asian cup mess

For those who want to know how and where they can get a refund for their unused AFC final match tickets, go to this post http://www.qatarliving.com/node/1611439

Bleow is the correspondance between AFC & I:

****************************************************

From: Rien

Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 13:05 AM

To: tickets/-a-t-/asiancup2011.com.qa

Subject: RE: Refund Required due to not being allowed to enter Khalif Stadium for AFC Final

Dear Sir / Madam,

Thank you for your reply.

I appreciate AFC/QLOC joint apology to the fans and the offer to refund money.

However, kindly note that the gates were closed much earlier than 18.05.

My wife and sons reached the stadium at 17.15 and I reached the stadium at 17.45 by then tall barricades were already in place to stop fans from entering the stadium. Although I agree that the gates were closed due to "security reason" are partly correct, the real reason for security concern is due to the free entrance allowed to thousands of people to fill the stadium, thus resulting in thousands of paid fans being turned away.

So, the statement that gates are closed at 18.05 is incorrect.

Therefore, an amendment to your press release, to reflect the actual cause of "security concern" as well as accurate time of the gates closure, would be much apprecited.

Thanks & regards

Rien

-------------------------------------------------

From: AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011Tickets [mailto:Tickets/-a-t-/asiancup2011.com.qa]

Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 10:15 AM

To: Rien

Subject: RE: Refund Required due to not being allowed to enter Khalif Stadium for AFC Final

Dear Asian Cup Spectator,

In continuation to joint AFC/QLOC Daily Media Briefing held on 30 January 2011 at Main Media Centre, the QLOC would like once again to offer our apology for the fans that were not able to enter the Final Match, despite the fact that they had valid ticketing in their hands, due to the security concern which led to the closing of gates at 18:05.

Once again, we apologize to these fans, and have decided in conjunction with the AFC to refund all ticket-holders who have been denied access to the venue due to Security Closure of Gates.

Please see the detailed process at tickets.afcasiancup.com for applying for refunds and – as always – please do not hesitate to contact the QLOC at tickets/-a-t-/asiancup2011.com.qa for any further inquiries you may have.

Kindly be informed that the submission of the Refund Application Form will be from the 3rd-28th of February 2011.

Regards,

The Ticketing Department

Local Organizing Committee

AFC Asian Cup - Qatar 2011 TM

E tickets/-a-t-/asiancup2011.com.qa

W www.afcasiancup.com

----------------------------------------------------

From: Rien

Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2011 11:53 AM

To: AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011Tickets

Subject: Refund Required due to not being allowed to enter Khalif Stadium for AFC Final

Dear Sir / Madam,

It is with disappointment I write to you about the shameful behavior and treatment I met with (along with at least 10000 other fans) at Khalifa Stadium, Doha-Qatar for yesterday’s Australia vs Japan AFC final match.

Despite having valid, four (4), tickets which I booked over two months ago, my family & I could not enter the stadium.

When we reached the stadium at 5.15pm, we were told by policemen that we cannot go in as the stadium is full.

We waited till 7.15pm to get into the stadium, only to disappointed and pushed away by baton wielding policemen … so we returned home extremely disappointed.

This is disgraceful and shameful treatment of fans by a reputed football association.

In view of the above I request AFC to kindly refund the money I paid for the tickets.

Please find attached copies of the tickets I purchased from AFC booth in Villagio Mall on 16 November 2011

Regards

Rien

I won't hold my breath on that one qatarspitfire....

Cheer up guys. We will give you New Sponsorship System this February.

Here are the links for yesterdays (31 Feb 2011) complaint letters in Gulf-Times:

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=413256&version=1&template_id=46&parent_id=26

and

Today's (01 Feb 2011) complaint letters in Gulf-Times:

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=413008&version=1&template_id=46&parent_id=26

If you really care about being heard by a larger audiance, take the time to write to every newspaper you know of ... if you live in Qatar then start with Gulf-Times who are doing a great job of publishing letters from all the dissappointed fans who couldn't see the AFC final match despite having purchased and reserved tickets.

I was pleasently surprised to find a local news paper (Gulf-Times) had the courage to publish complaint letters from several fans (including mine) in their newspaper today on page 29.

