No-one complained when it was here - of course not. Any sporting event will always reserve the lion's share of its tickets for the local population.
Rachel Carroll, UK

Just two of the comments Talking Point received - read more below.

Background ¦ Your reaction

The Background:

Last year's ticket debacle at the World Cup in France saw thousands of frustrated football fans handing over vast sums of cash to ticket touts, or missing out on seeing their country in action.

The France 98 organising committee sold 60% of tickets to the French public, excluding fans from countries with huge followings like England, Scotland, Germany and Italy.

There was strong concern about public safety, and intense criticism of a ticket strategy that clearly boosted the black market.

The European Union is now punishing the organisers for running a "monopolistic" operation that resulted in "gross discrimination" against non-French fans.

They are imposing a fine of just 1,000 euros (£650).

British politicians and fans alike are outraged.

David Mellor, head of the UK's Football Task Force is angry that the fine is the equivalent to a speeding fine. "They had the power to fine them 10% of the total ticket sales, that's to say almost £10m," he said.

The Football Supporters Association (FSA) said £650 was "less than many people paid for just one ticket from touts".

The EU defended the light fine by saying it was the first time it had reviewed ticket sales for a sporting event, and the organisers could not have foreseen their legal problems.

French President Jacques Chirac accused the EU of interfering in domestic affairs.

What do you think about the fine? Were you one of thousands of fans ripped off by ticket touts? Send us your views and experiences.

Background ¦ Your reaction

Your Reaction:

YES the French got off extremely lightly. This is hardly a deterrent for the same to happen in the future.
Mark Evans, Australia

I am disgusted by this token fine. £650 is the cost of one black market ticket the organisers engineered for their fellow countrymen.
Jon Oxnam, Germany

Why should local people not be advantaged by hosting any festival. What other advantage could there be in hosting Britain's travelling football thugs?
Mike, Hong Kong

If they broke procedure they should be fined. However either way there is no point in fining a country £650. Most people in France could afford to pay a fine for £650 so I'm sure the French FA can! Its hardly a deterrent is it!
Richard Franklin, UK

The fine should be £650,000 which should be used to improve ticketing at the next world cup.
David, UAE

This fine makes a complete fool of the European Union.
Denise Morrice, Hong Kong

Did I just read a Brit accusing the French of being "insular"? Did a Brit actually write that? Speaking as someone who is neither British or French, and has no dog in this particular fight, I find that remark especially humorous. You Europeans are absolutely priceless!
Rath Andor, USA

The crux of this issue is how organisations see major sporting events as simply a money-raising venture. This applies equally to TV rights, sponsorship, ticket sales to corporate entertainers etc. etc. This is a very short sighted view, that shows how poor the standards of management are at the top level of most sporting organisations.
Anyone with an ounce of marketing sense knows that a broad base of customer loyalty is imperative to the future of a product. Excluding sports fans from attending events (by restrictive selling practices) or watching events (by selling TV rights to the highest bidder) will simply erode your supporter and player base.
Football just about survives this because of its massive world-wide appeal - however, Rugby Union has discovered to its cost that not having any rugby on terrestrial TV, and restricting International tickets to the chosen few corporate fat cats will soon lead even top clubs into financial difficulty. Think on, sports organisers.......
Paul Thorpe, UK & Europe

Well is it any wonder the EC have wimped out of something else. If they are not thinking up daft ideas like the Euro then they are answering corruption allegations. 1000 Euro is probably what a round trip ticket is for an EC Councillor when attending one of their meetings or a yearly biscuit allowance? As for the French organisers getting away with it - what a surprise! Don't the French always get away with it? Truck drivers, ferry/port workers burning British trucks of lamb etc. etc. There is no will to do anything so nothing happens.
Glen Martin, England

I'm glad such a thing happened! It just gives the necessary background to evaluate the amount of fines that will be given to poorer and less powerful EU countries like Portugal, Spain or Greece if such equal or equivalent situations occur. Only then we will know if France really got away with it!
Bruno Silva, Portugal

It seems to me that the European Union doesn't have a great deal of faith in the Euro if they choose to ask for only 1,000. Here was the perfect opportunity to put this new currency to a worthwhile and practical use and they've missed it. The fine would barely cover the price of one of the black market tickets that they are supposed to be being punished for.
Andrew Land, England

