The fans were disgruntled, members of the Press were not impressed and the FA of Malaysia (FAM) remain clueless!
That was the situation that enveloped the FA Cup final at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Saturday as allegations of “tickets being overprinted” emerged.
Terengganu edged Kelantan 2-1 in the final.
Such a situation is not surprising as some officials from the State FAs have sold outdated tickets and complimentary tickets from previous years this season with the excess funds unaccounted for.
Mailsport reported on May 12 that “unmarked tickets” were sold for the Selangor-Perak match at Shah Alam Stadium on April 16.
A large number of spectators — despite having bought tickets — were forced to sit on the stairways while those wanting to head home early were locked in as the people manning the doors were not around.
A comment by a fan, HarlymSayIt, on Facebook read:
“Tiket jual lebih dari seat. Apa dok kat tangga bayar RM30/RM50 tu kira seat jugak ke? Lenkali kwsn pemisah tu pasang cermin kalis peluru jer senang. Lg satu kalau nak kunci pintu masuk memana entrance pastikan pemegang kunci tu ada kat situ jgn nyibuk nak tgk bola kat bawah. Kesimpulan nya thn dpn aku tgk kat umah jer as usual.”
(There were more sold tickets than seats. Do you mean to say that paying RM30/RM50 to sit on the stairs is considered seating? Next time put a bulletproof glass to separate the fans. And another thing if entrances must be locked make sure the persons holding the keys are stationed there instead of watching the game. In short, I will be watching the final at home next year as usual.)
The Press box was filled with fans instead of journalists. Some fans jumped on the workstations to celebrate
when the goals were scored.
FAM ticketing committee chairman Datuk S. Sivasundram, however, claims he was unaware of the episode.
“When I saw the Press box it was only filled with reporters. I don’t know if it was later filled with fans as I had to be behind closed doors to count our gate collection,” said Sivasundram.
“I suspect the fans jumped into the media area. Once in the stadium, the police are in control.”
“All 85,000 tickets were sold,” he added, without revealing the exact amount collected for the night or the number of complimentary tickets handed out for the match.
Past records show matches involving East Coast teams usually enjoy a huge following.
It remains unclear how many complimentary tickets were handed out. Also, there was a buffer zone to separate the Terengganu and Kelantan fans.
More than 2,500 enforcement officers, including those manning the gates, were stationed in and around the stadium vicinity but there were grouses no order was maintained throughout the match.
The Sportswriters Association of Malaysia (SAM) will submit a formal complaint to FAM on the invasion of fans at the media box today.
SAM president Ahmad Khawari Isa said: “We are unhappy with the mismanagement in the media area where a lot of non-media people and fans were there.”
“There were a lot of expensive equipment belonging to members of the Press, from cameras to laptops.
“This has never happened before. FAM have always provided adequate security in the past.
“We will write an official complaint and hope sports journalists will be treated better in the future,” he added.
