Resistance to Fifa bullying is growing

With just more that two months to go to the kickoff of the Fifa Soccer World Cup in South Africa, the local backlash against the autocratic and bulldozing approach by the world football governing body is gaining momentum. In the latest incident, South African Airways (SAA) announced at the end of March that it was terminating its contract with Match, the official ticketing agency for Fifa, due to a reduction of seats requested - from 45 000 to 1 000 - by the ticketing company.

SAA spokesperson Vimla Maistry told "All Africa Online" that talks broke down over the drastic number of seats that Match was looking to book from the airline for the Soccer World Cup in South Africa from June to July.

"Initially, Match booked 45 000 return seats from SAA, but reduced them to only 1 000.

"It was no longer viable for SAA to continue with the deal," Maistry stated to the press.

The move forced SAA to dump 44 000 seats into the market, which has caused an enormous drop in airfare pricing during the World Cup period.

"We are very pleased to now be able to offer customers these tickets at reduced rates," says Ian Cruickshank, SAA's 2010 project leader.

"We have done our utmost to assist them, but we cannot hold our ticket stock indefinitely while seat numbers keep changing. We would much rather make these tickets available to our own loyal customers," he said.

"EU Ticket News" recently wrote that Sepp Blatter, president of Fifa, oversaw the awarding of the contract to Match for up to 342 million pounds in World Cup hospitality tickets to a company part-owned by his nephew’s firm. (Source: All Africa Online)

The airline said it remains open to discussions with Match, and would like to continue to provide assistance with leased aircraft that the organisation plans to use to ferry guests around South Africa.

SAA added that it could include flights to countries such as Mexico, which currently have no regular commercial service to South Africa. The airline's decision came amid pressure on carriers to lower airfares because of concerns that recession-weary fans may not make the long journey to South Africa.

The local music industry has joined the ‘rebel band’ in fulminating against what it claims to be discrimination by the world soccer governing body. Legendary musician Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse is leading a drive by angry local musicians to stage a rival concert on the same night as Fifa's World Cup kickoff celebration.

Local music professionals are furious that so few South Africans will feature in the official Fifa concert. Their call to arms this week - to mount a free rival concert - was made at Music Exchange, an industry conference in Cape Town, reported the "Mail & Guardian".

Fifa's concert at Soweto's Orlando Stadium will feature only three South African acts - Vusi Mahlasela, BLK JKS and The Parlotones. African superstars Vieux Farka Touré, Angélique Kidjo, Tinariwen and Amadou and Mariam will take part alongside international artists including Alicia Keys, John Legend, Black Eyed Peas and Shakira.

South African music professionals are simmering also because Fifa contracted American-based events management company Control Room to run the concert, instead of a local company. (Source: Mail & Guardian).

Mabuse said a rival concert is about "opportunities for South Africans. Why should South African musicians be denied the opportunity to be exposed to the rest of the world, when those that already have been privileged enough to have opportunities get to come here and make money and then go?" he asked.

The Fifa concert will be broadcast to millions of viewers around the world.

Meanwhile, three South African calendar manufacturers say they will fight Fifa in court over the soccer body's claim that it has trademark rights to the date "2010", reported the "Times".

The dispute, which has been simmering since the beginning of the year, came to a head when Fifa's marketing arm issued the businesses with lawyers' letters demanding a total of R2.7 million in royalties.

Fifa maintains that use of the date for commercial purposes, such as in calendars, is a breach of the special legislation approved last year to protect its branding ahead of the World Cup.

However, managing director of Cape Town publishing firm Paragon, Goolam Allie, told the "Times Live" that the claim was "spurious". "They are definitely chancing their arm," he said. "We have spoken to our lawyers, and we will fight them all the way."

He said Paragon was one of three firms he knew of which had received the lawyers' letters; and the other two, both in Johannesburg, had vowed to contest the claim. Paragon, in the run-up to 2010, had printed close to 85 000 desk- and wall calendars, all bearing the 2010 date.

"What does Fifa want us to put there instead?" he asked. "Or are they saying we must give the calendars away for free?"

Patent attorney Richard Track said to "Times Live" that a date was regarded as "common goods" when it came to intellectual property, and as such could never enjoy copyright protection. Only when it was linked to an event in a phrase such as "2010 Soccer World Cup" did it become a trademark.

Fifa's South African spokesperson Delia Hunter said in response that the body was committed to freedom of expression, but that it had to protect its commercial rights. "We are obliged to act in the interests of our licensees, who have paid substantial amounts of money to share in the branding around the Cup," she told "Times Live".

The move against the calendar manufacturers follows a similar Fifa letter to kulula.com over an advert in which the low-cost airline called itself the "unofficial national carrier of the you-know-what", with stylised pictures of a soccer stadium and vuvuzelas.

Fights between Fifa and businesses over territory and rights prior to Soccer World Cups should be accepted as part of the in-fighting prior to these events, but what has been worrying, is the heavy-handedness of Fifa’s claims and alleged rights, as well as a lack of sensitivity - in the case of musicians - of local industries.

The world body hardly can allow the tide to turn against it with the World Cup barely 60 days away.

However, not all the claims by Fifa should be discarded as efforts only to enrich itself at the expense of local rights-holders.

Recently, South Africa seized more than R46m worth of fake World Cup merchandise, with much of the goods originating from China and other Asian countries, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

South African Football Association spokesperson Mario Sanyane said Adidas had been contracted to produce Bafana's official jerseys.
"It's unacceptable that people from around the world are taking advantage of the Bafana brand," he told the AFP-agency.