I’ve mentioned elsewhere that on Monday 28 January we are going to watch the mighty Niger against the Black Stars in the Orange Afcon 2013.
We’re avid sports fans, I’m one of the few people who can attest to watching World Cup Rugby, World Cup Cricket and World Cup Football all right here in my home city and now we’re privileged to host the Africa Cup of Nations, we just had to go.
I was tasked with buying the tickets, 8 of them!
I consider myself an experienced ticket buyer, in the last year I’ve arranged tickets for numerous E.P.Kings rugby matches, the Springboks / England test match, HSBC sevens, the Proteas v Black Caps T20 on Boxing day and of course more recently the Proteas v New Zealand 5 day test held right here at St. Georges Park.
Where to buy Afcon tickets? It was not as simple as you might think.
None of the usual suspects were selling tickets for the Afcon games!
A phone call to the offices of E.P rugby quickly solved my problem, “there’s a kiosk at the Prince Alfred Road gate” she said, no problem and off I headed.
I got to the aforementioned gate at The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (the home of the mighty Southern Kings and graveyard of bulls and sharks) and nothing! Locked. I saw a security guard in the distance and beckoned her over, she directed me down the road to the ‘kiosk’
You’re not going to believe this….
There on the side of the road was a container, plonked on the pavement with an extension cord running from the office block in the background to power the solitary laptop and printer.
I initially approached the wrong window, the left of the container was occupied by two females dressed in a security company’s uniform, “next window” they informed me.
I poked my head through the window on the right and there sat 3 ladies.
“Hello” I proffered
“Afternoon sir, how can we help” and very polite they were too.
“8 tickets for Monday night please”
“Niger / Ghana” she inquired.
Excellent, good for her, making sure that I wasn’t buying tickets for the wrong event. Then they need to know which price (R50, R60 or R70) my name, cell number and I.D. number, no problem so far, I tendered the cash and then asked where we would be sitting, all other ticket outlets have a computer screen with the stadium layout and your seats highlighted, you can chop and change depending on your preference, not here.
“The computer allocates you the best seats” she told me “our system doesn’t show you where you are”
There was no use discussing or arguing with the poor girl, she was merely doing her job (and very proficiently too) with the meager resources at her disposal.
Can’t wait till Monday night (kick-off 7pm our time) look out for me, I’ll be there, somewhere 😉
Boadicea's Chariot 
Isn’t it a bit odd that she couldn’t even tell you it was row X, seats 1 -8 ? Even in pre-computer days, booking offices had seating plans on which those seats sold were immediately crossed off. How do you know which entrance to use? Enjoy the game.
Evening Sheona, odd? Well that’s what I thought, In all my previous purchases there’s been a computer layout and I’ve been shown my options before the actual tickets are printed, not with this bunch.
If you look at my ticket, it states “block 202.1” and “gate C,D”
I’ve been to the stadium often enough to know where that it is, I was happy enough, however first time visitors would, to say the least be slightly confused!
I did mention elsewhere that the organization and marketing has been abysmally poor, but I did think that ticketing would perhaps be more of a standard that I was used to.
Nice pic of stadium layout (from FIFA 2010) here…
The standard of football has been generally underwhelming so far, imho. Lackadaisical, perhaps.
Middag Janus. I think that your being a tad unfair, my experience is that throughout most competitions (rugby, cricket football and others) the opening group matches are always ‘cagey’ affairs.
The final group matches start at 7pm this evening, now that the respective teams know whats required for qualification to the next round I’m expecting (hoping perhaps) a bit more oomph!
I’m spoiled by today’s trouncing of Spurs, L’pool and Chelsea by lowly opposition!
It’s been a lonely evening and night following your comment. Zilch posted or commented! 😦
right then. I’m off to watch Ghana / Niger 🙂
I’m back, what a night, what a game, what an atmosphere, what a noise, more (with pics) tomorrow, I’m off to bed 🙂