Ticket scam – The National

SPORTS Minister Justin Tkatchenko has labelled as shameful and disgraceful the sale of Fifa Under-20 women’s soccer World Cup tickets on the streets well above the intended prices.
He told The National last night that he and Fifa officials in Port Moresby were aware of what was happening.
It is understood that K5 tickets are being sold on the streets of Port Moresby for K10, and K15 tickets for K25.
Tkatchenko said it was a disgrace.
“These people selling or scalping tickets should be ashamed of themselves as they are denying ordinary Papua New Guineans, the grassroots, who will never get a chance to watch a World Cup, the opportunity to do that,” he said.
“I’m aware of the situation and David (Chung) and the Fifa people are too.
“At the moment we cannot do anything about it because the tickets have already been sold. But we will monitor the situation.
“This goes against the spirit of sports, of football and the World Cup and what it stands for.
“It is totally unacceptable and those people should be ashamed of themselves.”
The local organising committee when contacted for comment yesterday said it would issue a statement later.
Tkatchenko said they would learn from the experience when preparing for the rugby league World Cup.
“We will learn from this because we have a rugby league World Cup next year and for future games,” he said.
A football fan in Port Moresby in a letter to The National yesterday said he went to a Fifa ticket outlet shop in the city to purchase tickets for a match.
But he was told by the lady at the counter that tickets had been sold out.
“I came out and some random guy approaches me and said tickets on sale, at higher price,” he said.
“Why are the stadiums not fully packed when it comes to match days? Well apparently some demented people go and buy this tickets in bulk, mitigating them in the shops and selling them on the streets at a higher price to accrue profit.”
The fan said that was the reason stadiums were not filled to capacity during other games and the current Fifa Under-20 World Cup, which is into finals.