At least one news paper has courage to publish the truth in this country. Keep up the good work Gulf-Times.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_125702327499493

I was another ticket holder who did not get in, I have posted videos on youtube of the police one of who is trying to hit me with a stick for filming him. Later one of the riot police snatched my camera bag from me (luckily I got away from him and kept my camera) so I lost my spare battery and memory card aswell as the 120QR for tickets.

Anyone who was there knows there were a lot more that 700 people with tickets. AFC trying to cover their A***

AP needs to do more research and speak to people who were "on the ground" and look at the photos and videos that are on the web. Any reason why the AFC didn't mention the riot police or the military presence???

Earlier AP story was based on the feedback they got from the people, now it is based on the official statement released by AFC organising committee. That's why the change in story.

another thread for asian cup... hope someone can read this and take back the award from qatar.. u dont know wat to do to these people that keep on complaining! take back the award and give it to another country and u will see wat u are talking about..

Is it true that the AP story changed?? So far for freedom of press. Everybody who was outside that stadium saturday could see that there were more then 700 hunderd people! There were thousands! I can't wait to get an official reaction from the organisation about this mess!!!

Xena, you do have a way with words.

covering anything to do with the AFC, cause right now, they are all in Egypt trying to get their footage back from Mubarak;-P

Has anyone noticed the story from AP changed from this morning to now? I went back to the original story from my browser's history and compared it to the AP article published 2 hours ago. Very different article. The first one was very damaging compared to this one that said only 700 people were denied and everybody else was either ticketless or late.

As I was actually there at 5:30 and the gates were closed and there was at least 700 people with tickets only at the gate I was at...

Unbelievable....

this will just be part of history.

ROFL. Where are all those World Cup bid supporters now?

Gulf Times covered this incident on their front page as well as page 11 ... read today's (30 JAN 2011) Gulf-Times.

Yesterday night I wrote to AFC but no reply yet other then their automated reply which reads: "Thank you for contacting the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011 Ticketing Department. We will reply to your inquiry as soon as possible".

Apart from complaining to AFC & FIFA it is important that we air our veiws on QL as it helps spread the message and gives courage for others to voice their opinion.

Football is not about fireworks.

If you want to watch fireworks go to Sydney or New York or London or Tokyo for New Year's eve ...if you can't go that far then go to Corniche on 18th DEC, you'll get free fireworks show.

Football prospers because people pay to watch the game, not fireworks.

Convinence and safety of the fans is most important ... not blocking car parking (for fireworks), ensuring families with small children do not park their cars 2kms away and walk to the stadium crossing dangerous roads is part of organizing the crowds ... but if you think that it is trivial then you need to examine your head.

It's easy to win a bid. (especially if you have enough money to throw around). What is difficult is the ORGANISING of the event.

As they say Money talks, bulllshit walks.

http://www.qatarliving.com/node/1593631

http://www.qatarliving.com/node/1593631

There is a big building in Doha CBD called Ministry of Business and Trade, Their Tel. number for customer complains is 8005000 (24 hours), press 2 for English. They are usually very helpful.

They have big fat asses from sitting in Land Cruisers all day.

Someone taking a bite will still leave plenty of fat ass left for them to survive, sadly.

I had to leave one our earlier, a friend came to pick me up from work at 05:30 thinking that since I have my ticket everything would be smooth. We had to avoid Al Sadd, Salwa and Al Waab Str. We reached 18:15, parked the car 1 KM away , on the way we saw thousand of people with clueless expressions, we tried to reach the main gate, meta friend who had a ticket and he was hoping to enter at the second half, we were sursided by the Police riding horses , and Riot Police ... Amazing

@fubar, I just hope this brings SOME change, which I am sceptical.

@rizoogs, welcome to middle east.

There's not much point complaining about it on QL. We should be directing our disappointment directly to the AFC via their website, as well as their facebook page etc.

The Gulf Times will probably ignore this huge screw up, but we need to get the message out that this was bad, even by Doha standards, and someone needs to be held accountable.

The unsuccessful World Cup bidders for 2018 and 2022 will be lapping this up in their newspapers, and before we know it they will be accusing Qatar of bribing their way to 2022.

