Empty seats at the world cup

[Prince George]

When I was watching the Greece - South Korea match, I was struck by the number of empty seats. It seems that FIFA are chasing up what the problem is (it doesn't reflect well on their premier showcase to see anything less than total adulation), and the likely culprit? Driving to the stadium

World Cup 2010: Fifa investigate empty seats at 'sold out' matches

World Cup and city officials met in Johannesburg on Saturday to improve transport plans for matches at Soccer City after traffic congestion caused some fans to miss the tournament's opening match between South Africa and Mexico on Friday.

In Saturday's early kick off, the 46,000-capacity Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth was only about two-thirds full for South Korea's 2-0 win over Greece, despite Fifa claiming that only 3,000 tickets were still available before kick off. A total of 31,513 spectators was declared as the official attendance inside the stadium, meaning that some 11,000 ticket holders had not made it to the stadium.

World Cup organizing committee spokesman Rich Mkhondo said that transport experts were studying why the sold-out Soccer City stadium was not full to see South Africa draw 1-1 with Mexico.

Mkhondo said organizers faced transportation "challenges" because too many fans drove cars to Soccer City.

"There was one block that looked empty and our people in ticketing are looking into it," Fifa spokesman Nicolas Maingot said Saturday.

The upper tier section of around 200 seats was filled by tournament volunteers later in Friday's match. Fifa said 84,490 people attended at Soccer City - a record for one of its matches in Africa. However, a crowd of over 94,000 had been expected.

All tickets have been sold for Saturday's matches between England and the USA at the 45,000-capacity Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg, and at 62,500-capacity Ellis Park in Johannesburg where Argentina faced Nigeria.

[Will]

It has nothing to do with transport. It has all to do with race and culture. If anyone out there knows a white South African, one can understand why the stands are more empty than a North Melbourne match. To put it frankly the people in South Africa which like football, are Black. And the majority of Black people are poor. So, it has nothing to do with transport but rather to do with the fact that the fans cannot afford to view the games....

[yousername]

^^

The article says that the games are mostly sold out. The emptiness has nothing to do with affordability. Plus, the government have made loads of cheap seats to attract poorer people.

And Soccer is more popular with blacks because they make up 85% of the country and because Rugby is more popular in the north, where there is a greater pop of whites. It's just like Oz, part of the country like Rugby, part less.

[Hooligan]

It has nothing to do with transport. It has all to do with race and culture. If anyone out there knows a white South African, one can understand why the stands are more empty than a North Melbourne match. To put it frankly the people in South Africa which like football, are Black. And the majority of Black people are poor. So, it has nothing to do with transport but rather to do with the fact that the fans cannot afford to view the games....

I know several (white) South Africans. This may seem irrelevent but all i can say is they seem to dislike Soccer because it is seen as the black people's sport.

I may be being completely out of line with saying with this but from what i notice is they seem completely racist. If the black's like something, the white's hate it and vice versa.

Feel free to delete this if you think it is out of line.