ANGER OVER TICKET TRAVESTY
Fans question FA’s transparency in sale of tickets
PERAK and Terengganu fans saw red as booths, located in their states, ran out of tickets for tomorrow’s Malaysia Cup final at Shah Alam Stadium within an hour yesterday.
Some angrily questioned whether the Perak FA (PAFA) and Terengganu FA (TFA) were transparent in the sale of tickets. Each FA were given 30,000 tickets.
At the Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium, six Terengganu fans fainted while queuing up to buy tickets yesterday.
Over 5,000 fans flooded the venue with about 2,000 crowding the ticket counters.
Syafiq Che Alias, 28, said he arrived at the venue at 4am and queued up two hours later.
“I queued for more than five hours but gave up as it was humid,” said Syafiq.
“A 25-year-old woman in front of me fainted and had to be rushed to hospital.
“I was told that she had waited since 11pm last night and did not have the time to eat which caused her to faint.
“Ticket sales should be made more convenient.
“There was also no fencing and control, a lot of fans were not queuing up.”
Ku Khairi Ku Amri, 24, said he had queued up since 9.30pm on Wednesday and was in the first row of one of many ticket counters.
“The counters should have been opened earlier and not delayed until those who queued up early had to leave the lines because they were already tired,” said Khairi.
“I tried my best to stay in the line but could not take it anymore as I had been waiting overnight.”
Khairi hopes that the TFA will come up with a solution over ticket sales for the future.
Alias Abdullah, 57, questioned TFA over the distribution of tickets at the stadium.
“Only 2,000 tickets were available. What happened to the other 28,000 tickets?
It is said that the majority of tickets were pre-booked by fan clubs, youth associations and district FAs.
TFA deputy president Hishamuddin Abdul Karim said his association will investigate the issue.
“We received 30,000 tickets for the final and they were allocated to each district in the state. We also gave small allocations to fan clubs, sports academies, district FAs and government-linked companies.
“TFA are transparent on this matter. However, we do not know how these bodies allocated the tickets. We will investigate if we find irregularities over ticket sales.”
In Ipoh, a fan who was waiting to purchase tickets for the final at Perak Stadium, suddenly suffered a seizure, and was rushed to the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital.
The fan, believed to be in his 20s, was among the 1,000 supporters waiting patiently for an answer from the Perak FA (PAFA) on whether tickets were still available.
Ahmad Junaide Mohamed Rezali, 36, drove 100km from the Perak Stadium to the Parit Buntar artificial pitch centre in Kerian, Perak just to buy a ticket.
“I was at Perak Stadium but after hearing that tickets were sold out, I drove to Parit Buntar. I was lucky as there were only five tickets left when I arrived there,” he said.
In Manjung, several fans expressed their surprise and disappointment following the change of venue for the ticket sales from Taman Paya Bakau, Lumut to the Majlis Perbandaran Manjung Stadium in Seri Manjung.
PAFA secretary Abdul Aziz Yeop Jamaluddin confirmed that tickets were sold out within 40 minutes after the counters were opened at Perak Stadium.
“Only 3,500 tickets were allocated for sale at the Perak Stadium, while the rest were distributed to other locations — Tanjung Malim, Parit Buntar, Kuala Kangsar, Manjung, Teluk Intan, Lenggong and Tapah.