AFL ‘extremely disappointed’ over fans’ booking difficulties on AFL finals website

August 28, 2018

The AFL has advised that it is reconsidering its ticketing policy after a systems failure hit Ticketek for its sale of AFL Finals Week 1 tickets for matches at the MCG and Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

With fans venting their frustrations online after the main selling agent shut down its website shortly after seats went on sale today, the AFL released a statement advising that it was "extremely disappointed" with what club members had experienced.

Ticketek’s system froze after ticket sales opened for club members ahead of next week’s Richmond v Hawthorn and Melbourne v Geelong finals, which are both expected to approach selling out the MCG.

The Sydney Swans v GWS Giants final, to be played at the SCG, was also affected. Ticketek’s website was later shut down and sales suspended, with the company stating the issue was caused by an operator error in the website traffic load balancing settings.

Ticketek apologised and admitted customers "experienced difficulties" as its website was swamped shortly after 9am AEST, when three of the four games went on sale to club members.

About two hours later, Richmond and Greater Western Sydney told their fans Ticketek had suspended its website while they "investigate".

Most customers complained their requests were timing out, or they were told there were no tickets left - despite official club Twitter accounts instructing fans there were seats available.

In the first hour of sales, Ticketek took to social media to advise customers to try a different browser or switch between mobile and desktop platforms.

Ticket sales for the three games will now be staggered, and sales to the general public have been delayed.

In a media statement, the AFL said it was "extremely disappointed" with what club members had experienced, adding “we share in our club members' frustration and are working with the venues (MCG and SCG) and their provider (Ticketek) for a full explanation.

"Additionally we wish to assure competing club members that the member allocation for these games have been held while we worked through the issue."

On Twitter, Ticketek stated "Thousands successfully transacted online today & secured AFL tickets, we regret that some fans experienced difficulties."

"We apologise for delays in purchasing & are working through our system checks to ensure any issues are quickly resolved. We will seek to contact affected fans.”

Ticketek later advised that it will waive transaction fees on AFL Finals Week 1 tickets purchased from today (Wednesday) for matches at the MCG and SCG.

With the AFL currently operating a policy whereby individual venues can choose their own ticketing partners. However, the league’s manager of fixtures and clubs, Travis Auld, General Manager AFL Clubs and AFL Operations suggested this could change, telling Melbourne radio station SEN, “the frustration for us is that we just don’t have a seat at the table when it comes to selecting ticketing agents. It’s one of the last things we need to address when it comes to the fan experience and we’re determined to do so.

“We put a lot of time into setting up the finals and holding ticket prices and making sure we keep games accessible and affordable, and then we’re let down by situations like this. We’re as disappointed as anyone.”

Auld said the AFL would assess other ticketing “solutions” following this year’s finals series, adding “we can’t continue to rely on someone else to deliver a poor experience to our fans.

“We’re certainly not walking away from this, we’re standing behind this and we’re holding the people that need to be held accountable, to account. But as we get through this finals series, we need to turn our minds to, ‘what is the right solution for our fans?’”

Earlier this month, the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) announced it had extended its partnership with Ticketek Australia to continue ticketing for the MCG for the next five years.

Image: Message seen by fans trying to book AFL Finals tickets this morning.

search ausleisure

Sports Technology

Latest News