Adelaide Oval has cemented its place as the best ground in the world. But it was understaffed and ill-prepared this year | Graham Cornes

People watching on TV might have been charmed by the Adelaide Test but the experience on the ground was a bit different, writes Graham Cornes. Have your say.

Why do we as Australians have to settle for second best, inferior service and a “she’ll be right mate” attitude?

Why do we submit sheepishly when our complaints are dismissed?

Sheepish is the word as we are herded like sheep, hesitant to fight back. How dare we complain in the first place?

Two classic examples arose this week. One, Adelaide Oval on the first day of the Test.

The quality of the contest, the ambience of the Oval and the sights of Adelaide captivated the world but there were complaints from the disenchanted patrons who suffered in the heat on that first day.

Why do Aussies settle for second best when it comes to inferior service? Writes Graham Cornes.

True, the Test match cemented Adelaide Oval’s reputation as the finest cricket ground in the world.

The result could have been immaterial but even that went to plan. Just being there to witness the contest would have been reward enough but the Australians played to the script and trounced India in two and a half days.

It enhanced the experience of a cricket contest because it was the right outcome - for the Australian fans. Congratulations all round.

Except! Test matches are supposed to go for 5 days. Bad luck if you bought a ticket for day 4. But that wasn’t the main complaint.

The SACA was terribly ill-prepared and under-staffed.

The complaints after day one reached a crescendo: claims of half-hour long queues to get food and drink. Patrons were crammed like sardines in the members area. Bars ran out of beer. The Chappell Bar was woefully understaffed.

The self-serving beer machines (who knew there was such a thing?) were complicated and tricky to use. The price-gouging in the northern car-park was unconscionable.

But who was to blame? The SACA deflected responsibility for the parking to the Stadium Management Authority and Wilson Parking.

Adelaide Oval cemented its role as the best cricket ground in the world, but the SACA hospitality needs work, writes Graham Cornes. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Sadly, these are not the rantings of a disconnected cricket fan who years ago surrendered his SACA membership because of its lack of value.

My friend “Dave”, the passionate Crows fan who has appeared in this column before, is also a 50-year SACA member.

He is an intelligent, professional man not given to irrational outbursts.

His comments reflected the mood of the day.

“I was at AO last Friday as a guest in a 50-year SACA box and socialiser on the Village Green where there were not nearly enough tables and chairs - or big TVs.”

In the end he gave up. “As I staggered out of the ground after less than 2 sessions, dehydrated and starving, I purchased 2 reserved seats for today (Sunday) in the Eastern Stand for $40 each with senior’s discount.” Sadly for “Dave” and his wife, the game was over by the lunch break.

The chief executive officer of the SACA, Charlie Hodgson, mounted a solid defence on the morning after the first day’s complications. He had plenty of ammunition.

It was a great day of cricket. It was colourful and absorbing. It was a record crowd which was surprisingly well-behaved with only the usual level of police intervention to deal with the idiots.

Australia dominated, first with ball and then with heroic resistance under lights from Nathan McSweeney and Marcus Labuschagne. What was there to complain about? And that’s the point.

The patrons who suffered are expected to suck it up; to grin and bear it, because that’s what we Aussies have always done. So Hodgson deflected the criticism with the deftness of a Virat Kohli leg glance.

Saturday was better as more staff was rushed into service, but too little too late. One wonders what the response will be if the SACA surveys its members.

Has it over-subscribed its membership base?

Should not all the subscribed members be able to enjoy the facilities that come with the privilege (and the expense) of membership? It does seem a lot to pay for a Test match that can’t even last three days.

Hopefully those who sit around the board tables of the SACA and the SMA, those who enjoy special privileges on match day, will listen to and act on the feedback.

How can we make the cricket experience more comfortable and enjoyable? The fans deserve it.

However, the SACA experience was nowhere as frustrating as that of AFL club members on Tuesday when the Gather Round tickets went on pre-sale. First came the confusion of where to buy them. Was it the clubs’ websites or Ticketek’s?

Then the wait. Told to log on at 10am, this patron was stunned to find he was 34,555th in the queue! Maybe those who logged in earlier were closer to the end but most were faced with an interminable wait.

Worse was to come. If you waited it out and finally got through to select, order and purchase, the portal timed out. It was heart-breakingly frustrating. Disappointingly there was no reaction and no apology from Ticketek or the AFL.

Organisations contracted to sell tickets to these events should be better equipped and better prepared.

Given today’s technology they have to be able to service a rush for popular tickets. If they can’t, the AFL has to cancel their authority to market those tickets.

Even those who went in person to the ticket outlets were faced with a long wait.

So we tolerate waiting in a queue, either live or virtual, because these organisations who profit from the fans’ passion do not care enough to invest appropriately in their infrastructure.

We’ve been seduced in Adelaide by the propaganda surrounding Gather Round.

We can’t be objective. Just wait till it moves to one of the other states. We will not be so understanding or supportive then. It’s not just sport.

It’s the same with music concerts. Demand is enormous, so let the masses suffer in their discomfort and disappointment. And let’s not mention the scalpers who profit from the desperation of the fans who might otherwise miss out.

Again, any criticism of the system is deflected by the popularity of the event(s).

This malaise and lack of consideration is reflected through all echelons of Australian business and society. We wait endlessly on the phone in an attempt to have queries or complaints resolved.

Attending government offices can often be a futile exercise in time-wasting frustration.

Bank tellers, for those times when you might have to visit a bank in person, have all but disappeared. Airlines, with little consideration or foresight that every generation is bigger, still cram passengers into economy class or charge exorbitantly for business and first class (does anyone know what first class looks like?).

The only way to change is to boycott.

If they are going to herd you like sheep or cattle, don’t go.

I fear, however, that won’t work either because as well as this tolerance for ill-treatment and poor service, we Australians have one other motivating emotion - FOMO.

The fear of missing out drives us to leap before we look. So nothing will change.