'One word – shambles': What it’s like to be an Australian fan at the World Cup

[Tillu]

Game day in Lucknow. A queue snakes around the footpath outside a ticket collection point, as is customary for sporting events.

 

  But this queue is not at the stadium. Instead it is at an Adidas retailer some 10 kilometres from the game. David Williams and his wife Siobhan, two of the precious few Australians who have travelled to the event, are eventually handed their tickets in time to get to the ground some 15 overs into South Africa’s big win over Australia.

 

 Absurd as this exercise has been, it is just one of many for the hardy handful of overseas supporters who have braved the capricious nature of this tournament to attend.

 

 For Williams, from Broome in Western Australia, it’s been an experience like nothing else in his memory of major cricket events. He has been to every World Cup since 2007 in the West Indies – up to this point a tournament considered the low-water mark in terms of organisational dysfunction.

 

 That event concluded with the then International Cricket Council chief executive, Malcolm Speed, attempting to conduct a press conference as the sponsor’s backdrop collapsed behind him. This time, the misadventures started months before the first ball.

 Williams is a veteran of World Cups. In 2007, he had picked up tickets for two of Australia’s group games, and then when it became clear they would progress to the finals, extended the trip to Barbados and jagged seats to the final against Sri Lanka.

 

 Four years later, travelling to Colombo to see Australia versus Sri Lanka once more, Williams had tickets in hand before boarding the plane in Australia. He and his wife trekked to Australia’s only road game of the 2015 event, a tense, low-scoring loss to New Zealand at Auckland’s Eden Park – with tickets secured before departure. In 2019, planning to attend Australia versus South Africa in Manchester, Williams’ tickets were purchased before the event and were sent to their hotel for pick-up. As best as Williams can recall, he had never previously travelled to a World Cup without tickets.

 

  Fast-forward to this year. Williams was highly enthusiastic about going to India for the cup, but as months ticked by without a schedule or tickets, he decided to make a couple of wish lists. Flights were booked and calculated gambles made about ticket availability once the fixture was finally announced in July.

 Purchasing tickets online took several attempts, complicated by the fact that only Mastercard, a tournament partner, would be accepted for payments. Hoped-for tickets to see India v Australia in Chennai never materialised online, leaving games in Lucknow and Dharamshala as the next best options.

“When booking the tickets we received advice that we would receive further information about how we could pick up the tickets via email or SMS, but that advice was never forthcoming,” Williams said.

 

 “So we arrived in India five days before being due to see our first match in Lucknow without any tickets in hand, nor any instructions on how to pick them up.”

 As it was, Williams was able to purchase a couple of spares for Australia’s showdown with India in Chennai from a fellow guest at his hotel, who picked up the tickets from an Adidas store. Upon arrival, Williams found the lack of other visiting supporters at the game afforded him something like celebrity status.

 “There were barely any other Aussies there, we counted less than 50,” he said. “The crowd in the seats around us all wanted selfies with us and then once the game finished others came over, thanked us for coming and more selfies, which has continued while we have been in India.”

 

 Moving on to Lucknow, Williams read in a local newspaper that tickets could not be picked up from the stadium. Fortunately, the hotel’s day manager was aware of the Adidas store where they could be secured.

 

 An Australian fan queued up for cricket World Cup tickets in Lucknow on gameday - at an Adidas store 10km from the stadium itself. He did not get to the game until 15 overs in.

 

   “We had an hour wait in line, made worse by the fact that they had run out of the physical ticket paper to print the ticket details on, leading to a small riot,” Williams said. “Eventually we got to the game at about the 15-over mark.”

 

 For the next game, against Sri Lanka, another trip to the Adidas store on match eve was met with the update that tickets could be collected at the ground, just not on game day. Eventually they were secured.

 

Why Adidas? While their stores have not been the pick-up point in all venues, the apparel giant this year signed a five-year, $US40 million deal with the BCCI as the shirtmaker for the Indian national team.

 Sitting in the crowd as the Australians got their campaign going by securing a five-wicket victory, Williams met another countryman, Eugene, who spoke about a crowd crush while trying to get tickets from a cafe he had been directed to. The crush was so pronounced, he said, that he was only able to escape when the plaster walls of the cafe “gave way”, allowing him to move.

 

 Later on, as high winds blew through, Williams was momentarily grateful for the hurdles to attendance: “The huge banners at the top of the stadium started falling on the crowd below. They’d moved most of the crowd, but we did see a banner come crashing directly down attached to a massive frame which just missed fans by metres.”

 

 Williams has seen evidence of the situation improving as the tournament goes on. More and better information about ticket collection is now available through the World Cup website, for example, and as at previous events, proximity in the host country allows for further plans to be made.

 

 But he doesn’t blame the many who decided it was simply all too hard. “We are lucky that we had planned plenty of time on leave so we had a flexible schedule,” he said. “But that wouldn’t be the case for the majority.”

 

 As some tournament organisers have themselves conceded, on condition of anonymity, the process of ticketing for global events can be complicated enough when planned out over two years or more.

 

In the case of the 2023 World Cup, the misadventures of the fans who did gamble on turning up have been the logical outcome of trying to do it all in a few short months.

 

Williams sums it up: “One word – shambles.”

 

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/one-word-shambles-what-is-it-like-to-be-an-australian-fan-at-the-cricket-world-cup-20231025-p5eetr.html

 

[LordPrabhzy]

BCCI and Jay Shah need to be held account and never a WC should be awarded to India again.

 

Its like Brazil or Europe never awarded a WC to host despite being powergiants of the sport.

[Number]

And Modi talks about bidding for 2036 Olympics. 

 

[LordPrabhzy]

2 minutes ago, Number said:

And Modi talks about bidding for 2036 Olympics. 

