Pratt Warns Gov�t Against Sponsoring Anyone To Brazil 2014 World Cup

Football is obviously one of the country�s biggest sports. Imagine the spectacle without fans. Would it be the same? The answer obviously is a �BIG NO�. Watching live FIFA World cup is an expensive business, and it gets more expensive every four years. During the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa, quite a colossal amount of money was used by government to airlift soccer fanatics to South Africa; a decision which later became a major issue of discussion. The joy that accompanied Ghana�s qualification for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil is yet to die down with most football fans dreaming of going to Brazil to be part of the fiesta. But unless one has already saved or started saving, going to Brazil will be just a dream as the cost involved certainly is above the means of the average Ghanaian football fan, according to two �Anti-Brazil Soccer Fans� activists. Averagely, a round trip to Brazil, which takes care of a return ticket, accommodation, feeding and tickets for the various matches will cost GHC27,000 or $12,000. This is not inclusive of internal transportation and other miscellaneous expenses. In December, last year, Minister for Youth and Sports, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, gave indication that the astronomical cost of sponsoring supporters to FIFA World Cup would compel the government to slash the number of supporters it would send to Brazil to support the Black Stars. According to him, unlike the last tournament in South Africa three years ago when a lot of supporters benefitted from the government assistance to cheer the team, the government could not afford the huge cost involved in the trans-continental travel to Brazil and high cost of accommodation and internal transport during the tournament, hence the need to assist just a sizeable number of supporters to the World Cup. It is in this light that Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr and former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Asokwa, Maxwell Kofi Jumah have both warned government not to sponsor from government coffers, any supporters group to Brazil this coming June to cheer the Black Stars. Mr. Pratt who was speaking on Adom FM said the amount of money budgeted for sponsoring football fans to Brazil could rather be channeled into other areas of developing the country. �Those (Supporters) government sponsors to watch live World Cup games and Africa Cup of Nation (AFCON) tournament, how does it profit or benefit the country?... Not even one person should go to the World Cup (Brazil 2014) by way of government sponsorship. If anyone wants to watch the games (Black Stars matches) in Brazil, they should fund it themselves,� he said Maxwell Kofi Jumah, on the other, threatened to take legal action if the Mahama led government waste state funds on soccer fanatics. ��.Ghanaians have to kick against such unnecessary spending especially in a period when the country�s economy is in tatters,� he said.