'Massive demand' for World Cup tickets

They came wearing decorated mining helmets and football jerseys and waited, some sitting on the ground SMSing friends as they queued to buy Soccer World Cup tickets over the counter on Thursday.

Politics and farm murders were forgotten as they discussed which matches they most wanted to see.

Those who had the coveted tickets in their hands left with slaps on the back and shouts of "Enjoy the game."

At ticket sales at the First National Bank (FNB) in Northcliff, Johannesburg, staff were busy handing out folders that contained application forms that, for security reasons, also required an ID number.

"It has been good and it has been busy," said one staffer, rushing past a large version of Zakumi, the World Cup mascot, carrying a box full of application forms in one hand, and a cellphone pressed to her ear.

She was trying to resolve an apparent glitch in the system that was delaying sales, but punters waited patiently, chatting amongst themselves.

Many people spent the night outdoors, camped outside the 11 World Cup ticketing centres and 600 countrywide FNB branches, as the fifth and last ticketing sales phase got under way.

Fifa said 1 610 tickets were sold to 310 customers nationally at the ticketing centres within the first hour of opening at 9am.



http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-04-15-massive-demand-for-world-cup-tickets

What has changed this year is that South Africa has opened cash ticketing stations instead of relying wholly on credit card purchases, mostly online. It seems it finally dawned on them how discriminatory that was.