New measures to curb fake football tickets
Stadium Management South Africa has announced plans to implement changes in their ticketing system to curb the selling of fake tickets.
Counterfeit tickets have plagued big sporting events in the country for years.
Football matches, including the Soweto derby between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, have seen a surge in criminal elements taking advantage of fans’ desperation to attend the matches.
Organisers are now planning new ways to put a stop to this practice.
Earlier this month, the Soweto derby, held at the FNB stadium, had 100,000 people attending the match, which was played at an 87,000-capacity venue.
Briefing the media on Tuesday, Stadium Management CEO Bertie Grobbelaar said a new ticketing system will be put in place starting this Saturday.
"At the derby, we had an excess of 100,000 people inside the venue. How do we know that? Because from the venue perspective, we installed a secondary counting system at the turnstiles.
"In our discussions and in the debriefing, we said first of all, as the venue authority, we've got an obligation towards the club to sort this out. Unfortunately, we have two clubs making use of our venue that are not visitors to the venue but partners of us in the venue.
"We joined hands, and we said, collectively, we owe it to the fans, we owe it to the general public at large, we owe it to sponsors, we owe it to the PSL to ensure that we put measures in place to mitigate this. It is a strange time to do so, specifically with big fixtures coming up, but we made a decision to accelerate the ticketing system at the venues we manage.
"With that, I refer to FNB Stadium and Orlando Stadium with immediate effect. From the 1st of March, we will have a new ticketing partner, a new ticketing system, and new ticketing purchase options in place."
Grobbelaar added that fans will now be able to purchase tickets via WhatsApp.
"This is a hybrid of digital and outlet purchases. The process of purchasing is extremely easy. You can pay using any card, via Zappa or the Capitec app, or via one voucher.
"I understand that there are more than 700 one-voucher vendors in and around the venues we manage. The process to purchase these tickets will be available on the websites of the two clubs (Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates) and the stadium management website as well.
"It's an easy and convenient system to purchase your tickets, and it's immediately available on your WhatsApp without the necessity to download any app. You purchase the tickets and it gets transferred to your wallet or on your WhatsApp itself."
Stadium Management SA revealed that Open Tickets will replace Ticketpro from March 1.
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