Fans frustrated as Soweto derby ticket system crashes again

Having already proven to be glitchy in the past, the MyTicket system has disappointed yet again by crashing almost an hour after the Soweto derby tickets went on sale on Monday midday, leaving many football lovers frustrated.

The tickets for the previous fixture between Orlando Pirates and their arch foes, Kaizer Chiefs, last month were sold out in a record time of two hours, despite MyTicket’s glitches.

This time around, by 2pm on Monday it wasn’t yet clear whether the tickets were sold out, as thousands of fans wishing to attend the April 26 derby at FNB Stadium struggled to purchase tickets on the MyTicket app.

Pirates confirmed last week, following Sowetan’s report, that the much-anticipated match would move to April 26, due to a music festival taking place at Nasrec on April 25. Tickets for the match sell from R120 to R170.

Some fans who tried to buy through the app saw their application “processing” forever, while others got messages that they “couldn’t add to cart. Our servers are having trouble. Please try again in a moment”.

In some instances the message displayed stated “to manage the traffic on the system, we are allowing for the queue to clear, and we will resume sales shortly”.

Even so, others, especially those who accessed the system early, managed to secure their tickets. The new system has been the talk of the town since it was launched in January, with many lambasting it for its malfunctioning.

Some fans took to social media to express their displeasure. “I’ve been struggling to purchase tickets since midday and the website keeps going offline,” one moaned.

But it was not all gloom and doom as some fans showed their attempts were successful, with one receiving a message which read: “Thank you for our purchase. Your tickets have been confirmed for Pirates v Chiefs on Sunday, April 26.”

Stadium Management SA CEO Bertie Grobbelaar wasn’t reached for comment on Monday afternoon.

Sowetan