My first sporting event in Qatar was the ExxonMobil final. And I swore, never again. Not even for Federer. From what I've been reading about last night, it was the same disastern as the tennis final, just XL-sized. I had a valid centre court ticket, AND I watched the match, or TRIED to watch the match, from the steps. Craning neck, hemmed in by a dozen shoving elbows, big unyielding shoulders, and smelly armpits (yes, those too).
Never again,
I kind of like the way Fox Sports, Australia summed up their review of the organisation yesterday : 'Qatar is a young country and behaves like a self-conscious teenager. Desperate to look good and have everyone talking about them. The organisers were worried how empty seats would look at the final so they gave tickets away. The problem was those tickets were already sold and when their real owners turned up all hell broke loose. Several Australian fans fell victim.
This shambles played out with a crowd of 35,000. Imagine in 11 years time when they’re trying to accommodate crowds of twice that size.
Their World Cup bid tag was "expect the amazing". We might have seen it last night.'
My first sporting event in Qatar was the ExxonMobil final. And I swore, never again. Not even for Federer. From what I've been reading about last night, it was the same disastern as the tennis final, just XL-sized. I had a valid centre court ticket, AND I watched the match, or TRIED to watch the match, from the steps. Craning neck, hemmed in by a dozen shoving elbows, big unyielding shoulders, and smelly armpits (yes, those too).
Never again,
I kind of like the way Fox Sports, Australia summed up their review of the organisation yesterday : 'Qatar is a young country and behaves like a self-conscious teenager. Desperate to look good and have everyone talking about them. The organisers were worried how empty seats would look at the final so they gave tickets away. The problem was those tickets were already sold and when their real owners turned up all hell broke loose. Several Australian fans fell victim.
This shambles played out with a crowd of 35,000. Imagine in 11 years time when they’re trying to accommodate crowds of twice that size.
Their World Cup bid tag was "expect the amazing". We might have seen it last night.'