Congrats Qatar/AFC, on a job well botched
My family bought tickets to the Asian Cup Final several months ago, and we were excited about seeing the match tonight.
However, when we arrived at Khalifa Stadium (before kickoff), we were NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER. The stadium had been sealed off. Hundreds of other ticket holders were stranded outside with no information; no official announcement about whether they would reopen the gates, or why they would not let us inside.
Everyone working at the box office did not know what to do. They did not know the name or contact number of their supervisor. They could not refund the money that we paid for our tickets. They could not explain the situation, nor did they make immediate efforts to find someone who could. They were scared, inexperienced, and unprepared. Whoever is in charge needs to understand what a bad position they put their volunteers/staff in tonight. Do you think anyone will want to volunteer for you after experiencing something like that? Hah. Good luck finding anyone to help you out in the future.
I stayed outside the stadium until the end of the match to find out what happened and this is what I learned: that despite most (or all) of the seats being sold, the organizers brought busloads of extra people to enter the match for free from around 2:30 to 4:30pm. These people were "seat fillers" because the previous matches did not have full attendance. When the security realized that "too many people" were trying to enter, they sealed everything off and would not allow anyone else in, no matter what. What's worse, the box office remained open and continued to issue tickets even after the gates were closed. (If anyone can confirm this information for me, please do. But I heard this from at least ten different people.)
I met a gentleman who said he had just gotten off a plane from Australia to see this match. Imagine what he's going to tell his family, friends and coworkers when he gets back home! What do you think every single person who stood outside Khalifa Stadium tonight will say about this?
Riot police with dogs and batons eventually came out. You would not need them in the first place if you'd handled the situation in a logical, orderly manner. And thank God no one got seriously violent, because after all, it's only football—but WHAT IF? There were guys in the crowd who set off false alarms several times by claiming the gates on the other side were reopening, and many people rushed towards those areas. What if a stampede had happened? What if a child got lost in the crowd, or had gotten hurt? THAT IS YOUR FAULT, ORGANIZERS. THAT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. Nothing crazy happened tonight, but it could have.
So these are my questions to the organizers:
1. WHY make people pay money if you are letting others in for free?
2. WHY did you not inform previous ticket holders that the gates would be closed at a certain time?
3. WHY did you allow seat fillers inside HOURS before the game began? You didn't even give ticket holders a chance to arrive before someone else took their place inside!
4. WHY did you not prepare your staff with channels of communication to those in charge, who could speak with confidence and authority to the people waiting outside?
5. WHEN and HOW are you going to refund our money? Your policy says no refund or exchange, but this is an extraordinary situation and it absolutely, without question, requires compensation.
Sheikh Mohammed promised FIFA that Qatar would not disappoint at the World Cup 2022. Well, guess what: You messed up right now, and you need to fix it right now. Otherwise, ten years down the line the same nonsense will still be happening. Apparently this exact same thing has already happened before! Are you guys ever going to learn from your mistakes? Or should I just tell everyone I know not to bother supporting any of your events?
In the large scheme of things a football match is trivial. But I'm so frustrated that basically everything in this country seems to run this way. No proper communication, no responsibility, and careless organization. GET WITH THE PROGRAM, QATAR. Don't just tell me to leave if I don't like it.
Below is the correspondence between AFC & I:
*******************************************************
From: Rien
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 13:05 AM
To: tickets/-a-t-/asiancup2011.com.qa
Subject: RE: Refund Required due to not being allowed to enter Khalif Stadium for AFC Final
Dear Sir / Madam,
Thank you for your reply.
I appreciate AFC/QLOC joint apology to the fans and the offer to refund money.
However, kindly note that the gates were closed much earlier than 18.05.
My wife and sons reached the stadium at 17.15 and I reached the stadium at 17.45 by then tall barricades were already in place to stop fans from entering the stadium. Although I agree that the gates were closed due to "security reason" are partly correct, the real reason for security concern is due to the free entrance allowed to thousands of people to fill the stadium, thus resulting in thousands of paid fans being turned away.
So, the statement that gates are closed at 18.05 is incorrect.
Therefore, an amendment to your press release, to reflect the actual cause of "security concern" as well as accurate time of the gates closure, would be much apprecited.
Thanks & regards
Rien
-------------------------------------------------
From: AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011Tickets [mailto:Tickets/-a-t-/asiancup2011.com.qa]
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 10:15 AM
To: Rien
Subject: RE: Refund Required due to not being allowed to enter Khalif Stadium for AFC Final
Dear Asian Cup Spectator,
In continuation to joint AFC/QLOC Daily Media Briefing held on 30 January 2011 at Main Media Centre, the QLOC would like once again to offer our apology for the fans that were not able to enter the Final Match, despite the fact that they had valid ticketing in their hands, due to the security concern which led to the closing of gates at 18:05.
