KOCHI: Fans from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargod, who reached Kochi to buy tickets from open counters, were frustrated as no tickets were available. The gallery tickets priced at `240 were sold out within one-and-a-half hours after the online ticket sale commenced last Thursday."A big lobby is behind the illegal sale of tickets anticipating the business prospects of football matches in Kochi," said Thampi Subrahmanian, a Corporation councillor who filed a petition before the KSHRC. He demanded ticket sale via open counters in other ISL matches slated to be held in Kochi.
Sujith S, a football player from Palakkad, shared his bitter experience. "I've been watching all the ISL matches in Kochi since its inception. However, for the first time, I suffered huge hardship to collect a ticket but in vain. As I haven't availed it via online, I reached Kochi to buy it from the counter and waited for long hours. At last, a tussle followed the protests and the police behaved rudely to us. We lost our time and money and didn't get the ticket," he said.
The seating capacity of the stadium was reduced to 41,000 by FIFA ahead of the recently-concluded Under-17 World Cup. According to the ISL organisers, only 39,000 tickets are available online and the rest 2,000 have been categorised as complimentary.