It does make you wonder, if they can't handle something simple like spectator egress, HOW DID THEY WIN THE BID??

This is going to bite someone squarely on their ass.

For official crowd figure, I guess they just posted the same as the opening game with minute difference ofcourse..

Crowd in the opening game- Qatar vs Uzbekistan- 37,143

crowd in the final- Australia vs Japan- 37,174

the stadium with 3 tickets on hand bought them 2 months ago. Inside the stadium bay, we (me & 2 of my kids) stopped by the policemen to enter the bay written in our tickets & ask us to go upstair?!?!?

When my son saw the location sign of the upstair section, it is not showing the location on our tickets, so we cameback to the policemen. They said the section is full, but I was pushing him & told him that I have the tickets with the seats dedicated for me, so how come I can't enter to my seats. My little daugh start to look unhappy, though words are passed between me & the policemen, finally they let us in with no guarantee to get our paid seats.

When we reach our seats, 2 persons (father & son, look like from populous south asian country) are on our seats. I told the pa that they are our seats & we want to seat there. He said we sit here first & asked me to search for other seats in the middle of crowds. I cant accept this condition & ask them to show me their tickets, as they said they have it. After few words, they show me their tickets, but it was not for this section!!! they should seat behind the goal & ours are just near the corner. Finally, they left the seats for us, the eligible seaters.

Another third seat was held by an arabian lady, she put her hand on it & said that it is belong to her friend. I prove her that I am eligible for that seat & show her my ticket. She said the same to the other 2 persons who sit on my 2 seat: "you can search for the seat anywhere". I can't accept this way & choose to wait for her friend to come & show me his ticket. Once her friend (an arabic man, >30s yo) came, I directly put my daugh on the seat, as I thought before that her friend is a lady or kid. He is not happy & we start arguing. I asked him to show me his ticket & he show me one in the other location. So, I don't care about him, though he is angry and ask me to fight outside the stadium....

What a difficult way to get your right???

1. bin hammam is a joke and idiot, he considered the tournament well organised. he's as corrupt as the rest of them.

2. i climbed the fence and sprinted to my gate, the fat f**king staff couldn't catch me.

3. unfortunately i left my friend stranded outside as he didn't climb the fence.

3. free entry was given to aspire contractors & suppliers if they arrived before 4pm.

4. gave the security guards a racial tirade that even shocked me.

5. i felt bad for the japanese and aussie supporters that traveled from abroad and couldn't get in, especially those with kids.

6. the riot police looked retarded and out of their league.

7. presentation ceremony was a disgrace, would've been more appropriate to give the muppets in thobes & cloaks a lifesaver as they looked like they just came from a star wars movie set.

8. how the f**k did they give an official crowd figure as no-one was scanning or checking tickets.

9. money may have bought the world cup but it can't buy common sense.

10. f**k you qatar, i hope the world cup is taken away from you and given to a more deserving country.

exceeded all expectation!! yes indeed. bravo... Expect the Amazing! and let him watch the tv news tomorrow for great treat.

Oh dear and now, submissions on this subject are being censored and stopped.....how very Egyptian...

Guys, they have 11 years to get it close to right. FIFA will not allow them to get it wrong and for us that good news because we will be swept along in the "getting it right" backwash which hopefully will mean an expansion (recognition) of some basic human rights likre moving jobs in the same country .......

I got to the stadium, in and to my seat very easily.

I had no idea what was going on. I would have willingly given up my seat for someone who had travelled to the country for the game. I feel so sorry for them.

AFC chairman offering apology????

Hahaha read his interview, the tournament has exceeded all expectations as per him..