French concepts of fairness and free markets are very different from those of most of the rest of the developed world. But when you win the right to host a major event like the World Cup, it's up to you how to run it and earn your payback for the outlay. Instead of slamming the stable door after the horse has bolted, British fans should lobby the relevant authorities to act in the national self-interest next time Britain is a host. It's about time Britain stuck up for itself: sticking up for France twice this century evidently did little for you! Quite apart from anything else, why not complain more about how your leading clubs are fleecing you over season tickets and merchandising?
L. Maginot, USA

Angry because you did not win the world cup?
Laurant, France

£650 equals 2 mins talking to the World Cup Ticket Line.
MJ, UK

Why should France pay a fine? They did nothing wrong. Other countries are just sulking because they didn't host the cup themselves.
Nedda Igrebatre, Cyprus

Worse part for me was that the atmosphere in most games was ruined because the majority of the crowd was neutral. And so what if countries have done the same in the past, it still doesn't make it right. Legislation should be put in place for subsequent world and European cups.
Neil Walker, Scotland

I nearly laughed when I heard about the fine of £650. What happened to the potential 10% of their turnover? To say they can get off lightly because they "could not foresee their legal problems" is like saying a motorist can get away with a speeding fine because he did not foresee getting caught!
Matthew, UK (resident France)

It is a disgrace, the phones went dead in most European countries when they opened that phoneline. That has cost millions.
Arno, The Netherlands

I was actually living in France during the World Cup, and am a self-confessed francophile. However, it came as no surprise to me that the French messed up the ticket allocation system. As a nation and a people, the French are very insular: they saw the World Cup as a good opportunity to advertise "la culture francaise". The fact that they completely forgot that the World Cup is a shared experience goes to prove how selfish they can be. The problem is/was rooted deeply inside the French mentality, so £650 or £6,500,000 is not going to make the slightest difference.
Paul Evans, UK

However one feels about the World Cup ticket business, and indeed the French, one must applaud Chirac for telling the EU to mind its own business. Is it not a pity that the wimps which tend to get elected in the UK never have the guts to stand up to EU interference.
Mark Otto, UK

Stop being babies. This would happen in any country of the world and it is only the quasi-religious status of football in this country that provokes such a ridiculous reaction.
John UK

The French authorities grossly abused their position in allocating tickets to each participating country. This responsibility should not have been handed to the host nation but should have been negotiated by the World Cup Organisers, the blame also rests with them as much as the French who were simply tempted by greed. Priority telephone lines that were alleged to have been set up to give the lions share of tickets to those in the areas privy to the priority number was also ridiculous. This should never be allowed to happen again.
Emma, UK

Good grief! £650 probably doesn't cover the phone bills of some poor soul who had to phone and phone and phone again!
Jill Forrest, Scotland

The fine is insulting to all the fans of the other nations that took part in the World Cup. To have so many tickets allocated to home fans is, apart from anything else, unsportsmanlike. I am generally pro-European but this kind of thing makes me wonder why.
Rob, UK

After a long time trying my brother and I managed to obtain two tickets legally for the Spain/Nigeria game in the World Cup. We watched it surrounded by a crowd that seemed to be all French, most of who were there for the experience, not because of any great passion for football. I think this fine is terrible, and should have been much higher.
Manual Ufdiva, Spain

Just another example of France's escapades to undermine the UK and getting away with it !!! If it was the other way round we would not have got away with it.
Mike Allen, UK

I was in France with the Tartan Army and for Mr. Litrice to say that there were plenty of tickets for visiting fans shows just how much he knows about the subject. He must have spent the duration of the World Cup isolated from events happening around him. In addition, he mentions the Olympics. I do not recall the demand being as great for Olympic events as for World Cup events.
Quite simply there were always going to be more Scottish fans at Scottish games than French fans. The consequence of the ticket allocation system was that tickets reached Scottish fans via French fans, at great profit to the French. If the authorities who came up with the system did not realise this (unlikely ) then they should not be given such responsibility again.
Stuart, Scotland

£650 sounds fair considering the disgraceful behaviour of all those English football hooligans. Viva la France
Tony, UK

It's another tiring example of the corruption that dogs world sport and confirmation that in the EU some countries are still more equal than others.
Roger Oldham, UK

They shouldn't have been fined at all. They followed the same system that's been used for years when allocating tickets for big events. Euro '96 did the same, and the rugby World cup is also using the same system.
Leo Talbot, Ireland

There's me thinking that being part of Europe was a good idea, a place where we can treat other nations with the respect they deserve, and then we decide to rubbish all that by ratifying the French arrogance.
Mike Hollobon, UK

Absolute sham, and a complete disregard for the 10s of 1000s of fans world-wide who were excluded.
Waqar Rathore, UK

