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World Cup - not long now.....!


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is it a good EVENT ?

I mean I know they are the best

soccer

(i mean football for all you people from . . .

well just about everywhere) players in the

world, but is the event itself good ?

not over-hyped, over-commercialized, etc ?

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While I can remember various gripes about things like poor ticketing practices (esp. at the last one in France), heavy handed policing, venues being too widely spread apart, the final being decided by a penalty shootout, etc., the World Cup is a great event.

 

I think the World Cup wins out over the Olympics in the credibility stakes as it does not make vacuous allusions to some kind of spiritual purity. It's just a football tournament, and since football is the biggest team sport in the world, it's really huge!

 

Just to prepare you guys, I reckon Japanese TV will show adverts midway thru the halves. Also, getting to and from some of the stadia (Miyagi, Niigata,...) looks like it's going to be a nightmare on the day, so some of the games may not start on time or may start without large numbers of fans already in the ground. If the latter happens, with some teams' fans you can count on there being trouble.

 

Go Inglan!

 

[This message has been edited by NoFakie (edited 07 April 2002).]

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I don't think there will be ads during the games.

 

The games are all on sky perfect, and they never show ads during any of the other soccer they show. So I can't see that changing.

 

Why will it be a nightmare getting to and from the games?

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Yes but Sky Perfect doesn't qualify as "Japanese TV". What I mean is the terrestrial channels. The ones everyone gets without a special dish. The channels on which most people will watch the World Cup.

 

Some of the games are on NHK, so they won't have adverts on, but the other channels think nothing of going to a commercial break midway through a half of J-League. I wouldn't be surprised if they do the same during the World Cup. I'd be more than happy to be proved wrong, of course.

 

As for the grounds, you've just got to look at that mini-tournament they had last year. Thousands of super-diligent Japanese fans who wouldn't have been trying to sneak in an extra pint couldn't get to the Niigata stadium on time to see the Japan side play. They were relying on shuttle buses that got caught in traffic or were too few in number. Miyagi too is a long long way from the nearest station with buses from Sendai (15km apparently) being the only way in. It's not a heavily used bus route, so a sudden increase in numbers could easily create chaos. I'm sure the authorities are expecting this and are planning for it, but as that fireworks display out in Akashi showed, they're more than capable of ballsing something up with plenty of advance warning.

 

Some of the other grounds are served by trains or multiple routes, such as the National Stadium or Nakai in Osaka, and so should be perfectly fine. Get another round in! Its the new stadia in the boonies where you should be careful. The tickets are expensive enough as it is without you only getting to see half a game. Again, I'd be glad to be wrong.

 

Beckham's going to be advertising both Pepsi and Coke, so hopefully all that caffeine will push the boy to new heights.

 

Go Inglan!

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Just seen YET ANOTHER news item on hooliganism on the news here. I think they are blowing it WAY out of proportion, scaring people beyond belief.....almost inviting misunderstanding and problems.

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