Ticketek headaches as Port Adelaide v Geelong finals tickets go live

Port and Geelong fans scrambled for nearly sold out tickets to the qualifying final next week, with members battling real life and online queues to secure their seat.

Tickets for the Port Adelaide v Geelong qualifying final being held at Adelaide Oval next Thursday night were close to selling out just hours after going on sale on Tuesday with fans taking to social media to share their frustrations with the online ticketing system.

Port Adelaide and Geelong Cats members and Ultimate Football members were granted early access to secure their spot at the blockbuster game, with sales opening for these select groups at 10am ACST.

General public tickets were released at 3pm, with limited tickets still currently available.

Port Adelaide member Josh Rogers said the experience was “very troubling” with the website failing to work on multiple occasions.

“You would select what seats you wanted on the map and they would give you the complete opposite,” Mr Rogers said.

“They only gave you six and half minutes to select tickets and pay, so my Grandpa and I ended up having to queue again,” he said.

Josh Rogers with his grandfather, Kent Rogers at home in Coromandel Valley, where they managed to purchase preliminary final AFL tickets online. Picture: Matt Loxton

Mr Rogers’ grandfather and fellow Port Adelaide member, Kent Rogers, also dealt with similar problems while attempting to buy tickets on a separate computer.

“At 9:45am when I logged in there were 20,000 people in front of me,” Mr Rogers said.

“It was a disaster.”

Despite receiving mutiple emails stating that tickets would go on sale “10am venue local time”, when Mr Rogers hopped online, he found that the tickets were already on sale.

“I think they opened it early for Victorian supporters,” Mr Rogers said.

“We even got an email at 9:55am saying it was 10am, so someone got it all wrong and probably made a mistake in Melbourne time,” his grandson, Josh agreed.

Fortunately, after navigating the difficult system, the Rogers’ were able to lock in their tickets.

Josh Rogers with his grandfather, Kent Rogers at home in Coromandel Valley, where they managed to purchase preliminary final AFL tickets online. Picture: Matt Loxton

Other Port Adelaide members shared their annoyance on Facebook with one commentor, Melissa van der Linden dubbing Ticketek “a shambles”.

“Wouldn’t let us use all of our member barcodes and got locked out,” Ms van der Linden wrote.

Another Facebook user, Kristyn Heinjy said “the website and the process (was) a nightmare”.

“Would click on a section and said can get up to 10 tickets click next and says none available,” she wrote.

Those looking to avoid online headaches lined up at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre Ticketek booth after facing issues with the system in previous years.

Malcolm Penguilly and Chris Hunter from Grange were decked out in the Port gear and had been waiting in the line from 8:30am.

“Other years I have tried to get my ticket on the computer … and every time I get timed out, I get half way through my credit card, get timed out and have to start again,” Mr Penguilly said.

“This is much better today.”

“It’s much easier for this age group,” Mr Hunter added.

The duo who have been “Port Adelaide fans forever” said they were “hopeful” for the club’s finals campaign.

“It’s all positive at the moment,” Mr Hunter said.

With the Power achieving record numbers of 69,457 members at the end of the 2023 AFL season, true believers will be looking to pack the stands on Thursday night with the silver, teal, black and white.

Port’s last home final was played against the Cats in 2021 in front of a limited crowd due to Covid restrictions.