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World Cup: British schoolchildren see World Cup dream dashed

Some 450 schoolchildren from across Britain missed out on their "once in a lifetime" chance to watch a World Cup match in Germany because an agency failed to provide them with tickets, their teachers said yesterday.

The youngsters, aged between 11 and 15, travelled to Germany by coaches, but were unable to get in to the games when their tickets, some costing as much as ?400 (US$748 dollars), failed to materialize.

On their return to Britain, teachers said they believed a scam might have been involved, depriving the youngsters of the "once in a lifetime" opportunity to see a World Cup match.

A group of 23 boys from Mayville High School in Portsmouth, southern Britain, traveled to Cologne to see the Czech Republic versus Ghana match at the weekend but were told by tour company Activ4 that the tickets were not available.

They were then told to travel to Frankfurt for the Portugal versus Iran match, but before they departed they were told there were no tickets for this match either.

Headteacher Linda Owens said: "The children have been looking forward to this a great deal and it's a huge disappointment for them."

"The whole point of the trip was to see a World Cup match, to get the flavor of what it would be like, the excitement of it. But the boys have been amazingly good, despite how devastated they obviously are."

Joshua Hunter, 12, said: "I was just really annoyed. I can't believe someone would do that to children."
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