Azkal fans line up for nothing

By FRANCIS SANTIAGO

BACOLOD CITY � Lyn Narciso and her one-year-old son John woke up at 6 a.m. Wednesday hoping they would get one of the free 10,000 tickets to the Philippines-Mongolia football game promised by organizers.

When they reached the stadium, what greeted them was a long line of fans numbering in the tens of hundreds, all of them also hoping to secure a ticket and witness one of the most awaited sporting events in the city.
She thought of going home, but since she was there already, she took her spot and lined up. She stood under the sun for an hour, then two and then five. And it was then that she and the rest were told that there would be no tickets available.

If there was a reason to riot, this was it. But the fans were pacified when they were told that they can watch the match on giant screens outside the Panaad Stadium.

But others screamed their hearts out and shouted: �Mongolia, Mongolia, Mongolia kami.�

�Nakakainis sila. Ang tagal namin nag-aantay dito wala naman palang ipamimigay. Sayang ang pagod namin,� said the elder Narciso while holding her son who, like many others, was visibly exhausted from the noontime heat.

Inspector Geruld Huerva of the Negros Occidental Police, who is in charge of crowd control at the main entrance of the stadium, estimated that more than 3,000 showed up for the free tickets but none got any as most of the tickets had reportedly been sold or distributed to select fans.

Disgruntled fans made the thumbs down sign aimed at Philippine Football Federation (PFF) media officer Bong Pedralvez, who had the unenviable task of announcing over a megaphone that there were no more tickets.

What drew the ire of the fans was that the announcement was made when many of them had lined up for almost five hours.

Pedralvez said the PFF had nothing to do with distributing the tickets since they were given to officials of the Negros provincial government and Negros Football Association.

So why did the fans line up at the Panaad Stadium early morning Wednesday?

Some fans blamed ABS-CBN�s local TV Patrol news program, which reportedly announced Tuesday night that free tickets will be given Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the stadium.

�Napanood pa nga namin si governor (Alfredo Maranon Jr. of Negros Occidental) sa interview at ina-nounce nila yung bigayan ng ticket,� a fan said.

Reached for comment, PFF president Mariano �Nonong� Araneta said the report by ABS-CBN was wrong.

�Mali yun,� Araneta said. �We will no longer distribute tickets on the day of the match as advised by the match commissioner from AFC.�


Manila Bulletin