Hosts scoring goals in battle against scalpers

JOHANNESBURG - Bafana Bafana’s early exit doesn’t mean that the hosts have stopped scoring goals elsewhere in this World Cup.

On Saturday, the police have issued a very strong warning against ticket scalpers that if they get caught selling World Cup tickets, they will be arrested, charged and prosecuted.

The warning, issued by Brigadier Govindsamy Mariemuthoo, came after three men were arrested selling tickets outside of the official channels, but were later released after posting bail.

A South African, an American and a German were caught red-handed selling tickets for Thursday’s matches. On that day, police said it confiscated a total of 70 tickets going out of the black market.

“We want to send a strong warning to those who intend to sell tickets without FIFA’s authorization that they will be charged and prosecuted,” said the police general as quoted by the Saturday Star.

South Africa’s biggest-selling national newspaper on Saturdays also wrote that police have warned soccer fans dying to get a seat to the most crucial World Cup matches to get them from the proper channels.

Or do otherwise at their own risk and at a much higher price.

In the official World Cup website, tickets to the matches pitting United States vs Ghana, Germany vs England, Argentina vs Mexico or Spain vs Portugal, range from $425 to $475 or roughly P20,000.

But on the Internet, they go as high as $3,000 for the Argentina vs Mexico encounter in the Round of 16. And for the finals, at the 94,7000-seat Soccer City, it should go twice or even thrice as much.

Some of those caught selling World Cup tickets claimed that they just wanted to get their money back, a perfect alibi for someone who spent hundreds or thousands of Rants (the local currency) for their tickets.

It’s either they really wanted to get their money back or they wanted to make more by selling them to fanatics.

The police said people who want their money back should go to the ticketing centers and return them. There, the police assured, they will be refunded minus the administration fee.

The tickets then go back to the pool. And not to be sold in the streets.