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HANCOCK'S GAME:Fans brave scalpers to cheer Taiwan

Supporters gesture after the game between Taiwan and the Netherlands in Beijing yesterday. PHOTO: JOHN HANCOCK

“Victory!” The banner unfurled by a group of Taiwanese supporters at the end of the game against the Netherlands yesterday said it all.

The 5-0 win on a muggy day at Beijing’s Wukesong Baseball Park was a satisfying start for the team that is one of the country’s best hopes for a medal at the Olympics.

Roared on by a passionate supporting cast of fans, baseball officials, former government officials such as People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), the team squashed the Dutch.

Richard Wang, the director of strategic planning and international affairs for the Chinese Professional Baseball League, said it was crucial to begin well.

“[Today] we face Japan, which will be a tough game. This is good for morale,” he said.

Wang was one of hundreds of spectators who made it to the ballpark but struggled to find tickets.

One of the most recognizable faces in the stands at games in Taiwan, Ah-chih (阿志), was wearing a blue afro and waved a large Chinese Taipei flag throughout the match, shouting “home run” and players’ names.

His calls were answered across the park by another large contingent of Taiwanese fans.

Ah-chih said his tour group did not have tickets for the match, so he went to the ground at 7am. He ended up paying 2,000 yuan (US$292), a lot of money for a young man who earns his living playing an ocarina.

He wasn’t the only person who got scalped.

Outside the Wukesong subway station there were hundreds of scalpers, or “yellow cows” as they are known in Chinese.

A ticket for the game between Taiwan and China tomorrow is 4,500 yuan — “and not a penny less” — according to one of them.

He would not budge, even though the original price was only 50 yuan. After a while he divulged that he got his tickets from Communist Party officials.

“They have this many tickets,” he said, gesturing a thick wad with his hand. “We just do the legwork and earn 35 yuan for each ticket.”

He said the officials are determined to make hay while the sun shines by selling the tickets they were given for free.

“They don’t lose anything even if the tickets are so expensive that they don’t attract a lot of buyers,” he said.

Other scalpers had similar stories. One said the record price for a ticket was 70,000 yuan for the China versus Team USA basketball game on Sunday.

The most fruitful source of tickets, interestingly enough, was a posse of Englishmen from Manchester, who were selling at face value.

“Barry” said he got the tickets from England, but his Chinese colleague pointed to a source closer to home, in Beijing.

Organizers have boasted that their ticketing arrangements would prevent scalping, and there are 14-day prison stretches for offenders. But empty seats at preliminary events are continuing to embarrass them as unofficial ticket agents help to fill the void.
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