Shock and awe By Donald C Stewart

Date: 10th June 2026

Shock and awe

By Donald C Stewart

In the classic film, The Greatest Story Ever Told, legendary film director Cecil B. DeMille had another legend in his lens. Playing the Roman soldier that is at the foot of Christ’s crucifixion was John Wayne. After an initial take, Wayne was asked by DeMille to repeat his lines, but have more awe in is voice. The story goes that Wayne stood back, thought about it, and then when action was called, repeated his lines as “awe, surely he is the son of God”.

Such a tin ear is often used to describe how America is seen as responding to the world. They appear on a different communications platform.

With the World Cup about to start, this comes to mind when I see ticket prices for fans attending the World Cup. The dynamic ticket pricing that has been used to inflate prices would even embarrass a tout at an Oasis concert. They have managed to take the people’s game and turn it into a franchise with some briefs allegedly going for as much as $2 million.

Football was for factory workers to down tools at midday on a Saturday to wander along to see their local team play at three o’clock on a Saturday afternoon. It seems a far cry away from this world we live in. America is known for its endorsement of The Dream, Their Dream, built upon capitalism.

It should come as no surprise that capitalism seems to be at the forefront of getting as many dollars out of the pockets of fans and supporters as possible. Turning a profit is the one metric that this is being used to declare this contest as a success.

Even US President Donald Trump has said he wouldn’t pay the prices being charged… Next week he might be saying he would have attended all the Games, at the same time because he cold do that. Hell, he might present the trophy and take the winning penalty kick…

It is a disgrace because we all know that the cost of Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games, the World Cup, Winter Olympics and so on, are always going to be far greater than what the host country is going to get back in. It’s an investment in infrastructure, the promotion of the game, and probably more importantly, it’s an investment in the local businesses who are going to benefit from having such a massive event on their doorstep.

That metric, hopefully, is what’s going to see fans from the world over who descend upon Mexico, Canada and America report how wonderful everything was, and how much they enjoyed it.

What they were supposedly not allowed to enjoy was bottled water to take into the grounds, apparently. Even Keir Starmer, whose government is so filled with U-turns he probably is only able to manage a roundabout these days, has criticised FIFA for this. They reversed it after the outcry, but I laughingly read somewhere that there was a widely held belief that commercialism had played apart as if it were a juicy expose of the scandal… We all knew it was about, in the heat, forcing people t pay inflated prices for an essential. For those of us who are football fans, not allowing people to take their own drinks into the stadia is like your local cinema saying, you can’t bring your bought snacks from the local Asda or Tesco in through the door, you have to buy our hot dogs and our inflated prices for all your confectionery needs. But then again I wonder if the people making decisions have ever had to budget for treats, they just seem to be being given them without having to do much. You can erst assured FIFA officials at the games shall not be offered chilled drinks at a price…

But one of the greatest scandals is probably the transport costs to get to the games. In the initial proposal, which FIFA agreed to, all transport to and from the venues was going to be free. This would allow a massive number of people to get in and out without having to worry about their transport needs. There was then a change, and FIFA allowed a recovery of costs protocol for local transport providers.

Recovery of costs protocol – do me a favour…

What that meant was that they could decide how much they wanted to recover and charge accordingly. FIFA were appalled and surprised at the backlash when people balked at the idea of paying the equivalent of a month’s food bill for the average American just to get themselves to the stadium and then back.

Some states and some cities have reversed this decision. But overall, this year’s Summer World Cup doesn’t feel like one that is fan-friendly, just exploitative. It is ripping the money out of people’s trousers in a way that we have not seen for some time.

FIFA, of course, are well used to scandal. But this is a very open and upfront way that people are being ripped off yet again. And this time no Blatter or Platini to blame…

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Posted in: Fan's Blog, Latest News

Tags: FIFA, Scottish fans, SFA, Tartan Army, World Cup