London 2012 - Olympic Ticket Scramble

Olympic Ticket Scramble

Joe Public – you and me – will be allocated 75% of tickets for the London 2012 Olympic Games which doesn’t seem a lot.


It means that one person in every four will be an official, or corporate hanger-on or prawn sandwich hospitality person.


I have nothing against prawn sandwiches.They’re not my absolute favourite but I have an indifferent attitude to their presence. But when they are on the end of a suited business-type who pays more attention to the company than the action I start to get twitchy.


It’s the same in football and cricket and rugby and tennis and ....well, every major sporting event.


It helps sports make money.


But somehow the Olympian ideal a bit tarnished if we’re dishing out corporate hospitality at a price. Am I being naive? Well, yes. But the Olympics is different.


The fact that London 2012 is in a tizzy about their legacy is also baffling. London got the Games on the back of the promise of a massive education programme to take sport to children in the country and carry on the tradition of nurturing talent.


But that’s not what we do is it? We can’t organise two decent tennis players or win the Ashes regularly or even win a World Cup  so why should anyone think we can galvanise a nation to spend on sport.


We have the “little country” attitude that if the sport wants to succeed it should – largely – help to finance itself. Yes, there are millions spent on sporting bodies but our attitude is “look after the elite and the rest will follow”.


To follow a political philosophy now discredited, it is putting your faith in the “trickle down” expectation of success. It won’t work.


You build foundations from the bottom up. It’s not attractive to look at and you have to wait for results but they make the sure the building is standing for years.

If you want to register for tickets go to Tickets London 2012.