To think we are all idiots for allowing the Olympic bid in the first place

[Ryoko]

£2,012 for a ticket to the opening/closing ceremonies, that sums the whole thing up in a nutshell really it's blatant profiteering.

Only 50% of tickets are for the serfs, you need a visa card to buy em anyway and you will not be told for months if you will be getting any tickets by which time it would be too late to book a hotel and you can't cancel the things, corporates can buy block tickets but the serfs are limited to 4.

Tax payers money to build stadiums that will be sold off to football clubs and any other profit driven company after the games, so all those MPs and others on 6 figure salaries involved can pocket the money from infrastructure we paid for. Tax payer money for policing and road projects that will be pointless once the games are over.

Everyone who supports the Olympics in London is a mug, except people like Lord Coe who are laughing all the way to the bank, while the tax payer cleans up all the mess afterwards.

Wow- I must have missed the referendum on this issue... don't remember having any say in the bid at all!

What kind of explanation do you need?

look around you, how many black rowers are there? how many yachting?, the government say they are all for multiculturalism but all they do is create quotas for things, and shortlists, the fact of the matter is the sports we do well in are the sports of the rich where money is needed, the majority of ethnic minorities in this country are not rich.

look at other sports, the sports of the poor where expensive equipment isn't needed or where the most basic of facilities can still create champions like boxing and football, then look at the demographic across other sports, you can't fail to see the truth that all sport is not open to all people.

Ryoko - Fulham, Chelsea and Highbury don't seem to be doing to badly despite having football clubs in them...

LDNmummy just read what you said sorry I appear to have unintentionally just repeated it all, almost word for word.

great minds think alike and all that

Football, swimming, hockey, tennis, running - all 'minority' sports then?!!

I think it's really exciting and have got my fingers crossed that we get some tickets for at least one of the events.

Not sure of this Visa thing - but there are bound to be hiccups in the organisation of an event of this magnitude.

TheCoalition I think the scale of disruption caused by the olympics is already and will become much greater.

Besides, I live in Highbury just 10 mins from the Stadium. On match days we have to plan our lives around match times, it is really awkward at times. Luckily we are all Gooners in this house so support our team enough to enjoy the atmosphere, plus I couldn't speak badly of match days around my DP!

What?!

If the olympics was solely boxing and football I wouldn't bother watching at at all.

As it is now, with real proper sports, I can't wait!

LDNMummy - I was responding to Ryokos point

"if the stadium does become a football ground then that really is the last nail in the coffin of the area, all the areas I know of with football grounds are as they say deprived areas, shit holes as no one really wants to live near a football stadium due to the regular disruption, drunken fans etc."

I used to live on Highbury Hill, and I'm now just up the road in Stokey. We are now on the first street of unrestricted match day parking :( FFS It's over a mile from the stadium, get the train you wankers.

Mind you on Highbury Hill there would be a REMARKABLE number of very expensive cars with blue badges that would appear on match days....

Fullham is a mixed bag, some shit parts and some very good, no idea about the other two never been there.

Brentford is crap the homes round the grounds are rubbish and it's pretty dead, Wembley is awful the transport get wacked and again the immediate area of the stadium is bad, as is the area around Spurs ground.

When I say shit and awful etc what I mean is the housing is what I could afford or council, the shops are all just boarded up or off licenses/news agents and fast food places.

Thats not a good area, thats my kind of area having lived in the areas of Acton, Ealing Common and Alperton all my life but thats not people think when they hear the words regeneration.

I am dreadig these bloody Olympics

Loads of clueless tourists clogging up a frankly rubbish, aging transport system, standing on the left on escalators all over the place. The price of everything will sky rocket and there's not going to be anything good on TV for weeks - just stupid Olympics

Did you know that the IOC insists that they have their own special road lane, so they had to put these in around the Olympic sites? The IOC is like flipping Robert Mugabe - not even deigning to use the regular "public" roads.