First of all my hearty congrats to Japan

I and my wife am a football loving fan...and what we experienced today was simply a disgrace to the country and the organization. We reached there at 4:30...parked the car miles away...walking confidently towards the stadium...the so-called AFC officials whose very purpose was to direct the fans...were standing clueless at the questions thrown at them regarding the way to enter. One guy says left and the other right...we chose our own way...but only to find a huge crowd in a highly disorganized manner (thanks to the AFC volunteers for being absent at the site). We were clueless where to stand as there were no proper lines...we stand in the queue for a long time just to discover that the queue is getting longer and longer...Then all of a sudden this security guy comes in and says family this line, women there, and men here...the crowd rearranges with a lot of difficulties accordingly...and the wait continues...and shortly, they start closing the gates one by one...and disperses the crowd asking them to go to the next gate....nobody knows what’s happening around...men, women, children, old people,...all confused where to go and what to do...and in some cases husbands were let in and wives & children standing and vice-versa...people rushed to the other gate only to see that the situation was even worse there...approx. 8000 people stranded outside with absolutely no guidance and no volunteers...people rushed to the ticket offices for reimbursement but only to our dismay they couldn’t even communicate well and the officials had a very arrogant and unapproachable attitude...and in one instance they started to fight ...there were riot forces and horses roaming around fearing commotion...police officials as usual were attending only the Arabic speaking ones...Women, children and infants were waiting outside in spite of having legit tickets..It was really messy

There are allegations / rumors that a lot of students / employees of a reputed firm were provided with free tickets and some of them entered ticketless. This is absolutely unethical, pathetic and unacceptable and a disgrace to the country

We seek a thorough investigation into this...and the AFC chairman should state a public apology...and immediately arrange for reimbursing the tickets.

On a separate note the award ceremony was really unprofessional...they missed out honoring the 3rd position winners i.e. S.Korea...the organizers did a poor job....what a disgrace to an International match

This is not against the home country State of Qatar...but to vent out the frustration and disappointment of a huge mass out there who missed the game.

This should be a lesson learnt for the officials lest they sleep on this issue till 2022. Hence wake up guys !!!

Charlton could only afford sparklers - Curbushly left in disgust at our lack of pyrotechnic ambition - hence we fell two divisions.

All for the want of a few rockets shooting across the skies of SE London.

Australia for 2022!!!!

I feel Yeah Kiwi..

Please.

You have NO IDEA the hard work, dedication, and organisation that goes into a firework display.

It is far more difficult than letting fans into a stadium, so yes, the performance of the fireworks is integral to the success of the game, please appreciate that.

Have you even been to a football match in your life?

If you had, you'd know that fireworks are the basic staple to any thrilling game, and a game without fireworks is an insult to the beautiful game.

They had excellent fireworks so yes, their job WAS done, organising the crowds is a trivial issue.

Fireworks!!!

What? There was a football game on as well? How did that go?

Still, as long as the fireworks were good - job done!

Really:

Why bother building stadiums with car parks when they're never used?

Why bother selling tickets when you can give them away?

Why bother having female toilets?

Why bother buying tickets when you get turned away at the gate?

Tonight was the worst-ever example of organised sport I have seen. Closing the gates to the stadium and locking out thousands of ticket holders a full 30 minutes before kick-off. Tonight Qatar is shamed and the critics will be getting their knives out - particularly in light of 2022.

What a debacle.

..and the firework was amazing tooo :)-

That's shocking !!!!

We being inside stadium could not "feel" wht's going on Outside, but it's SHAME if a ticket holder is NOT allowed to enter!!

It seems there were many people inside stadium without ticket or thru free entry :(-

bytheway, inside atmosphere was Fentastic {thanks to many Indians, my guess they were more than 50%, who were supporting both the teams :)-

lets congratulate the DISorganizing committee for a job well done !!! and qatar spent fortune on this people.....

Ouch expatgeezer that's got to hurt.. Coming from Australia for this game and then not allowed in and then getting arrested.. Damn that's a real raw deal..

Shameful! Unbelievable! Absolutely disgusting! And that's an understatement!

wa ha ha ha !!! i saw it on TV, did not pay anythoing at all.... saw lots of empty seats though....

Guys u are p+ssing in the wind - I watched the game on Al Jizz and as far as they were concerned, the tournament and in particular tonights game hae been an unmitigated success, "a masterpiece in administration" apparently - so what are you going to do about it?? bitch like stuck pigs on QL??......u are little people and when the votes were counted, your vote DIDNT count!!! Ask the Egyptians how that feels. BTW I may not appear to be, but as a genuine footy fan, I AM sympathetic to your plight but the reality is that the Qatari authorities (whoever they are) couldny organise a prayer in a mosque...sad, but as thousands have borne witness tonight .......TRUE!!!

