Test ticket trauma exposes Newlands' misplaced exceptionalism

PJ Claasen threw back his head and laughed long and hard. The sound filled a school hall at the Franschhoek Literary Festival, 65 kilometres east of Cape Town.

Lester Kiewet, the radio host and cricket aficionado interviewing Claasen, had asked what the Proteas needed to do to win a World Cup. The Boks have won four men's rugby World Cups. The Proteas have won none.

"So Claasen's guffawing echoed hurtfully among the cricket-minded people in the hall. To rugby people, it seemed, South Africa's cricket teams were a joke. The bubble burst with a painful pop."

Claasen bemoaned "all of those times the Proteas found a way not to win. It broke my heart every single bloody time."

But he praised the WTC final at Lord's in June last year, when South Africa beat Australia, and expressed hope: "I think it's going to happen and they're going to get over the line."

Winning a World Cup is the most important achievement in international cricket. Even the women's team bringing home the trophy from the T20 World Cup in England wouldn't move the needle significantly. That isn't fair, but it is how it is.

So the fuss about tour operators being allocated 39% of the tickets for the Test against England at Newlands in January is curious. Newlands fancies itself as a place where Test cricket reigns supreme.

If that was true, Cape Town Tests would sell out more often than not. They aren't. Attendances are better than at most other South African grounds, but stands are sparsely populated unless India, England or Australia are in town. Even then, empty seats appear after the first day.

It's simplistic to think anyone has a god-given right to buy a ticket to any match anywhere. It's snobbish to think a Newlands Test is more special than others. And it's stupid to think CSA's top priority isn't monetising their only assets: their teams.

Of course, it's also naive to think CSA couldn't mess this up. The organisation has long had an unfortunate talent for self-harm.

At 9.30am on Monday, CSA sent out a release saying tickets for the coming season were on sale online. Chief executive Pholetsi Moseki encouraged "supporters to secure their tickets early". There was no explanation about the chunk of tickets carved out for tour operators. Minutes after the remaining tickets were made available, they were snapped up.

Another release at 7.40pm on Tuesday said the Newlands Test was "currently sold out, with additional general access tickets scheduled to be released at a later stage". Only then did CSA reveal that 39% of the tickets had not been available at 9.30am on Monday.

Thus part of this mess is of CSA's making. But not all of it.

Arsenal's supporters aren't demanding that Saturday's Champions League final should be in London. They know they will need a ticket for the Puskas Arena in Budapest.

But in privileged, exceptionalist Cape Town, there is outrage. "How dare they? Do they know who we are?"

Dear Capetonians: you are not special. You just think you are. Get over yourselves already.