Frantic footy fans slam Ticketmaster, Ticketek delays

[Eastdog]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vic...401b59cafd0f1d

Frantic footy fans slam Ticketmaster, Ticketek delays

Sophie Smith and Ryan Tennison, Herald Sun
September 19, 2016 9:19am


FANS have slammed Ticketmaster delays as they try to secure tickets for the Bulldogs clash with GWS.

Fans who queued at the Whitten Oval for two days, have had more luck, cheering as they secured the cherished tickets this morning.

Many fans have reported delays in accessing the Ticketmaster website and phone line.

Some have been left with an extra ticket due to what they believe is a glitch on the website.


Groups of tickets have already appeared for sale on eBay for $169.

Supporters at the Whitten Oval were much happier.

Kym O’Loughlin began queuing on Saturday afternoon, with tickets not going on sale until 9am this morning.

The 55-year-old from Werribee firmly grasped five tickets, jovially declaring the wait was worth it shortly after the box office opened.


Western Bulldogs Kym O’Loughlin began lining up on Saturday to get his tickets. Picture:Ian Currie

O’Loughlin hasn’t missed a game this season and arrived at the club’s home at 5.30pm on Saturday straight from the VFL preliminary final.

“The next thing to happen is to watch the Doggies win,” Mr O’Loughlin said.

Betty Hayes has been a Bulldogs supporter for some 30 years.

The 83-year-old is planning on travelling with her daughter to Sydney, wheelchair and all, to watch the match and then hopefully a Grand Final she last attended in 1954.

“I’m 83 years old and I don’t know how much longer I’ve got here so it would be good,” she said.

The majority of fans lined up didn’t want to risk an online glitch and it seems they made the right decision with people taking to Twitter to declare Ticketmaster was already down just after 9am.

By 10.40am just just 3500 tickets remained.

@AFL @westernbulldogs How hard does @Ticketmaster_AU suck? Let me count the ways. #aflGiantsDogs

— Jeremy White (@connectgolf) September 18, 2016
@Ticketmaster_AU Seriously, can you not handle a game with a 24,000 seat capacity? @afl @westernbulldogs #AFLGiantsDogs

— Jeremy White (@connectgolf) September 18, 2016

Sharon Morris, from Hoppers Crossing, who arrived with a friend yesterday lunch time and camped in her car overnight.

Her 97-year-old grandfather, Jim Miller, is a former club player and while he is too old to travel, Ms Morris plans to keep the family tradition alive with her mother.

“I want to clap them off regardless of the outcome. I think they’ve been fantastic this year,” she said.

The Bulldogs’ fairy tale season is only a couple chapters short of a happy ending that could see it deliver its first premiership victory since 1954.

Shirley Knight, 77, remembers that final and admits she actually supported Melbourne at the time but m, now converted, is literally brought to tears speaking about another premiership shot.

Covered in club coloured crochet blankets, Mrs Knight and two friends, Marilyn Jones and Philippa Hickey, or ‘The 70s Club’, have embarked on a ceremonial weekend.

The trio arrived at 7pm last night and have been in line since.

“It is worth it. We’ve been passionately following the Bulldogs, these ladies and another, she is having a knee procedure this morning but if we get into the grand final she will crawl there she said,” Mrs Knight remarked.

“We had a wonderful Friday night. We walked from Federation Square to the ‘G and had be great win [against the Hawks]. The week before, beating West Coast and getting our five players back, I cried, I really cried.”

In the other game the Cats will battle Sydney in a preliminary final on Friday night.

Fans of those teams have also expressed anger at delays on the Ticketek site.

The Saturday showdown will be held at Spotless Stadium, which has a capacity of just 24,000. AFL Fans Association president Gerry Eeman said thousands of fans would miss out.

“If it can be shown that thousands of people are going to miss out ... it should be played elsewhere,” he said.

“ANZ Stadium is only a stone’s throw away.”

Bookies have backed Geelong for a win at the MCG but say GWS will get a boost from a home crowd.

“All of the early money is with the Cats,” Crownbet’s Mathew Campbell said. “Punters are concerned with the injuries the Swans sustained.”

The Cats head in as $1.67 favourites ahead of Sydney ($2.25), which drifted amid injury concerns following the team’s win over Adelaide.

The Cats’ last finals confrontation against Sydney was in 2005, losing by three points.

The squad also endured a 38-point loss to the Swans in their only meeting this season.

The Giants remain firm favourites, at $1.45 to beat the Bulldogs ($2.85), despite the local team throttling Hawthorn’s hopes for a fourth consecutive premiership on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Avalon airport was preparing for a rush as footy fans prepared to head north. Airport chief executive Justin Giddings said there would be a clash of colours as Bulldogs fans left and Swan supporters arrived en masse.

“Footy finals is always an exciting time at the airport,” he said.

Geelong cheer squad member Phillip Neate said he couldn’t wait for Friday night.

“We can beat anyone on any given day and we’ve been great this season, so I give us an extremely good chance of beating Sydney,” Mr Neate said.

“I expect all of the Geelong fans to be vocal and there should be a great feeling around the ground.”

[Ozza]

I had to jump on to the ticketek site this morning to buy my wife & father-in-law tickets to the Geelong game. A real pain in the a$$.

Got the message several times about tickets 'not being available' when they actually were - and then finally after the site kicking me out during the payment process twice - 3rd time was a charm.

[Remi Moses]

Death, Taxes( except a few) and Ticketek being a complete shambles .
Throw in the census debacle as well

[Twodogs]

Death, Taxes( except a few) and Ticketek being a complete shambles .
Throw in the census debacle as well

Probably the same company that ran both. They're no good but they're cheap and everything comes in under budget so everybody gets a bonus.