And finally, I can't even look at the 2012 logo as it looks like Lisa Simpson giving fellatio, and it's just WRONG.

Ryoko - So what we have shown is that it's not to do with the football. Tottenham is poor for all kinds of reasons, none of them to do with football. Same for Wembly.

Sorry Coalition and ouch, sounds like your situation is much worse!

No problem Ryoko, I do come from a sports crazy family as well as a minority background, as does my DP. I was lucky enough that my father could send us to a private school with swimming, tennis and fencing facilities on grounds as well as many optional sports organised by the school and massive grounds equipped for hockey games etc...

But I know that realistically this is not available to everyone generally, especially those of a minority background who tend to come from a socio-economically disadvantaged background.

My DP and I often discuss these things as he feels sports is a big part of childhood, he often comments on the fact that our children will be able to try their hand at sports he was not able to as a child due to our having a different financial situation because of more opportunity than the generation before.

But going back to the original topic...

In fact if Spurs move Tottenham will be a LOT worse off...

Yeah I'm surprised Fox isn't asking for royalties for the Lisa likeness.

Can't they give Zeus and his crones helicopters, wouldn't cost much more to build helipads into every site.

I'm not football makes an area poor I'm saying no one wants to live next to a football ground.

After the games and the alleged regeneration of a historical poor area what will we have? a football stadium? surrounded by low cost housing, because those with money will not want to live in an area of disruption.

Thats not really regeneration, thats like the Dome that was meant to regenerate the area in reality it's an island, a few gigs and events a year with the workers and the visitors commuting in from other areas, not really regeneration.

Actually, people will live REMARKABLY close to a football stadium - in Highbury it is really only the immedeatly adjacent streets and those on the route the fans are sent down that are effected in terms of house prices etc.

But I agree that a football stadium does not bring automatic regeneration - it DOES bring revenue though.

ryoko
brunel and st marys are in london - there are also a good number of boxing gyms - particularly in the east end - you need to go to your local library (Before it closes obviously) - in my experience there are often gymnastics classes held in sports halls etc and a good number of hockey clubs around london an awful lot of running clubs with their own, or shared tracks
and please don't tell us up here in south yorkshire about travel - we have shite public transport and certainly no underground or local trains -
the sports you quote - boxing, hockey, gymnastics need very little extra outlay for kit - school gym wear is adequate to start & most boxing clubs have helmets and gloves for newcomers to borrow whilst tthey try out the sport

Madam, in recent (ish) times, both Manchester and Birmingham have bid for the olympic games. In fact, Manchester bid twice. They didn't get it. rightly or wrongly, London is clearly more of a 'draw' as far as the IOC are concerned. I am sure there are many cities throughout the country that would have appreciated the chance of investment into their facilities, but sadly for them, as far as the IOC are concerned, it is as much to do with the 'attraction' of the venue as anything else.

I live right near Brentford ground and my flat is far from crap and it's certainly not cheap

So on that note alone you are being very fucking unreasonable!

We. Can't. Afford. It.

YANBU. Massive expense for very little lasting benefit. But unfortunately I'm not sure I personally had any choice as to to 'allow' the bid.

Sailing and cycling are incredibly expensive sporting hobbies to maintain and I do not know anyone from my background who can afford it. I used to fence as a child in my private school...

You used to fence at your private school, but you thing that cycling is an incredibly expensive sporting hobby??

My trolldar is pinging.

i quite fancy working for the games, preferably dressed up as the one eyed thing. where would that be advertised?

@Lucyinthepie:

What's your suggestion if we can't afford it? Cancel all the contracts? Become the laughing stock of the world? How much do you think it will cost to cancel the contracts? If you think it will be less than actually delivering on them, think again.

not limited to 4 at all of the events.......I've just been choosing which ones to apply for and some of them allow up to 10 tickets.

Don't like it - don't go, if you live local rent your place out for a small fortune and bugger off else where [