Ghana vs Angola: How Poor E-Ticketing for Football Matches Is Making Fans Suffer

Ghana vs Angola ended in a loss for Ghana but “How Poor E-Ticketing for Football Matches Are Making Fans Suffer” needs to be addressed now. We are tired of the inefficiencies built into the system as fans of the Black stars.

The move from paying for sports games at stadium gates to the use of electronic ticketing was expected to resolve problems that had lasted for decades. Pre-match ticket selling through electronic football ticketing was introduced to ensure that fans buy their tickets in advance and visit the stadium with their codes, either printed out or on their mobile phones. These codes and scannable barcodes can be verified at the venue of the sporting events.

Electronic football ticketing was expected to lead to increased revenue mobilization by the National Sports Authority (NSA). The new system was also aimed at preventing corruption and theft at the gates when cash was used to purchase tickets on match days. It was further expected to solve queuing problems at match venues and make the process faster, more effective, and more efficient.

Sadly, the Black Stars’ match against the Central African Republic, which Ghana won 4-3, was marred by worrying scenes far from what Ghana’s electronic football ticketing aimed to prevent. The September 5th African Cup of Nations qualifier between Ghana and Angola, which ended in a last-minute loss at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, saw the worst ticketing experience yet.

The outcomes at the gates for the Ghana vs. Angola game were even worse compared to my last experience and write-up on the issue, “Ghana vs. CAR Exposes E-Ticketing Flaws at Baba Yara Stadium.” My experiences at gates labeled 7, 8, 9, and 10 for those who bought popular stand tickets for 20 GHS proved that the National Sports Authority is sleeping on the job.

Police officers and ticketing staff took money from individuals who did not buy tickets online, easily allowing them into the stadium. Meanwhile, those with valid tickets were forced to stay at the gates even after the match had started, causing tension among Black Stars fans. These fans entered the stadium 30 minutes or more after the game had commenced due to poor systems managing the numbers, even though they had arrived at least an hour before the match began.

In my previous write-up on the poor handling of the system, it was evident that one crucial element was missing—the NSA’s failure to expand or add more entry points to handle the pressure at the entrance. Additionally, buying tickets online from the website or using the shortcode was problematic since the network had been poor in the days leading up to the match. On the day of the match, this issue worsened.

Even though you may have had your ticket on your phone or printed it, there was no scanning of the tickets to verify their validity. Fans struggled and jostled with each other to enter through the narrow gates, which were insufficient to serve everyone. The scene at the gates during Ghana vs. Angola could best be described as resembling African immigrants fighting to cross a border as illegal immigrants.

The National Sports Authority has once again failed the nation. To ensure proper scanning of these so-called electronic football tickets purchased online, the NSA must take a closer look at the verification machines used by the Electoral Commission during major elections in Ghana and explore how they could be adapted to verify tickets at the gates, fast-tracking the process and preventing stampedes at crucial matches.

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How can this be done? Since each ticket has a barcode, the data from purchased tickets for each gate should be integrated into respective verification machines. Once a fan arrives at the gate, their code should be verified in seconds to avoid the long, unnecessary queues that build up on match days.

The National Sports Authority and its staff must wake up and be proactive with solutions that deal with the challenges outlined in this article or revert to the old system. We cannot introduce systems that work in other places and make it imperfect here.

Source: Wisdom Hammond |NewsGhana24.com