 

its not hard to look at success templates and implement a structure to host a tournament... its just indians and their rigid jugadu nature means everything is made harder than it should be

[Tillu]

Unchecked power leads to this kind of shabby mismanagement.

[AuxiliA]

11 minutes ago, Number said:

And Modi talks about bidding for 2036 Olympics. 

 

 

Olympics are hosted in a single city in a designated area. Can be easily organised if you spend enough money.

[AuxiliA]

22 minutes ago, LordPrabhzy said:

BCCI and Jay Shah need to be held account and never a WC should be awarded to India again.

 

Its like Brazil or Europe never awarded a WC to host despite being powergiants of the sport.

 

 

I don't understand most of the R*ndirona regarding this WC. Sure the online ticketing should be much better but you can't expect Lucknow to be like Dubai. 

 

Things where far worse when we had hosted our previous WCs. People used to sleep on footpaths to get tickets. Spectators used to sit on concrete slabs. 

 

 

 

[LordPrabhzy]

5 minutes ago, AuxiliA said:

 

 

I don't understand most of the R*ndirona regarding this WC. Sure the online ticketing should be much better but you can't expect Lucknow to be like Dubai. 

 

Things where far worse when we had hosted our previous WCs. People used to sleep on footpaths to get tickets. Spectators used to sit on concrete slabs. 

 

 

 

WC is not just for Indian fans... its for ALL fans to come support their teams and foreigners need to be treated with respect to incentivise them to come to India... its people like you who maintain the status quo by terming warranted criticism of a Board to be randi rona

Edited October 25, 2023 by LordPrabhzy

[Lord]

5 minutes ago, AuxiliA said:

 

 

I don't understand most of the R*ndirona regarding this WC. Sure the online ticketing should be much better but you can't expect Lucknow to be like Dubai. 

 

Things where far worse when we had hosted our previous WCs. People used to sleep on footpaths to get tickets. Spectators used to sit on concrete slabs. 

 

 

 

 

2011 was much better.

[AuxiliA]

22 minutes ago, LordPrabhzy said:

WC is not just for Indian fans... its for ALL fans to come support their teams and foreigners need to be treated with respect to incentivise them to come to India... its people like you who maintain the status quo by terming warranted criticism of a Board to be randi rona

 

 

Criticism regarding ticket sales is totally warranted. They must be customer friendly. BCCI severely lacks here. When did I say otherwise?

 

But BCCI can't provide Melbourne or Dubai like experience in Lucknow or most Indian cities for that matter. Half of the above article sounds like first world problems.

[LordPrabhzy]

1 minute ago, AuxiliA said:

 

 

Criticism regarding ticket sales is totally warranted. They must be customer friendly. BCCI severely lacks here. When did I say otherwise?

 

But BCCI can't provide Melbourne or Dubai like experience in Lucknow or most Indian cities for that matter. Half of the above article sounds like first world problems.

 

Maybe they cant- then its just essentially saying- sorry even though we have the capabilities to upgrade the experience for foreign fans we wont do it so either suck it up or dont come.

 

Lucknow isnt a dump.. its the biggest city in UP. a lot of the stadiums in India and its facilities should not have a direct correlation to the quality of the city. Orrisa isn't developed like Mumbai or Bengaluru but why is the fan experience in their hockey stadiums world class? because Odisha Gov has paid attention to what works and what can attract foreign fans to come- BCCI just doesnt care enough.

 

I dont want empty stadiums in a India WC.. but the Onus is on GOI and BCCI to ensure that the infrastructure and facilities warrant thousands of overseas fans to come and spend more money in the indian economy- thats not a unreasonable request is it?

[AuxiliA]

31 minutes ago, Lord said:

 

2011 was much better.

 

That's only your perception. There was no (widespread) SM those days nor where there many 'hitjob' articles in the Media like nowadays. 

[Lord]

2 minutes ago, AuxiliA said:

 

That's only your perception. There was no (widespread) SM those days nor where there many 'hitjob' articles in the Media like nowadays. 

 

There was enough social media. If there was a ticketing scam,delay in schedule, matches allotted to poor venues etc it would have been highlighted.

[Lone Wolf]

2 minutes ago, Lord said:

 

There was enough social media. If there was a ticketing scam,delay in schedule, matches allotted to poor venues etc it would have been highlighted.

2011 & even 2016 T20 WC were so wonderfully hosted. 

Right now Average bande Average result 

[cowboysfan]

why couldnt they hire a proper guy with credentials who has experience running big competitions like this?

[gattaca]

Why do they need physical tickets ? Why can’t they use QR codes to validate ? BCCI doesn’t change fast. I remember @Trichromatic also mentioned you need a hack to book tickets instead of booking from the website 

[gattaca]

Jay shah is a useless admin should be kicked out. He is the Pappu for BJP.

Edited October 25, 2023 by gattaca

[cowboysfan]

5 minutes ago, gattaca said:

Jay shah is a useless admin should be kicked out. He is the Pappu for BJP.

thats an insult to Pappu who atleast has done some work.Jay shah is as useless as he looks.

[Trichromatic]

6 minutes ago, gattaca said:

Why do they need physical tickets ? Why can’t they use QR codes to validate ? BCCI doesn’t change fast. I remember @Trichromatic also mentioned you need a hack to book tickets instead of booking from the website 

 

Ticketing is responsibility of ICC and not BCCI.

 

BCCI messed up scheduling.

[R!TTER]

1 hour ago, LordPrabhzy said:

its just indians and their rigid jugadu nature means everything is made harder than it should be

It's not jugadu nature which makes it hard - it's the propensity of bureaucracy & of course politicians to make life hell for the avg citizen!