It was never going to be a good day for the All Blacks.
Many of their fans who’d paid thousands of dollars to be in Cape Town for the test were denied access to the game because the South African Rugby Union (SARU) had “oversubscribed” the game.
Our wider tour group is around 80 strong, divided into three separate tours. At about 1 o’clock on the afternoon of the game ( 5 o’clock kickoff) we were advised by our tour operator that despite him paying SARU the equivalent of $NZ1500 for each person for a ticket, there were only 32 available.
The tickets were on the expensive side because there was food and beverage in a hospitality suite included.
We all gathered in a meeting room in our hotel at 2 pm to hear the sad story and what could done about it.
The solution was to have a random draw for the 32 tickets. My wife won the lottery. I didn’t.
Those of us who missed out could either go the stadium and wait for the tour leaders to hustle for more tickets inside or just take it on the chin and go to a bar to watch on the big screen.
The tour operators promised a full refund to those who didn’t get through the gate and happily paid for the drinks at the bar.
I tried my luck at the stadium. Somehow the tour leaders scored a few more tickets and I was in.
Sure it was a seat in the gods above the dead ball line but it was a seat, albeit a long way from the game, the bar and even further from the toilet!
One of the intriguing side stories to this episode is that Kevin “Smiley” Barrett, the greatest All Black father of all time, somehow heard of our plight and was keen to send Jordie and Beauden’s complimentary tickets our way to help out our group.
He had some paper tickets which were snapped up but the problem with his electronic ones was he couldn’t move them on his mobile phone because the stadium internet was overloaded!
Anyway, we all watched the test some way or another. My wife and 31 others had a nice time in the hospitality suite. Another 25 of us had seats of varying quality and location. Ours was so high on the top tier we couldn’t see the score line and clock on the stadium screen.
The other 25 or so went to a bar, had free drinks and watched on a big screen. It’s a long way to come just for that but the tour leader is promising a full refund of their $1500. Top marks then to the Smith Tour Company of Tauranga and their South African colleagues Ascot Tours.
But now the question is how could this happen?
My theory is something like this: SARU used an agent to sell tickets. The agent took the money, full price paid, from our tour operator eight months ago.
When our tour operator went to pick up the physical tickets yesterday he was told the stadium was oversold.
I reckon what has happened is that another group or company who didn’t pay early enough - or at all - were given an allocation by an insider at the SARU agent, therefore taking away from the tickets available to our group.
In other words there was an insider job. We might call it corruption.
I have no proof of this scenario. But this is South Africa, a nation where malpractice is a way of life.
Our tour leader- a white man - says he’s highly embarrassed by the events of the day.
He already has his lawyers on the case. Good luck with that.
SARU are ultimately to blame because in the 21st century with technology available all over the world, ticketing should be a straightforward process. How they could “ oversell “ a match of this status without either corruption or incompetence is beyond belief.
The worst thing of all is that despite the match being billed as a sellout, there were at least three hospitality suites in the stadium not being used and where our group could have easily been accommodated.
We’re now thinking about the third test in Soweto next weekend. The tour leader, badly burned today and frustrated that his great reputation in the travel industry was tarnished by this fiasco, is planning to get everyone’s tickets in plenty of time so there won’t be a repeat of today.
It was all a great pity that the gloss was taken off such a fine match. It’s a wonderful stadium and the Cape Town waterfront development is a joy to behold. ( What could have been Auckland !)
Corruption has been the bane of South Africa for generations. What happened today was small fry in the overall scheme of things but in a world where reputation matters, SARU’s has taken a major blow today.
And holidays are supposed to be stress free😒 all the best for the rest of the tour you don't need this rubbish
What a spoiler! Sometimes experience provides the harshest lessons. A reminder for us here to never accept corruption - it will never go away but at least we can do our best to minimise it.