Ramatsiyi Moholoa

Ramatsiyi Moholoa

The Local Organising Committee is engaging the South African government to make it illegal for any person to resell a soccer ticket.

This, according to Danny Jordaan, the LOC chief executive, would stop individuals wanting to sell the tickets on the black market with the aim of making huge profits.

Jordaan was speaking at the Sowetan Extra Time in Sandton last Thursday where he started with a detailed slide presentation on their work.

The monthly event, attended by various businesspeople and soccer stakeholders, is jointly presented by Famous Grouse whiskey and e.tv.

"We are engaging with the government to make it a criminal offence to resell a ticket. We have tremendous government support in preparing for the World Cup."

He warned that the danger is that you could be selling your ticket for a higher price to someone who will be out there to set off a bomb.

"And who would be held responsible? Us the LOC who sold or gave you that ticket..."

Jordaan was quick to allay the fears of many ordinary South Africans that the tickets for the World Cup would be exorbitant.

"The tickets will be affordable, we are still in discussions with Fifa. An announcement regarding the tickets will be made soon."

Jordaan added that it was important for South Africans to channel their energies into youth in its quest to assemble a formidable Bafana Bafana team.

"The event (World Cup) will not excite South Africans if Bafana Bafana are eliminated in the first round, we will have a huge problem.

"It is important that we should build the team around the youth, we must find additional revenue to make sure we prepare the youth to fight for the country.

"We should not worry about whether Benni (McCarthy) will be there or not, he will be 30-something. We should start looking at the Under-20s and Under-23s.

"They must play in Brazil, Europe and Asia. We can only improve in football by playing. It is also important that we should qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

"Why are we worried that we are in the same group with Nigeria and Ghana, but we want to be in the finals of the World Cup?

Turning to the formation of the Reserve League, Jordaan said it was a good idea to create such a platform for the players to develop.

"It (the reserve league) is critical. If you never swam, you will never become a better swimmer. You have to play against the best in order to be good."

Jordaan also emphasised that the LOC were on track to host a successful World Cup, an event he revealed will be run by more than 500 people.

"The 2010 is the highest World Cup ever in the world in terms of revenue, it has already generated Fifa over $100 million (about R700 million)."

Dealing with the issue of accommodation, Jordaan said Fifa will use B&Bs for the first time in 2010 during the World Cup.

"We have started engaging the B&Bs, they will form part of accommodation for the World Cup. The problem is that many of such facilities are not graded.

"They must go to the grading council and be graded. It has to be a one, two or five stars to be used for the World Cup."

Jordaan also advised the local club soccer owners to start employing professionals to handle their administration.

"The only business where you can be everything is the taxi industry. I collect the money, buy petrol and I don't pay tax."

lramatsiyi@sowetan.co.za