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Qatar and AFC greed leaves fans stranded

1st February, 2011
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Roar Guru
1st February, 2011
14
1814 Reads

There’s little wonder why people have lost faith in the Asian Football Confederation. Only a few days ago we witnessed the pinnacle of the Asian football calendar – the final of the Asian Cup between powerhouse Asian rivals Australia and Japan.

Although the game was pulsating and kept viewers grasping for air, the event was overshadowed by unneeded controversy.

The Qatar Football Association along with the AFC came up with the belated idea of giving away thousands of free tickets to local workers because organisers feared that ticket holders would not show up. Consequently, thousands of Australian and Japanese supporters were stranded outside the Khalifa Stadium and were stopped from entering the ground.

How can a football association give away free tickets when people have evidently purchased a ticket for the football fixture?

It’s one extreme to give away free tickets when the demand isn’t there for the event, however handing out tickets due to the fear of supporters not turning up is almost unbelievable given it was the final. Undoubtedly there was little faith in their business strategy throughout the tournament if the Qatari Football Association and the AFC had to go to such extreme measures in order to fill the stadium.

There is clearly a lack of belief and integrity in their football strategy. In turn, they have only dented their reputations and, in addition, made a mockery of what should have been a celebration of Asian football.

It doesn’t do Qatar’s reputation any justice and more so the AFC’s.

For an event which is seen by over a billion people, the organisers running this event have once again demonstrated why Asia is still a developing region and still has much to learn.

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Many Australian fans only decided to make the pilgrimage over to Doha once the Socceroos qualified for the Asian Cup final. Expensive flights, accommodation, loss of working wages back at home and most importantly a ticket to the lucrative final was purchased by these fans.

It’s hard not to feel sympathy and compassion for these supporters who only had the desire to witness their nation win our first major piece of silverware.

One can only imagine how disheartening it would have been to travel half way around the world for a football game, only to then be turned down at the gates.

Would these events happen at the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia? It’s highly unlikely. Unfortunately, it is hardly surprising that an incident like this has occurred when Qatar is running such an event and the head of the AFC, Mohammed Bin Hammam, comes from Qatar. It is utterly disgraceful and dishonourable to the football fans supporting Asian football and further illustrates a lack of respect towards the participating nations.

In addition, the fiasco provides a negative image for Asian football.

It creates an illusion that Asian football is run at an amateurish level in contrast to UEFA, who are highly regarded as the pinnacle governing body in football.

Will there be some form of compensation for the fans that were left stranded outside the stadium? In an ideal world, there would be.

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It’s an unfortunate scenario which should have never occurred.

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