I feel for the FVSL/VMSL exc and players who seem to have been taken for a ride on this.
Zizou's fine mess
By BOB MACKIN, SUN MEDIA
Retired French soccer great Zinedine Zidane is waiving the 200,000 Euros owed him so his troubled Canadian tour can pay its bills, according to promoter Ahcene Adlani.
Adlani said yesterday that only 700 to 1,000 tickets were sold for the 7 p.m. Sunday match with and against Vancouver amateurs at Swangard Stadium.
Adlani originally advertised stars like Samuel Eto'o, Arrigo Sacchi and Franco Baresi for matches in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
A July 4 match at B.C. Place Stadium was canceled after Zidane apparently injured his back while picking up his child during the Canada Day fireworks. Adlani said approximately 8,000 tickets were sold for $29 to $99 each.
Anthony Hui, who helped finance and organize the June 25 Toronto match, told 24 hours on Wednesday that Adlani owes $85,000 in expenses. Hui traveled to Vancouver last weekend in a bid to resolve the debt and was holding out for payment at 24 hours' press time last night.
"This is simply a request to kindly pay the bill," Hui said. "I am faced with some serious loss of face here in Ontario."
Adlani said revenue is being held in trust by a lawyer.
"I am busy doing my event, so I don't have time to take care of that," Adlani said.
UNICEF Canada spokesman Chris Tidey said Adlani agreed to remit two per cent of gate proceeds to the charity after the tour.
NOTES--Zidane arrived and left the game by RCMP escort . . . Adlani said Zidane waived his fee for the game, but Zidane appeared to indicate that he would be paid as he responded "Non" when asked if he was playing for no money.
I'm glad I could be a part of it. Aside from the "dark clouds" surrounding this event, I will take the selfish approach and say that it was absolutely AWESOME to be on the same field as ZZ and to be able to pass and recieve passes from him is something I never ever imagined I would ever be able to do. So for that, I need to thank everyone involved in putting this event on.
Sure things didn't play out the way anyone thought it would, but I didn't pay anything and I was giving a once in a lifetime opportunity. Also, don't feel sorry for any of the players. We didn't pay anything and no one came to watch us except maybe a couple of family members. Most guys trained for a month with the anticipation of the larger event , but if we were told from the beginning that it would be the way it ended, wouldn't you still jump at the opportunity?
As far as the financial aspect, I don't know the details but like I said before, I'll take the selfish approach, I'm all smiles. There are countless people around the world that would have loved to be on that pitch last night.
Cheers
Nico looks thrilled to be standing beside Ed Grimley.
Yes indeed.
But it was sure nice to see Ivor Evans draw in as the 4th official. The Fiji Flash is aging gracefully.