The Rugby Rip Off Cup 2011

Today announces the beginning of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, held in the land of Quake- New Zealand. I am not aiming to be a spirit assassin in this posting, but the one thing that big events highlight is the predictable nature of corporate greed. Articles in both Aussie and NZ papers have complained about the high cost of both tickets and fan jerseys. Now, as I live in South Africa(The current World Cup Champs) I can only really comment on what I see from this country. 

You can go to certain shops and purchase a genuine world cup jersey for the far from economical price of around R600. Yes, for ONE jersey. Sadly people are not ashamed to fork out this massive cost for jerseys to support their country. I guess if you have the money why not? However, by loads of people purchasing these items at the wonderful price of R600, it sends a message to the corporates who benefit from the sales that this is acceptable. 

In my view it is far from this. They still have the utter nerve to have a tag saying 'Real supporters buy genuine' stuff- or something like that. 

The reality of the situation is that we have a country that has mass poverty and the majority of the people, of all races, are living from month to month with unemployment rising by the day. R600 feeds a family for a month- at a stretch. 

The alternatives to this are going down to your friendly shop at the robot (traffic light) where you can buy most things these days and spend R100-R200 for a non genuine item. Now, do not get me wrong- I do not support crime per se. However this is not a clear cut issue that many (usually those who can afford the R600 item) would want us to believe. 

Yes it may be wrong on some levels to purchase a pirate item, but those who do are forced into it by the greed of those whogain from the sales of the genuine item. Why should a supporter of his/ her country not have the right to purchase an affordable item to wear and show this support? Why must the organizations make a killing from items that actually should be priced cheaper as they not only show the support our team has, but it also creates a wonderful bond between the people of this country. As has been evident on many occasions, sport binds us. Therefor the government and sport governing bodies should be doing what they can to help everybody feel part of the occasion and not price it out of the reach of most of us. 

I will not feel guilty or place blame on anybody purchasing a pirate shirt as they will wear it proudly and support the springboks. The guilt of piracy lies at the door of those who gain from the ridiculous prices of items that should be cheap. (Having been made in China-serious!!)

Having said that, fans all over South Africa, wearing pirate and genuine jerseys will be supporting our Springbok team and we all hope they retain the trophy!