WHY INDIAN CRICKET FANS OUTNUMBERED EVERYBODY ELSE AT THE WORLD CUP

When India played Australia in the league stage of the ongoing ICC ODI World Cup, former England captain turned commentator

MICHAEL VAUGHAN

put out a tongue in cheek tweet about the number of Aussie fans at the Oval that day. His tweet read: "So far I have seen 33 Aussie supporters in the ground at the Oval and that includes the team and support staff."

While most cricket fans laughed at Vaughan's cheeky jibe at the Aussies, what cannot be argued is that his comment also summed up the stadium environment in an India match at the World Cup this time. Spotting fans of the opposing team was quite the task. Every match that the Men in Blue played was virtually a home game for them in terms of crowd support. It's no secret that

INDIAN CRICKET FANS

are the most passionate (among global cricket fans). That, coupled with a buying potential that allowed Indian fans to buy match tickets at premiums many times over and above the face value resulted in a sea of blue, whichever stadium Virat and his men played in.


(AP Photo)

Indian fans, those who live in the UK and those who traveled from either India, or other countries like Canada and the US filled up the stadiums. While about a decade and a half back it would be mostly British Indians who would buy tickets for an India match played in the UK, now, Indians who travel from India and other countries have joined the demand race and are willing to pay hefty sums of money to buy tickets for India matches. When they don't find them on the official site, they turn to other third party sources.

Arup Ganguly, a British citizen, is a former banker and financial consultant. He is also an avid cricket fan and has been attending cricket World Cups since 1999. Talking to TimesofIndia.com, he spoke about the mind boggling premiums that are being placed on match tickets by third parties and how Indian fans are willing to buy them at any cost at this World Cup. Something which fans of other countries are usually more circumspect about, thanks largely to their overall buying prowess and passion for the sport, neither of which can usually match those of Indian fans.

"In the 1999 and 2003 World Cups, for semi-finals and (the) final maybe, people were paying 2 to 3 times premium. That premium has now gone up to maybe 20 times. And that has happened because of the increasing affluence of the Indian population. Plus, the Indian population is just much more passionate about the game. What has happened is that the rest of the world has got priced out. Just ahead of the semi-finals (2019 World Cup), someone bought 4 tickets, 70 pounds face value. He paid 1500 pounds a piece (for them)." Ganguly told TimesofIndia.com.

A 70 pound ticket being sold for 1500 pounds. That's over 21 times more than the face value. This though is the price that a ticket holder (who has bought the ticket from the official site at face value) or an unofficial resale agent selling (via unofficial/secondary sites or platforms) is charging to sell to another fan. The sites charge inflated prices and so do individuals who want to sell the tickets directly to other fans and not through the official resale platform, where they can only be resold at face value. Every time a ticket changes hands via the unofficial route, there is a premium put on it and the price goes up. For fans who are looking to buy tickets, no matter what the cost, it's worthwhile to pay a minor fortune to see their favourite team in action, live at the ground.


"You are buying from either re-selling agents or you are buying from other people who already have the tickets. Quite often the tickets have changed hands 5 times, so you are paying premium, upon premium, upon premium. There is a massive market going on about these things. And it's not just unique to the ICC World Cup. (The) same thing happened at the Olympics here. As a local, it was very tough to get tickets. Most of the tickets were in foreign hands." Ganguly said.


One thing that an organising body (In this case the ICC) monitors very closely is touts buying tickets in bulk to sell at massive premiums to fans on unauthorised sites or platforms.

But what happens when fans are looking for tickets, but there just aren't any available from the official source? If tickets are being made available through a third party, will the die hard cricket fan think twice about buying them, even at inflated rates?



(AP Photo)

Interestingly, after India's shock exit and England entering the final, English fans have been tweeting about how Indian fans bought a bulk of the tickets for the final (expecting India to be in the summit clash), but since many of them were bought from third party sources they can't be sold on ICC's official resale site and therefore will not be available to English or Kiwi fans who want to attend the final to cheer for their team.

The ICC has in fact acknowledged the fact that tickets for many matches are being bought and sold on 'secondary sites' and that they are doing their utmost to make sure that fans don't have to pay through their noses to buy match tickets. Tickets of fans who have used unofficial sites are also being cancelled.

On July 10 2019, the ICC put out this statement by the Managing Director of the ICC ODI

WORLD CUP 2019

STEVE ELWORTHY
"In order to maximise attendance and support the long-term growth of cricket, we have worked hard to ensure that genuine fans from around the world can attend CWC19, with an affordable and fair ticket pricing policy being a top priority for this tournament.

"It is therefore very disappointing to see tickets on secondary ticketing websites selling at vastly inflated prices. We are doing our utmost to limit the secondary ticket market, however, a lack of legislation in the UK means we are restricted in the preventative action we can take to stop fans being ripped off and forced to pay over the odds. We have been and will continue to cancel the accounts and tickets we see being sold on secondary sites."

With India having been knocked out of the World Cup, India fans who have tickets for the final are in a bit of a fix. Those who have traveled from other countries and have spent a lot of money on travel and hotel bookings will probably not want to sell their tickets. But British Indians might be less interested in watching a final which will not feature the Indian team.

Ganguly told TimesofIndia.com - "Now that India has left the competition, there will be a crash in those premiums. England fans will pay, but they won't pay 20 times. So if you have paid 20 times, you are not getting 20 times back."


All this, while fans are looking for tickets to buy for the final:

Interestingly, many Indian fans had bought tickets for the second semi-final in Birmingham, expecting India to play England there. Australia's loss to South Africa meant those plans were dashed. However, not many Indian fans chose to resell their match tickets for this game through the official route, which meant many English and Aussie fans were denied the opportunity to cheer for their team and there were empty seats in the stadium.

With many Indian fans having bought tickets for the final on July 14 as well, the question is will Lord's be a sea of Indian blue or will there be empty seats at a World Cup final?

Source : toi