Once again, we apologize to these fans, and have decided in conjunction with the AFC to refund all ticket-holders who have been denied access to the venue due to Security Closure of Gates.
Please see the detailed process at tickets.afcasiancup.com for applying for refunds and – as always – please do not hesitate to contact the QLOC at tickets/-a-t-/asiancup2011.com.qa for any further inquiries you may have.
Kindly be informed that the submission of the Refund Application Form will be from the 3rd-28th of February 2011.
Regards,
The Ticketing Department
Local Organizing Committee
AFC Asian Cup - Qatar 2011 TM
E tickets/-a-t-/asiancup2011.com.qa
W www.afcasiancup.com
----------------------------------------------------
From: Rien
Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2011 11:53 AM
To: AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011Tickets
Subject: Refund Required due to not being allowed to enter Khalif Stadium for AFC Final
Dear Sir / Madam,
It is with disappointment I write to you about the shameful behavior and treatment I met with (along with at least 10000 other fans) at Khalifa Stadium, Doha-Qatar for yesterday’s Australia vs Japan AFC final match.
Despite having valid, four (4), tickets which I booked over two months ago, my family & I could not enter the stadium.
When we reached the stadium at 5.15pm, we were told by policemen that we cannot go in as the stadium is full.
We waited till 7.15pm to get into the stadium, only to disappointed and pushed away by baton wielding policemen … so we returned home extremely disappointed.
This is disgraceful and shameful treatment of fans by a reputed football association.
In view of the above I request AFC to kindly refund the money I paid for the tickets.
Please find attached copies of the tickets I purchased from AFC booth in Villagio Mall on 16 November 2011
Regards
Rien
The official statement this morning was completely false, obviously they did not see any of it with their own eyes.
Lol looks like you are trying to suck up to get a visa extension, won't work ;)
Cheer up guys. We will give you New Sponsorship System in February.
I have posted some photos (of yesterday's fiasco, including the ticket I had bought two months ago) on facebook ... here is the link http://www.facebook.com/pages/Qatar-Is-this-how-you-host-an-International-CUP/189952441022508
Qatar could have used this to show that they are trustworthy and well-intentioned about investigating what went wrong so they can correct it for future games, and instead their Qatari representative LIED. How is that going to instill any confidence in their ability to handle 2022. What a shame. :(
I was there too with my family with VALID tickets, similar to thousands of others standing outside and was denied entry. We bought our tickets almost a month in advance. What a shame! I suggest organisers should offer complimentary tickets for the FIFA 2022 finals to those who had valid tickets and were denied entry. Big problem I anciticipate is how will they determine genuine from non-genuine!!
*Correcting myself, thousands, not hundreds of people stranded outside.
Thanks for your reply whyteknight. They should have known that final matches will always draw a full-capacity crowd, without extra seat fillers. This has been proven time and time again at all the sports tournaments here.
What a sham!
"We tried to make the people understand 'please take it easy, we will try to solve the problems, if there is available seats, we will try to get you in'. The tickets have been issued for six months, people are waiting until the last minute and they want to come to the stadium."
Tell me, those of you who were there, did anyone come out and speak to the crowd like this? No. The police were just shouting, "Yalla! Wara, wara!" (Go on! Get back!)
And I can count dozens of people who bought their tickets at least 2 weeks before, if not months before.
Arrrrrrgh!!
what happened last night was completely ridiculous! we paid for our tickets only to be closed down and what's worst, we were shepherded away from the gate and the fence by a Police riding in horses like beggars and squatters.
is this how Qatar will handle the FIFA 2022???
There were a lot my friends were not able to enter the stadium.
We were there before 6pm and the gates are closed already... There were hundreds of people outside...
They could have fill up the stadium right after 6pm if they could see that people are still not there...
I just hope that they will find solution on this matter. Because it will not be good for them...
Sadly, after a few years here, I was not surprised at all.
Qatar in its best!
run the story on the front page..
Quite Cargeous....
search on google and you will see page after page of this only.
