Constipated computers, a blast of pepper spray, a tragic collapse and lots of excited banter about dribbling skills marked the first day of over-the-counter sales for Soccer World Cup tickets on Thursday.
Fans queued, some throughout the night, at sales points to book their seats for the tournament.
First National Bank, which was selling tickets at 600 of its branches, had to extend hours to 5pm as it battled with slow response times to the Match ticketing system, which is handling the booking arrangements.
“It has been good and it has been busy,” said one staff member at the Northcliff branch in Johannesburg, 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, waiting for word on the computer problem.
Fans came wearing makarapas and football jerseys and waited, some sitting on the ground SMSing friends as they queued.
Politics and farm murders were forgotten as they discussed which matches they most wanted to see.
Those who had the coveted tickets left with slaps on the back and shouts of “enjoy the game”.
As the day wore on, and the computer system became more sluggish, displaying “time out” messages, and the bonhomie began shifting to frustration.
Positive spin
“FNB is doing all that it can to assist and will continue to do so,” a statement from the bank read, which made it clear the computer fault was not of their making.
Seeing the silver lining, the Independent Democrats called on fans to be patient, saying: “The fact that the programme has crashed shows just how enthusiastic and patriotic South Africans really are.”
If there had been nobody in the queues, people would have complained there was no interest in the game, said ID spokesperson Joe Mcgluwa.
The previous slow take-up of tickets had been blamed on fans having to apply in advance and via the internet.
At Pretoria’s Brooklyn mall, South Africans’ dislike for queuing set off what police regarded as a minor incident.
With fans swirling around the the mall’s glass doors — pushing and becoming aggressive when delays set in — the centre called in the police and extra security to control the crowd.
Fearing that someone would crash through the glass, a “few” people were pepper sprayed, said Captain Colette Weilbach.
Fifa sent out a statement saying it was happy with the fans’ response and was working on the computer problem.
‘There was a massive demand for tickets this morning [Thursday], which we are delighted with,” said James Byrom, the SA project ticketing manager for Match.
In Cape Town, internet marketing manager Mahesh Singh (23) was the first person to receive tickets at the fifth and final tickets sales phase.
Singh had camped outside the ticket office since 4pm on Wednesday.
“I am over the moon, nothing can explain it,” he said.
“These [the tickets] are going straight to the safe.”
A 64-year-old Cape Town pensioner died of what is thought to have been a seizure while waiting in the queue in Cape Town. – Sapa