Yep I was with bunch of Aussie who had paid a packet to come here and were shouting to get in. One guy could take it any longer and decide to jump the fence and he was arrested even though he had a valid ticket in his possesion. Just a shame on the organisers..

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-546503

qatar did wrong..........................................asain cup 2011 last time

dear human right

please where is the human right in qatar please give money back .there are sold ticket to us i bought 6 ticket and i'm with my family and family frineds but near gate only.i'm there from 4.30 why this people did to us this thing ..please it's not good how qatar will host 2022 fifa.

for us ok some people came freom australiya and japan and this people also near gate.but in sade seat's are empty .why did like that.

THE STADIUM IS NOT FULL, IN FACT, SOME PEOPLE ARE FOOL INDEED

But I don't think this is what they meant to expect... or maybe they did ...

There was riot police during Brazil vs Argentina as well and I mentioned it on QL so that wasn't anything new.

this qatar people did bard .they sold ticket lot and i boutr also i'm there with my family near gate until finish the match.why this people sold ticket to us if they can't allow us.please this is not fare.please do some thing and qatar king need to see this thing please

please this thing happend to more then thousand of people.how there are host fifa 2022 i don't know

Riot police for Asia cup final

Military and air strike back up for 2022 world cup

Go Qatar!!!!! Go

The only chance to show the world your military

Phhhhhowerrrrrr!!!!!

Expat geezer...you had me in splits.

Our friend came from Japan and he will be telling everyone about his experience. He came to see every game of the Asian Cup and was so excited today that he couldn't even eat. He was so upset about not being let in, he could barely speak. He was interviewed outside the stadium. He said he will be telling everyone in Japan about this, including the media. He can't even comprehend how if he had a ticket, why he wasn't let in. He is just dumbfounded.

I saw nearly 1000 of people near I-5 gate and argueing with the guards at 05.30 PM.The reply was stadium full.But all the people whom outside were have valid tickets.Then whom will occupied our reserved seats.Even this people dont know how to organise Asian level matches,then how they are going to conduct world cup....?

I pity about the people those are going to come here to face disappointments.But i know 60 Riyals gone away from my pocket with out any use remaining with me one unused ticket and disappointment.I took nice video with despirated face of many inclusive of qataris.How can i post it here?But i see the match from my house the extra time .Japan very nicely put one goal ......

Good game no doubt, true fans were denied to watch this great game by some twats who have no fooking idea about Football culture and the sentiment of fans who had travelled thousands of miles to be at this game. Shame on the Orgnaisers and those who took the decision to not allow valid ticket holders in. Shame on you!

Japan won but Qatar lost credibility and respect for its poor organizational skills. I cannot belive five of us wasted 4 hours for driving to the stadium & waiting at the stadium ... what a waste of time and money.

PMSL Expatgeezer, that's brilliant :-)

Expect fooking Amazing just fooking Amazing.

Aljazeera will never comment on these stories happening in Qatar.

Lol sam...

whyteknight..collect from me five unused Category 1 tickets and try to get a refund. Maybe it'll be enough to see you through the end of the month. ;)

Japan won the game....

Dears, I got a ticket online on thrursday and with very good preparation i went to the stadium by 5:30pm where i was stopped by the police and Security saying that Gates closed, even when i show my tickets they never ready to see or answer instead there was Police Guards on the Horse and pushing the innocents aways.

I can do with 60 Riyals right now, I am bankrupt just like the end of every month :-P

God bless the guy who invented credit cards :P

I am so dissapionted about this.

I came all the way in a 50 min drive to know that the gates are closed.

We, a group of 9, wasted 2 hours for no reason and wasted the money to but the tickets !!

Not everyone has a lotta extra riyals at the end of the month, mate.

do tell who won

Japan 1-0

who won

Rienz make an account on photobucket.com. Upload your pics there, copy the HTML code and paste it here.

