Over-the-counter World Cup ticket sales start amid crowd chaos

South Africans aren't interested in buying tickets for the World Cup? Tell that to the guy who rushed the doors of the Sandton ticket office shortly after it opened this morning, Thursday, 15 April 2010, got thrown back with considerable violence - and then got up to try again. [video]

By Phillip de Wet

15 Apr 2010

The Fifa World Cup ticket office in Sandton, Johannesburg, opened up this morning to kicking and shoving (though no biting that we could see) as non-existent security and crowd management ran straight into eager fans.

A system of issuing numbers to early queuers, some of who formed a line as early as Wednesday afternoon, fell apart entirely as a crowd pushed towards the door. While the rest of the more than 1,000 people remained in good spirits, the crowd immediately around the single, glass entrance did not remain as calm. Nobody was seriously hurt, but there were several altercations between a single burly security guard and a whole procession of hopeful buyers.

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Phillip de Wet

About Phillip de Wet

Phillip de Wet is the deputy editor of The Daily Maverick (www.dailymaverick.co.za), as well as its live-tweeting specialist (@phillipdewet, @@dailymaverick) and the editor of First Thing, the morning email from The Daily Maverick. He writes primarily on politics, business and technology, and also deals with persistent trolls. Email him at .