The EU shows it's true colours - yet again!
Geoff Harding, Norway

Another reason for xenophobia and anti-European remarks. As I recall, the FA has a very similar system for Euro 96. No-one complained when it was here - of course not. Any sporting event will always reserve the lion's share of its tickets for the local population.
Rachel Carroll, UK

The sad fact is that football normally in France is very poorly supported with the top teams gaining an attendance of only about 10,000. Countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Britain where the support is more consistent, and where the supporters are more genuine towards the game could probably justify the French ticket allocation policy.
The worst point was that 50% of the people who watched the matches were not French, probably closer to 10 or 20%. The £650 didn't even cover the cost of the court case and investigation. It is the same old story of inconsistency in Europe.
Jonathan Harford, Belgium

I am a rugby fan and do not follow football. This however does not mean I do not cheer on our home nations in a world event such as France 98. The ticket sales fiasco was completely unfair and the ordinary fans had to foot the bill. To fine the organising body £650 is absurd.
It's the British sense of fair play that will be apparent at the Rugby world cup which will show the French up for what they really are. Lets get out of Europe and join the Free Trade association of North America as we have more in common with them and will get a fairer deal than with the French and Germans than run the EU.
Brett, England

What a joke. It's time all the football bodies got their act together. Whether its the FA doing nothing about players who break rules or this case. It seems to be if it's football everyone can get away with anything.
John P Glasgow, England

A fine of £650 is an insult to international football community. I personally do not think that 60% of tickets going to host country's public is too much, BUT if the court has found organisers guilty for unfair ticket distribution, fine should have been set in accordance with profit involved. £6,500,000 sounds serious, £650 is just a bad joke.
Vladimir, Botswana

The ticket allocations have always been done in this fashion. If the tickets are allocated the same way for the next World Cup, there won't be as many complaints because Korea/Japan is so far away. It was purely the close proximity of the two countries which meant more English wished to go there. This has all come about because of more EU intervention. The tabloid newspapers have turned this into an anti-French war, when it is actually the fault of the French FA and more importantly FIFA.
Steve, UK

I think the fine is too much, I think there should be no fine at all. France kept only just over half the tickets for the home market, there were plenty left for visitors. I ask how many tickets are allocated to other countries in event like Olympics? Nearly half - most likely not.
Charles Litrice, France

This so-called fine is ludicrous. I know people who had to pay far more than this to buy tickets from touts. I think the fine should be increased substantially - how about adding a few noughts to the end?
Arnie Nalle, UK

As one who attended the 1998 World Cup I find it particularly disturbing that any policy that is unfair to true football fans is not severely punished. From the beginning it was blatantly obvious that, once again, France would behave in its' traditional, unfair manner. This matter should not be allowed to rest; can this be a 'cause celebre' for some well intentioned EC politician?
Dennis J. Woodbury, USA

That is absurd, they should have investigated about how much money they made in profit on the other ticket buyers. And then made that the fee.
Chris Aliviado, USA

£650? Is that a joke? Is a fine that size supposed to deter other countries from doing the same or make laugh at the potential consequences? That fine is what innumerable average everyday Joe's pay out in frivolous lawsuits every day.
Joshua Vasquez, USA

As usual the French get away with it. Everyone always asks why the British are so reluctant to being a part of Europe and I always reply that it's because Europe is run by the French & Germans for the benefit of the French & Germans. This is just one more example.
Peter Bradbury, USA

If the EU wants to engender further disrespect, than it is doing a terrific job.
Jay Apoian, USA

How can the EU only fine France £650 for ruining a global event for 1000 of loyal fans. Allowing numerous people to purchase tickets with the sole aim of touting them at inflated prices. The money made at this event must have run into £10's millions and the fine imposed is laughable.
Mark Wood, UK

This token fine is an insult to real football fans everywhere. Since the French are guilty then the punishment should fit the crime in the form of larger monetary and other penalties. What kind of justice is this? A sheer mockery!
Mike Alleyne, USA

A paltry and random sum.
Wendy, UK

I think they should be fined for the simple reason that selling tickets just (or almost) to French supporters is clearly against the European Law but, most of all immoral. It is a clear lack of respect for the thousand who travelled across Europe in the hope of cheering their heroes and got ripped off of their right to participate to the event. Shame on the French!
Simone Cavadini, Italy

Wow £650! What were they doing, speeding? The revenue generated by selling tickets to residents in France must surely be higher than £650, or were they discounting the tickets too? On the rather ironic side, I wonder what all the people who couldn't get tickets did? Riot per chance?
David, UK

Final Votes:

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