Ticketing discrimination: France wins

A Paris court last week threw out the case brought by 32 members of the European Parliament demanding that French World cup organisers redistribute more than 700,000 tickets to give foreign fans a better chance of getting seats.

The MPs, mainly British, Dutch and Germans, were part of an international chorus of protesters accusing the French organising committee, CFO, of discrimination. They said the decision to sell only a third of the 2.5 million tickets available outside the country hosting the World Cup favoured French fans.

The court admitted that the ticket sales were not fairly organised because the organising committee favoured residents of France. But it could not handle the case because the MPs who filed it were not personally disadvantaged since they had not tried to buy the tickets themselves.

"To take the ticket matter to court, one can only seek tickets for oneself," Phillip Jenkinson, attorney for the 32 lawmakers said while explaining the court's ruling. "By asking for 700,000 tickets, we were asking the court to change the law."

At the first hearing, Jenkinson had said that the CFO's ticket policy contravened three clauses in the Treaty of Rome, which outlaws discrimination on grounds of nationality, restraint of movement of goods and services, and abuse of dominant position.

The parliamentarians had also asked the Paris court to pass on the complaint to the European Court of Justice as the way was still open for other challenges from EU citizens.

However, the court said that access was equitable to all the fans and that there was a possibility for citizens to seek redress individually.

Although it was too late to redistribute the tickets, the court's admission of unfairness in the system could ensure that future event organisers avoid such discrimination.

For now, the direct beneficiaries of the policy are European citizens, black market dealers and French authorities. For European fans, the ticket system will not be a big problem since it is relatively easier to go to France from Europe than from outside. They will still be able to get the tickets through legal channels within France, or through the black market.

The system also saved French authorities from the pressure of dealing with large numbers of fans from all over the world.

But the French should expect headache from English fans who were determined to travel to France at all costs. The British government advised football fans to stay home if they had not bought tickets yet. But the English Football Supporters Association (EFS) said it was unrealistic to expect fans not to travel.

"It doesn't matter what you tell people," said Alison Pilling, international officer of the EFS. "People who have travelled abroad before know that black market tickets are always available and I think our view on that is to give advice on the basis of what people are going to do."

Of course relying on the black market could be a very risky business. A London company was shut down after it failed to deliver, having sold 40,000 World Cup tickets raking in £2.4 million.

Meanwhile in Cameroon, the president of the country's football federation, Vincent Onana, was reported to have been charged with trafficking World Cup tickets. He allegedly sold tickets from the Federation's allocation to a London-based entertainment company.

Cameroon's judicial authorities opened an investigation into the matter which could prevent 3,000 Cameroon supporters from receiving their tickets for France '98.

Demand for tickets has been soaring as the kick-off of the world's biggest football event neared. There were reports of ticket offers on many internet message boards and electronic mail. Prices varied from about $200 for a standard first round match to $13,000 for premium seats at the final.

Official ticket prices or the final on July 12 are between $70 and $590 while first round match tickets are between $25 and $60. But the going price for seats at the opening match between Brazil and Scotland was a minimum of $400.