Fans blamed for delays at Dome

Austadiums • Tuesday 22nd April 2003
Telstra Dome chief executive Ian Collins blamed fans for a debacle in which thousands missed a large part of yesterday's St Kilda-Richmond clash.

Thousands of the 44,382 crowd missed the first quarter while hundreds were still in line at half-time.

Queues snaked 200 metres around the stadium concourse.

Many simply gave up and went home.

But Mr Collins said fans had no one to blame but themselves.

He said too few had booked or bought membership tickets, and too many arrived too late.

But fans were dumbfounded by the delays.

Rod and Neil Cairns drove their families from Echuca.

At half-time the 10 members were walking away, vowing never to return to the stadium.

"After 90 minutes we actually got to the front of the queue but they told us there were only premium tickets left," Neil Cairns said.

"We were not going to pay $35 or $41 for a half of football, so we were off.

"This is a disgrace."

Mr Collins said all 48 ticket windows were open. The match started at 2.10pm, but only 11,000 were inside by 1pm.

"Most of the people obviously came late and that's one of the issues that is happening in football - they're coming later and later and expecting to get in," he said.

"Very few people had tickets that they should scan in, so they had to queue to buy a ticket before they could get into the ground, so that's just a fact of life.

"If they come late and they haven't got a membership ticket that enables them to get into that specific game, then they have to queue to buy a ticket. That's no different to what will happen on any game if they do come late."

The match was a St Kilda home game. Saints president Rod Butterss refused to blame Telstra Dome for the delays, also putting the onus on club supporters.

"To see the peopleout on the terraces was just so heartbreaking for everybody involved in the football club," he said.

"I suppose the answer is . . . do us a favour and do yourself a favour and buy a membership ticket and then you walk straight into the venue.

"We'll sit down with the AFL and Ian Collins and we'll try to come up with a solution that gets people into the venue (quicker)."

Mr Butterss agreed it was reasonable to expect to be able to get in for the first bounce if fans arrived 45 minutes early.

St Kilda fan Christie O'Connell said she waited two hours to buy her tickets.

"This is an absolute disgrace. It's the worst I've seen," she said.

Dean Ellis from Sandringham blamed the lack of pre-match entertainment, which meant everybody was trying to get in at the same time.

Marvel Stadium

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Telstra Dome chief executive Ian Collins blamed fans for a debacle in which thousands missed a large part of yesterday's St Kilda-Richmond clash.
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