutes to book a flight on Iberia Airlines and British Airways to fly to Johannesburg on June 10th in preparation for the England USA Group game. Granted, it may be a trek to then get to Rustenburg but that is hardly the fault of the foreign airlines.

Travel costs are expected to be higher than in previous tournaments even taking into account the vast distances involved in traveling to Japan and South Korea in 2002, but soccer fans are extremely resourceful animals and, trust me, they will get there.

The depths to which FIFA will go to divert attention from it’s own buffoonery in running this game of ours defies description at times, and I am baffled by the media networks across the world buying into this garbage.

One shred of good news here is that South African fans are starting to warm up to the ticket process and hopefully now, host nation fans will now be able to give their team the support it deserves .