Supporters make frantic calls, take to social media

KOLKATA: The phones kept buzzing. And messages kept pouring in. From students to senior executives, from trader to cops, everyone kept texting and calling their friends and relatives, even remotely connected with the people who matter -Salt Lake stadium authorities, local football clubs, Bidhannagar City Police, Bidhannagar Corporation or Kolkata Police.Their only plea: “Ekta ticket hobe dada?“ This was the cry of the day, 48 hours before Salt Lake stadium hosts the Fifa Under-17 World Cup finals on Saturday .
“I have received more than 50 calls since Wednesday evening and there are hundreds of text and whatsapp messages from people known and unknown asking for the tickets for the final match. Some have even approached me claiming they are ready to pay a premium for the complimentary tickets. I tried to make them understand that I don't have tickets even for my own family . But I know no one believed me,“ said a senior official of sports department employed at Salt Lake stadium.
A senior officer of Bidhannagar City Police said he has stopped taking calls even from relatives. “How do I make them believe that I don't hoard tickets? I myself don't have tickets for the match. I may have to be there to maintain law and order but I don't have tickets even for my son who is dying to watch the final. Even I have asked one of my senior officers for a ticket for my son,“ said the officer.

On Saturday , the ground will first host the third-position match between Brazil and Mali at 5pm, followed by the all important final match between England and Spain from 8pm. The 40,000 odd tickets that were put on sale online were all sold out by the third phase of ticket sale in the first week of September itself when no one had any clue about which four teams would play on October 28.Now the rush is on for the remaining 27,000 tickets which have been distributed by Fifa as complimentary tickets among its various sponsors, stakeholders and government agencies.
“I had tried to buy tickets for the finals at the start of the tournament but all of them were sold out. For the quarter finals match between Brazil and Germany , one of my friend's uncle had given us two complimentary tickets. I was banking on him for the finals too but he said he didn't have any ticket,“ said Gourab Dutta, a second year student.
So desperate were the fans that many are putting up status updates and sending broadcast texts on social media asking for the tickets. Some even wrote on Fifa U-17 World Cup's Facebook page and tagged their twitter handles pleading for the ticket to the sold out final.
“You guys are donating complimentary tickets to people who are not even interested in football. Please give a ticket or two to real football lovers like me who are unable to get a ticket at any cost. Please...“ read one such post.