Rush On Tickets For World Cup Soccer

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31016, 23 March 1966, Page 17

Rush On Tickets For World Cup Soccer

[From BRIAN SCOVELL]

rr'HE 1966 World Cup in x England looks like being the biggest sell-out in the history of the competi-

tion, At previous World Cups, attendances have been as little as 2000 at some matches but English officials reckon the lowest gate in this year’s World Cup will be 10 times that. Even for a match like North Korea v. Russia they are expecting 25,000. “The rush on tickets 1 since the draw was made has been tremendous,” says the chief organiser, Mr K. Willson. “I haven’t even got to answer a ’phone.” Single tickets can not be bought for the final: you have to buy a book of 10. You dont even get a ticket for your money, just a receipt. The tickets will be sent out nearer the date in July to stop forgers having a long look at them. The North Koreans have the bookies worried. Originally they were quoted at 500-1. Luckily for the bookies, no-one backed them, for since then. Sir Stanley Rous, president of F.1.F.A., has called them “a very good side.” And a member of the Australian World Cup team, Mr S. Ackerly—remember the Koreans beat the Australians to qualify—says they will surprise the Western world. The bookies came out with a more realistic price—loo-1. Since then some lurid tales have appeared in the Communist newspapers describing how the Koreans have been banned from marrying until after the World Cup, how they have been secreted away in the mountains for months undergoing special training and so on. However good they are, I can’t see them beating the Russians. They wouldn’t be allowed to, would they? Financed as they are by Russian money. The Italians (fourth favourites at 8-1) are also in this group and I can’t see them winning over them, either. The fourth member of this North-East group is Chile, not one of South America’s best teams.

No-one would say anything for the record, but there were some aggressive murmurings when the draw was made in London. “Why have England the easiest group?” asked some of the delegates. England's group is France, Mexico and Uruguay. I asked a member of the organising committee who made the draw, Mr J. McGuire of the United States, whether there was any subtle fixing going on. He laughed. “I can assure you that it wasn’t fixed,” he said. “But England do have an easy group, don’t they?”

Next to the Koreans, the Mexicans are probably the weakest nation in the tournament And Uruguay, though they have won the World Cup twice, have a bad record in recent years. France did beat England in the European Nations Cup four years ago but since then they’ve fallen down the ratings, whereas England has gone up and up. You can’t please all the entrants all the time and Portugal and Spain, the hottest blooded of the Latin countries, were fighting mad about their draw. The Portuguese are drawn with Bulgaria, Brazil and Hungary, which is good-bye Portugal. And the Spaniards are with West Germany, Argentina, the second favourites, and Switzerland. The only easy ride there is Switzerland. Remember, only two teams from each group qualify for the quarter-finals. Most delegates at the conference which followed the draw tipped England to win. There wasn’t much support for Brazil, The concensus of opinion was that the home crowd, plus the conditions, would be the factors to make It England’s Cup for the first time.

Jimmy Greaves, off for two months with hepatitis, the disease which laid out some of the Australian cricketers in India a few years ago, agrees. "I’ve said all along that England will win it,” he said. “Especially if the crowd gets right behind us.” The snag is that England’s qualifying games are being played at Wembley, and in the past the crowd has been notoriously quiet there. Some of England's players tell me they would rather play abroad than at Wembley. It is such a vast stadium, and the average London supporter is such a reserved person compared with the more volatile Northerner, that an international can be played in almost silence at Wembley. Liverpool and Leeds fans showed that a big noise can be kept up there during last year’s Cup Final—and it was such a bad game that they really didn’t have much to cheer about. Unfortunately the F.A. can’t afford to ship thousands of Northern fans to Wembley! This is why their decision to play in this group, and let Brazil play their matches in Liverpool, where the noise is loudest, could rebound against them.

Anyway, we shall see. There are more than three months of rows and hectic ticket buying to go before the big kick-off on July. 11!