It is Friday man. And I am looking forward to the weekend. Oh am I? This is going to be a full weekend for me. Mostly with church activities and then other social activities. The organization of Tanzanians in Central Ohio (TCCO) is planning a “TCCO” day on Saturday. As a board member, I have to be there.
But hey, I signed up for this (except for the church involvement, which I know God called me to do), so I will not whine even a single bit.
Honestly, I wanted to write about something else (which I won’t disclose to keep you coming back), but I couldn’t just help musing on this post by Issa Michuzi.
Apparently, the soccer fans are furious for not being able to buy tickets for the upcoming soccer match between Tanzania and Mozambique. I am a soccer fan myself and I can tell you this: I was disappointed when I could not get a ticket for the upcoming match between Columbus Crew and LA Galaxy on September 30, 2007. Obviously, the Beckham craze drove the ticket demand up.
This is my message to you Tanzanian soccer fans – welcome to the real world! Welcome to the free market environment!
Well, I know. In Tanzania it could not even be a question of demand and supply interplay. Given the level of corruption in the country, there is a HUGE possibility that some few wajanja seized the moment to reap off the rest of the populace. But mind you, that is just my theory. It could have been that someone projected the ticket demand (given the fact that this match is potentially historic) and heavily invested in buying a chunk of tickets with the intention of rolling them out in a secondary market. Is that opportunistic? You bet, you it is.
In a country where some folks are still stuck in an Ujamaa thinking, this is not a pretty picture.
But lets just get down to it. This is ticket scalping. The truth of the matter is this: ticket scalping is everywhere. Think I am kidding? Just read the following report on ticket scalping from the State of New York’s Attorney General. Well, in New York it could be them Mafia running the show. But why would we not suspect that we have own on little Mafia network in Tanzania?
But hey, I signed up for this (except for the church involvement, which I know God called me to do), so I will not whine even a single bit.
Honestly, I wanted to write about something else (which I won’t disclose to keep you coming back), but I couldn’t just help musing on this post by Issa Michuzi.
Apparently, the soccer fans are furious for not being able to buy tickets for the upcoming soccer match between Tanzania and Mozambique. I am a soccer fan myself and I can tell you this: I was disappointed when I could not get a ticket for the upcoming match between Columbus Crew and LA Galaxy on September 30, 2007. Obviously, the Beckham craze drove the ticket demand up.
This is my message to you Tanzanian soccer fans – welcome to the real world! Welcome to the free market environment!
Well, I know. In Tanzania it could not even be a question of demand and supply interplay. Given the level of corruption in the country, there is a HUGE possibility that some few wajanja seized the moment to reap off the rest of the populace. But mind you, that is just my theory. It could have been that someone projected the ticket demand (given the fact that this match is potentially historic) and heavily invested in buying a chunk of tickets with the intention of rolling them out in a secondary market. Is that opportunistic? You bet, you it is.
In a country where some folks are still stuck in an Ujamaa thinking, this is not a pretty picture.
But lets just get down to it. This is ticket scalping. The truth of the matter is this: ticket scalping is everywhere. Think I am kidding? Just read the following report on ticket scalping from the State of New York’s Attorney General. Well, in New York it could be them Mafia running the show. But why would we not suspect that we have own on little Mafia network in Tanzania?
Regardless, my heart goes out to the fans. It is a man eats man world, isn’t it?
Enjoy your weekend.
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Enjoy your weekend.
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Photo credit: Michuzi
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