Still Number Of People In Queue For Game Seats

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28952, 21 July 1959, Page 8

Still Number Of People In Queue For Game Seats

A number of the people who were standing all day in the queue for tickets for the Rugby match between Canterbury and the British Isles on Saturday, did not receive their seats yesterday. When the department store acting as agent in the sale of the tickets closed yesterday at 5 p.m., there was still a considerable number of people queueing in the store and on the footpath. These people were issued with numbered tickets by the management of the store and, when selling continues today about 9 a.m., holders of these tickets will receive preference in the sale of seats. The ■ progress of the queue yesterday was very slow, and many patrons expressed their dis pleasure. The general opinion seemed to be that the present queue was worse than that for the Springboks’ matches in Christchurch. When the doors opened at 9 a.m. yesterday morning, the queue reached round to . well down Tuam street. People who joined the queue at this time did not receive their tickets until after 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon. In addition to the long queue outside the store all day. there was a considerable number of people in the front of the queue inside the store, winding around several counters before reaching the ticket-office. The main cause of complain! among those standing in the queue seemed to be that there was only one ticket-box for the whole of the stands and the enclosure. Several people were asking why there eould not be at least one ticket-box for each stand, and another for the enclosure. Many people who had been prepared to spend some time standing in the queue before the store opened, were surprised that, once selling started, it took so long for the queue to make progress. Veteran queuers were unanimous in saying that they had never seen the situation so bad. and many expressed the opinion that, while the Springboks were in Christchurch in 1956, the position had been much easier. The staff of the firm which handles the sale of the tickets for the Canterbury Rugby Union had a toying day. Very few of them

were able to take time off for a mid-day meal, and their only refreshment since the selling started yesterday morning was an occasional cup of tea brought down to them from the cafeteria. Attempts were made to keep the queue informed of progress as tar as the sale of seats was concerned, and an official with a megaphone gave a continuous commentary on the gradual tilling of each stand. The reason for this queue being so much slower than those for the seats for the Springboks’ matches appeared to lie in the enclosure sales. For the South African matches in 1956 seats in the enclosure were not individually sold, but patrons were given tickets which admitted them to the enclosure. This year the Rugby Union has asked the agents to sell numbered tickets for each specific seat in the enclosure, placing these seats upon the same basis as those in the stands as far as selling goes. Although many patrons were asking for more ticket-boxes for the sale of tickets, some saw a good argument against this in the stands to be catered for. If the store provided one office for each stand, said one patron, a person standing in the queue for No. 3 stand may find all the best seats gone in that stand by the time he reached the head of the queue. In such a case it would be difficult to try and place this person at the head of the queue for No. 4 stand. The management of the store was' on the telephone almost consistently yesterday, answering people who were putting ffirward well-meaning suggestions for the improvement of the service. However. the present system has been evolved over a period of years, and few changes are expected when the time comes for selling seats for the test match in Christchurch on August 29.

Confusion ensued for one period yesterday afternoon when a traffic officer asked all patrons requiring seats in the enclosure to join a separate queue. This they did, but were shortly afterwards asked to resume their places in the original queue. Several patrons told a reporter afterwards that "there weren’t nearly as many people coming back as had gone forward."