Empty Olympic Seats – Bloody Obvious what is wrong ( Know your place plebs)

Those folks who are, for whatever reason, fascinated by watching: table tennis, swimming, the drugfest that is track and field or whatever, tried incredibly hard to pay vast sums to go to the Olympics. Most failed to get seats. And as they turned on their TV’s today there were….stacks of empty seats. They are pissed off and are taking to twitter and facebook to express their rage. What do they not understand? The Olympics is just not about little people. The plebs are merely there to fill the cheap seats and justify the billions of quid spent on this event by getting terribly excited. You thought you would be treated with respect? Get real.

The seats were, of course, allocated to corporate sponsors or snaffled up by the marketing departments of big City firms and the like. So they are in the hands of people who have no real interest in sport who may well then invite others with no real interest in sport to accompany them. If they can’t find a home for the tickets? Well it is not their money that paid for them so just leave the seats empty.

As I have explained before, I would pay NOT to go to an Olympic event. Trekking through the dodgier parts of East London, the spiritual manor of Lucian Miers, is bad enough. I will do it for West Ham but not to watch ping pong. Then to face queues at the end and then be herded into a place where I have to spend the whole day not smoking and drinking and eating only nasty over-priced junk food and nasty lager provided by sponsors is a frightful thought. Having to watch sports in which I have zero interest is worse. To be allowed to stand up only at certain permitted times just sounds crazy. Having to spend that whole day sitting next to some corporate suit who does not really like or interest me (and vice versa) and who regards the whole experience as “work” really is the icing on the cake. And you cannot even get totally sozzled to dull the pain. I sounds like complete hell.

I go to football games and the odd cricket match with friends. It happens that some of them work for PLCs with whom I have a link. Most don’t. But they are all there because we can swear together, say what we want, have no pressure to talk about work, have a few beers in the Queens or in one of Lucian’s clubs (a community bar on the stagger to Plaistow) and joke along about a range of non work matters. We all support West Ham and have done for years through thick and thin. Mostly thin. The idea of going to a game with a bunch of suits who I do not really know or like and who do not share my passion for the hammers repels me. It would ruin the sport and the experience.

And so for a range of reasons it should have been bloody obvious that the Olympics (bar the women’s beach volleyball) would see hundreds of empty seats. But the games needs sponsors. So empty seats is the price you pay for supping with the Devil. As to the little people who thought this was all about a great sporting event to unite mankind and which could be “the people’s games”: grow up. Your taxes will fund this horror show and you are expected to show enthusiasm when asked but you really should know your place.