Spectators' fury over Hampden chaos

Reporter

Friday 27 July 2012

HUNDREDS of football fans were locked out of Scotland's national stadium for the start of the Olympic match between Morocco and Honduras yesterday after a last-minute surge overwhelmed the ticket office.

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JODY HARRISON

Fans at Hampden were still queuing as the match got under way after thousands turned up, hoping to buy tickets on the day or to collect briefs they had previously ordered.

Spectators inside Hampden inundated the stadium's official Twitter account with complaints of lengthy queues for the toilets, cafe and bar, which meant they missed part of the game, and there was widespread frustration as food and drinks ran out.

With a pass valid for the day's first event and the later clash between Spain and Japan, demand was greater than organisers anticipated. The 14 ticket booths that were open struggled to cope with the demand and get supporters into the stadium on time. Some fans missed the entire first half of the first match of the day, which kicked off at noon.Extra security that was brought in for the Olympics, which meant that bags were being searched before people were let into the ground, only added to the delay. One fan who had travelled to the game said: "There were hundreds waiting in queues when I was there. I missed three-quarters of the match. Everyone around me was moaning, and where I was they even ran out of steak and curry pies." Spectators took to Twitter to complain of a shambles as lengthy queues built up for the toilets and refreshment stands ran out of pies, crisps and water.One spectator, Debbie Kelly, said: "You should be ashamed of yourselves. Everyone queuing forever to use toilets and get food and drink."She later added that when she was finally served at the food counter she did not buy anything because there were "no crisps or veggie pies left".Another spectator, Dougie Wilson, added: "Nice work today. Queued for 20 mins with two wee boys for food and drink. No kids box, no pies, no water. Amateur arrangements. Poor."Meanwhile, 'FitbaMadDad' complained that he had spent "half- an-hour now queuing for a drink at Hampden" and had consequently "missed 15 mins of second half and a goal", while David Fleming said his friend at the match "had to queue an hour-and-a-half for two Fantas and missed most of first half."Staging Olympic football at Scotland's national stadium has been fraught with difficulties, with crowd capacity being cut a month before the games began due to poor sales and lack of interest.A spokesman for Hampden said that organisers had done everything they could to get fans into the stadium, but had not expected so many to turn up on the day.He said: "The tickets have been on sale for weeks, either at the office or online, but it is a peculiarly Scottish trait to turn up at a game before kick-off and not expect a queue."

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Spectators' fury over Hampden chaos

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