PLEASE SEE BELOW THIS ADLANI MESS:
Angry fans want to give boot to soccer promoterPotential Lawsuit; No Zidane 'friends,' just '17-year-olds from Vaughan'Michael McKiernan, National Post Published: Wednesday, July 08, 2009John Kenney/Canwest News ServiceZinedine Zidane played against police officers in a match held in Montreal last month. Some angry fans are taking action against the promoter of the "Zidane and Friends" Canada-wide soccer tour, complaining that other than French icon Zinedine Zidane, the games have featured a distinct lack of "friends."When the event was announced in April, organizers said a host of stars would travel to take part on Mr. Zidane's team, including several well-known professionals based in Europe and a number of high profile Italians who have recently retired. They would take on a team of Canadian all-stars in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver between June 25 and July 4. The Vancouver date has since been put off until July 12 due to an injury to the star attraction.As late as last week, the event's website still named an impressive selection of players, none of whom made the trip to Canada. They included Samuel Eto'o, the $50-million Barcelona forward and Italian legends Alessandro Costacurta and Franco Baresi. Gennaro Gattuso was named as a participant, despite travelling with the Italian squad to last month's Confederations Cup in South Africa.Jamil Frig paid more than $1,600 for eight VIP tickets as a treat for employees and clients at his Markham, Ont.,-based Little Guys Delivery Service. The lowest-priced tickets for the Toronto match cost around $50."I'm looking at this advertisement with all these superstar players names on it, so I jump all over it. The way it was sold, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a world-class European soccer match," he said.It wasn't until the players emerged from the dressing room at BMO Fieldin Toronto on June 25 that Mr. Frig discovered none of the other players advertised had made the trip. Instead, the only players he had heard of were Rohan Ricketts, an Englishman recently released by Toronto FC and Martin Palermo, a last-minute replacement from Argentina.ce. It was like watching your father's house league with the boys on a Sunday. To pay $200 a ticket to see that, it's not worth it."When he got home, Mr. Frig immediately wrote to the organizers, demanding a refund. When it was refused on the grounds that Mr. Zidane, the main attraction, had appeared, he formed a Facebook group for disgruntled ticket-holders. Mr. Frig says he is in talks with a lawyer specializing in class actions.The potential lawsuit is the latest blow to an event that has been dogged by poor ticket sales and patchy promotion.Organizer Ahcene Adlani denied any wrongdoing and pointed out that a portion of ticket sales were earmarked for Unicef, raising more than $100,000."I'm not making money for myself. In this kind of poject, after you pay Unicef and all the costs, you'll be very happy if you don't lose that much money," he said.As for the missing players, Mr. Adlani said they all gave him a commitment to come, but slow ticket sales and a whispering campaign by unnamed Canadian soccer officials shook their confidence in the whole project."I thought everybody would be happy to have these kind of players in this country, but when I asked around the clubs here and soccer federations, nobody would jump in to help with promotion. They even tried to undermine me," Mr. Adlani said."I cannot fight against all these rumours. I don't have the power to do it. With some players, there was no notice. I was waiting for them at the airport. We had 10 Italians coming that we sent tickets to and only six arrived," he said.That's not good enough for Mr. Frig, who won't be satisfied until he has his money back."Before you open your mouth and nationally advertise and promote a soccer game, do your research. Don't say you're going to bring these players over and then find out that you can't once everybody has paid for it," he said.
Angry fans want to give boot to soccer promoterPotential Lawsuit; No Zidane 'friends,' just '17-year-olds from Vaughan'Michael McKiernan, National Post Published: Wednesday, July 08, 2009John Kenney/Canwest News ServiceZinedine Zidane played against police officers in a match held in Montreal last month. Some angry fans are taking action against the promoter of the "Zidane and Friends" Canada-wide soccer tour, complaining that other than French icon Zinedine Zidane, the games have featured a distinct lack of "friends."When the event was announced in April, organizers said a host of stars would travel to take part on Mr. Zidane's team, including several well-known professionals based in Europe and a number of high profile Italians who have recently retired. They would take on a team of Canadian all-stars in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver between June 25 and July 4. The Vancouver date has since been put off until July 12 due to an injury to the star attraction.As late as last week, the event's website still named an impressive selection of players, none of whom made the trip to Canada. They included Samuel Eto'o, the $50-million Barcelona forward and Italian legends Alessandro Costacurta and Franco Baresi. Gennaro Gattuso was named as a participant, despite travelling with the Italian squad to last month's Confederations Cup in South Africa.Jamil Frig paid more than $1,600 for eight VIP tickets as a treat for employees and clients at his Markham, Ont.,-based Little Guys Delivery Service. The lowest-priced tickets for the Toronto match cost around $50."I'm looking at this advertisement with all these superstar players names on it, so I jump all over it. The way it was sold, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a world-class European soccer match," he said.It wasn't until the players emerged from the dressing room at BMO Fieldin Toronto on June 25 that Mr. Frig discovered none of the other players advertised had made the trip. Instead, the only players he had heard of were Rohan Ricketts, an Englishman recently released by Toronto FC and Martin Palermo, a last-minute replacement from Argentina.ce. It was like watching your father's house league with the boys on a Sunday. To pay $200 a ticket to see that, it's not worth it."When he got home, Mr. Frig immediately wrote to the organizers, demanding a refund. When it was refused on the grounds that Mr. Zidane, the main attraction, had appeared, he formed a Facebook group for disgruntled ticket-holders. Mr. Frig says he is in talks with a lawyer specializing in class actions.The potential lawsuit is the latest blow to an event that has been dogged by poor ticket sales and patchy promotion.Organizer Ahcene Adlani denied any wrongdoing and pointed out that a portion of ticket sales were earmarked for Unicef, raising more than $100,000."I'm not making money for myself. In this kind of poject, after you pay Unicef and all the costs, you'll be very happy if you don't lose that much money," he said.As for the missing players, Mr. Adlani said they all gave him a commitment to come, but slow ticket sales and a whispering campaign by unnamed Canadian soccer officials shook their confidence in the whole project."I thought everybody would be happy to have these kind of players in this country, but when I asked around the clubs here and soccer federations, nobody would jump in to help with promotion. They even tried to undermine me," Mr. Adlani said."I cannot fight against all these rumours. I don't have the power to do it. With some players, there was no notice. I was waiting for them at the airport. We had 10 Italians coming that we sent tickets to and only six arrived," he said.That's not good enough for Mr. Frig, who won't be satisfied until he has his money back."Before you open your mouth and nationally advertise and promote a soccer game, do your research. Don't say you're going to bring these players over and then find out that you can't once everybody has paid for it," he said.