The news is already starting to spread in world media
http://www.sport360.com/football/news/28121-asian-cup-chaos-mars-australia-v-japan-final
http://www.goal.com/en/news/3550/asian-cup/2011/01/29/2329203/police-denied-fans-with-tickets-access-to-japan-australia
http://soccernews.bigsoccer.com/article/0fH72C44uq2ox?q=Qatar
http://story.argentinastar.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/15360451341a5c70/id/42479313/
http://article.wn.com/view/2011/01/29/Police_Denied_TicketHolders_Entry_To_JapanAustralia_Asian_Cu/
Even on Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/sport/football/2011/01/201112921940597529.html
All this nagging won't help. What will help is exposing this to the world. All you need is few people with good quality video cameras and someone loading these things on YouTube not a website because qtel will block it the next day. There are enough people with talents in here! Let the world know and let these guys feel some heat and pressure.
The local media are bunch of crooks and hypocrites just like most Arabs Are and yes I am generalizing ( I wish I were not one of them because it is such an embarrassment !
Exactly what happened to me at the asian games final back in 2006, 4 years later and nothing has changed. So is 11 years really enough for them to prepare for the world cup on a MASSIVELY larger scale? I think not.
join the page guys:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Qatar-Is-this-how-you-host-an-International-CUP/189952441022508
Thank you everyone for your replies. I hope the local newspapers can pick up on our complaints and run a proper story. However brief it may be.
Before I go to bed, let me leave you this video from the Emiri Cup Final in 2008 which left people in a similar frustration:
As I said, in the large scheme of things football is trivial. But mismanagement is at the heart of so many frustrating experiences, including this one. It's a valid problem. And I hope it can be addressed.
Good night, guys. :)
i was there with my family..i was informed about the "seat fillers" by some friends so i reached the stadium around 4..used gate 25 and grabbed our seats..overall the experience was amazing..the fireworks were awesome..
vip area was around 30-35% occupied which was a surprise as initially i tried to get vip seats but was told that all seats are already booked (checked online also and everything was booked) so managed to get category 1 seats after some struggle from the booth at city center
on our way out we saw riot police and i was like why are they here..jumped to QL after reaching home and oh my..feel sorry for the ones who didn't get to see the match
Thanks, Mods & ex. :)
If you say you are not the "cousine" I trust you :) The mods deleted it for you.
Thanks ex.ex. I just noticed. I don't know why someone would do that, lol...Weird.
Just know it's not me reposting under another account.
Same here. I'm really disappointed.
They should've let the fillers wait outside until the start of the game only after they've seen that there were still empty seats!
35 QR may seem nothing here but back home it's a lot of money! And yet, there were freeloaders everywhere!
I'm really happy that Japan won but sorry, this issue spoiled that happiness.
hmm...
http://www.qatarliving.com/node/1593649
reallyyyyyyyy i came to stadium on 03:30pm like that and wait for the gatesss but there was soo rushh and they didnt allowed me to go... :( i buyed tickets about 1 week agaoooo and ........ Really no comments to say im feeling So Sad about it....
Well said! I experienced the chaos myself, decided to go home and watch it on TV at least I can still watch the goal.
whats the compensation?. they let the hell break loose not even knowing what they are doing....
why would you allow free seat fillers when YOUR computer shows the tickets are sold out, as I could see in mine with i tried to book some extra tickets... now they deny even the refund!!!, cant get worse that this.
Face it people, our betters totally f+cked up and the world was watching - its the biggest event in football outside of the WC and European Championships and the muppets got the administration of the ticket allocation TOTALLY wrong!! UNACCEPTABLE
they didn't expect it to happen, some of my friend were really depressed and frustrated, waiting for nothing outside the gate.
I hope that this will serve as a good lesson for Qatar.
we had tickets purchased months ago too. We just managed to get into the stadium at 5.30pm. our tickets were for gate 17, we could see that they were closing the gates so asked at gate 24 if we could enter and walk around to 17 (they were telling us to do this for the semi final last week). Tonight we were told no we had to go to gate 17. As we approached gate 17 we were told to go back to the higher numbers. We persisted and then were told go to gate 15 all the other gates on the way were closed, security standing manning them. We were not allowed to sit in our original paid for seats we had to go above the VIP section ! Our friends were locked out and we told them to go to the gate 15. This was 10 minutes later. They were denied access ! It was truely a farce ! When we asked the officials inside the stadium they looked embarrassed.
I would REALLY like to see the Qatari authorities respond. But don't expect it (
They panicked.. Simple as that..
There were no full stadiums during the tournament though all the tickets were sold out for quite a few of them. They were drawing a lot of criticism for empty stadiums so they decided final won't go down the same route.
But they panicked and brought in the seat fillers even before the ticket holders had a chance to enter..