Zidane cancels Australian visit

[fedelta]

Not sure if this is anywhere else.
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AN exhibition match in Sydney involving Zinedine Zidane has been cancelled after the former soccer superstar pulled out for "personal reasons".

Zidane was to have been the star attraction at Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday, leading a team featuring a number of teammates from the French side that won the 1998 World Cup, including Marcel Desailly and Robert Pires, against a side from Australia's 1997 World Cup qualifying squad.

But event managers, Octagon Sports Marketing, released a statement saying the match was off and tickets already purchased through Ticketek would be fully refunded.

Zinedine Zidane regrettably has had to cancel his upcoming Australian tour due to personal reasons, with a view of rescheduling at a later date, Octagon said in a statement.

An Octagon spokeswoman believed many people would have sought refunds if the match had gone ahead with Zidane.

It would be like going to see L.A. Galaxy without Beckham, she said.

Promoter Alain Barataud said he was expecting a call from Zidane to confirm whether or not he will still come to Australia.

I'm expecting a call from him (Friday) morning to confirm Sunday or Monday, Barataud said.

Zidane retired in 2006 after a long and distinguished career with France and at club level with Real Madrid and Juventus.

 

[kepo]

BIG GAYNESS

It would be like going to see L.A. Galaxy without Beckham, she said.
: : : : :

 

[~Floss~]

BIG GAYNESS

It would be like going to see L.A. Galaxy without Beckham, she said.
: : : : :

So, in other words, there'd be about 72,000 less people in the crowd

 

[Mariner Girl]

So dummy here (me) buys a ticket during the week because Tony and Aurelio Vidmar are playing and I 'm jumping for joy - one last time to see Viddie play 
Then this news smacks me in the face this afternoon - NOT HAPPY JAN 

 

[loyalist]

lol gw zz

 

[brett]

nothin to do with ZZ. pretty obvious reading between the lines on this that there was f all interest, f all tickets sold and f all sense in going ahead with the game with <10k there.

Shame that it was scheduled in a week where football has made all the headlines. They even put a story with Grella saying "yeh....we're looking forward to playing Iraq" as the top article on smh.com.au. In a week where there is no A-League, no socceroos and no controversy, this could have got quite a lot of interest and been a nice boost for football.

 

[Jolly_Roger]

I have no time or interest in these types of games which have been organised by independant organisations looking to make a buck on the back of stars.

Some in this forum probably have long memories. The game reminds me of some of the games organised in the old Soccer Australia days. The rights to these types of games and friendlies were held by independant promotional organisations.

These organisations would then try and jag a star and use them as the nucleus of their promotions. Players such as Kewell for example used to be dragged over the coals by the public because he wasnt making himself available to appear in these friendlies for Australia. He stated through that it wasnt because he didnt want to appear for the green and gold, but because he had no interest in lining the pockets of these independant organisations trying to cash in on their name. Remember the game against brazil several years ago where big names such as kewell and ronaldo were being used to promote game. Tickets were sold, the big names used in the promotion didnt show, and in the end the game was put on for free if i remember correctly. 

I hope the promoters have lost a bomb on it. These games, and the people who organise them, should be removed from Australia's football landscape unless they are organised throught the FFA, or are for charity.

 

[fedelta]

Apparently Zidane never agreed to play in Australia anyway

 

[kepo]

so is this posponed or not happening

 

[fedelta]

who knows.. I hope I didn't buy those tickets for nothing!

 

[kepo]

i still owe u $50
does that minus the snag on friday and the 90c ice creams


lol

 

[fedelta]

haha no mate it's $50 or i will kneecap you on monday

 

[kepo]

just because i didn't miss a penalty

 

[fedelta]

haha go f**k yourself

 

[fedelta]

maybe we should change the name of this thread to james and taylor discussion thread

 

[kepo]

maybe we should,
also taylor is moving,
so he will be a Boronia Park Mariner*
but that isn't a suburb so i don't know wats goin to happen,
will hav a disscussion about this important matter asap

EDIT: Typeo

 

[fedelta]

*Boronia Park.

 

[kevrenor]

also taylor is moving,
so he will be a Boronia Park Mariner*
but that isn't a suburb so i don't know wats goin to happen

Yes it is, I used to live in the next one - Gladesville

 

[Mariner Girl]

I called Ticketek yesterday morning to get my refund - they complied. I am not holding my breathe for the rescheduled???? match.

 

[fedelta]

Being postponed has really taken away all the hype from the game