Special adviser rationalises England friendly prices
Warner: People will pay
Ian Prescott iprescott@trinidadexpress.comThursday, May 1st 2008
JACK WARNER, the special adviser to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF), reckons that people will pay the relatively steep prices to see what has been branded a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the England national football team play Trinidad and Tobago from 5.30 p.m. on June 1 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
The cheapest ticket for the match is valued at $300 for uncovered stand patrons, while covered stand patrons will pay $600, and an additional one thousand special reserved tickets will be sold at the maximum $1,200 price.
A total of 23,190 local tickets and an additional 750 for English fans are available for the match. One thousand local tickets are special reserved; 4,150 are for covered stand fans and 18,040 will goes to those in the uncovered section of the stadium.
Local fans can access tickets first on the TTFF website (
www.ttffonline.com) or by calling 800-fans. Warner said that the price structure was formulated after careful study.
"We have made a careful study of two things," Warner said. "First of all, the price that people pay for other events which have less importance...and the ease with which they pay for these events. And the price for football in the Caribbean, particularly in Jamaica."
The FIFA vice-president claimed that in Jamaica, the cost of entrance to a match of this standard is twice what the people of T&T are being asked to pay.
Warner added that the England match was a special occasion for the Federation because very few organisations can boast of being in existence for 100 years.
"We looked at the reason, the occasion...a centennial match against England and the budget of TT15 millions dollars. And we felt that anybody who has the means to help to make this a reality should do so. And that was how the prices were arrived at," Warner said.
Meanwhile, Warner revealed that the English Football Association have requested just over 4,000 tickets for travelling fans, but instead the English have been given just 750 uncovered stand tickets.
Tickets for English fans will be collected on May 1 and shipped to the English FA.
Warner also revealed that the English fans have gotten a small discount.
"I think it is $50 less," Warner revealed. "Because they pay airfare to come here and they pay for their hotel. So, we gave them an incentive to come here."In addition to travelling fans, Warner revealed that approximately 200 British journalists will descend on the country for the match. Dave Lamy, liaison officer for the foreign media said few events have ever seen such an invasion of journalists.
"Trinidad and Tobago is a World Cup national now," Lamy said. "And a lot of people are interested in this match," which he said will be broadcast live to England and throughout Europe.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) have acquired the rights for the match and will be taking charge of the production. They have already made plans to have between 15 -20 cameras covering the event.Lamy said the game will be covered from all angles, making it an unprecedented feat in T&T.
As a result of the media invasion Warner said , the T&TFF will be hosting the mother of all media functions to give the English a taste of local culture.
Warner also explained the reason why the Soca Warriors were conceding their traditional red strip to the English.
"One of the ground rules was to have a playing facility that was first class," Warner said.
"Another was that they would play in red and we would play in an alternative colour,
so, we chose white," he said.
Like Adidas gave us any other choice. But will it be the 08/09 white or the 06/07 white???