I have some photos and videos of fans with valid tickets being turned away, but I don't see anything here to upload them ... anyone know how?

actually in the a/noon around thousands of bachelors and family were gathered around a gate and were going IN. When i asked the guard he said jus get in as this was a queue for Qatar Petroleum employees.

AN oe could get in with the crowd and finally around 5 when I again wanted to actually get in they told that gates are closed.

I don't knw what kinda finals this is and why do they have to sell tkts if ppl can get in for free???

What real good is a refund going to do ?

at least 5000 to 10000 people are standing outside

i dont know why this had happen i thnk we should ask to refund for ticket at least

Then who sat inside the stadium when thousands of PEOPLE were turned away????

Oh dear the world's press will love this one. Negative stories all round....

Tonights shambles kinda takes the shine off Qatar winning the World Cup 2022 bid. Will be interesting to watch the headlines in the next day or so.

It's true many of them watching the match were without the tickets

And the one with the tickets were watching each others faces

I saw a lotta Japanese and aus fans disappointed,walking back

But the best part about the whole event which I enjoyed was the protest and slogans written on the Japanese flag and ppl booing the riot police

I m sure those pics will get uploaded soon

What can we expect from Qatar in 2022 It's a very small country I don't think they can manage the WC after what we experience today

True. Thousands, mostly families with kids were denied entry. As I walked away with my family, I saw baton-wielding men in blue-toned fatigues getting mobilized.

Earlier this morning,my daughter received phone calls from her friends telling her that there were free tickets giveaways at noon near Villagio. Even as afar as Al Khor.

Farcical.

Maybe they over-compensated. In earlier rounds stadiums weren't full even though all the tickets were sold out so they sold more for the finals to guarantee a full house and everyone turned up..

It's our fault because we didn't get there at 2pm??? WHAT??

We have tickets!! If we didn't want to show up until 7pm, that is our decision. Those are our seats that we purchased tickets. There is no excuse for allowing people without tickets to come in. If they wanted to give "standby" tickets to students and had them wait until 6pm so other people can claim their seats than that's another story...

http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?1092-Qatar-tickets

“Rumors (of)1000s without tickets (getting) into stadium,” she wrote. “Some reports that ticketless people already sitting in seats when legit holders arrived.”

They were all over the place. I could only see disappointed faces and police. Guess anyone with valid ticket even got in ???

Covering their gigantic Hardees toned asses;

http://tickets.afcasiancup.com/terms-&-conditions_sc_6.html

8.2 If a Ticket is rendered null and void, admission is refused, or a Ticket Holder is ejected from the Stadium based on a violation of the TTCs, the Sales Regulations, if any, the Stadium Code of Conduct or any other relevant laws or by-laws, the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2011™ Authorities, to the full extent permitted by applicable law, will not be obligated to issue any refund.

In few words : stupid organisation. Shame on them.

I was also denied the right to enter with my valid ticket but I was just 20 mn from home. What about fans who spent thousands of dollars to come from Japan or Australia ?

What will be done to reimburse them ??

First there was no parking palce made available, so we parked the car 1km away and when we reached the stadium we were told that we can't get in ... there must have been atleast 10000 people or more waiting outside to get in. Riot police came into push valid ticket holders away from the tall barricades. There were many Australian & Japanese fans with valid tickets who especially flew in to watch the match, only to be told to get lost. This is shameful and rude behaviour both by the organizers and the policemen.

I was there with my sons and 4 month doughter at 04.45 and the gates were closed.

I think worst ever Final in Qatar

QFA and QOC should think about it

Thousands???

No wonder they had the riot police on hold.

I was told that students were asked to come to the stadium in their university, receiving vouchers for food/drinks, having transportation to the place ..

By the way, why the parking were closed ?

There were thousands of people with tickets turned away, not hundreds. I alread posted to CNN Ireports.

Shocking!!!

I was there with my son at 04.45 and the gates were closed. When lot of people around us dared to ask, they were asked to go back as the gates were closed. Few more people and the Horse mounted Police were called in ...

The amount I paid for the ticket would have got 2 square meals for any one for 2 days...

Talk about embarrassing.

Turning away hundred of people who actually paid for their tickets...WTF?

Just wait until tomorrow when the intl. press picks up the story...LOL!