Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games tickets have gone on sale and the organisers boasted that they would emulate the success of the ticket sales program used for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Sadly they have for all the wrong reasons! A “Technical meltdown” saw the temporary closure of the ticketing website. The same problem that befell Ticketmaster the preferred ticket seller for the Olympic Games when their system crashed under the weight of demand. Sadly lessons regularly fail to be learned.
On a more positive note ‘Venue pack’ tickets went on sale for the Asian Cup football competition to be hosted on the East coast of Australia in January 2015, and they have not reported any similar problems.
One thing that is sure to have influenced fans was hearing Italian World Cup winner and former Sydney FC and Juventus star Alessandro del Piero say via an Asian Cup press release “I think the prices are good, not too high, and will encourage everyone to watch. They will be great games and it will be a great event.”
First of all when would del Piero have last bought a ticket to watch a game of football? So would he really know what is a good price? Secondly this man is being paid to be the tournament’s global ambassador so of course he is going to say positive things about the whole event. So suddenly his comments have far less weight behind them.
Surprisingly having shelled out what is believed to be in the region of $300,000 for del Piero to take on such a role surely the local organising committee would have looked to maximise his involvement and have him front their television advertising campaign. No, instead that have chosen to enrol the less funny half of the comedy duo Roy and HG. HG Nelson was chosen as he “transcends all codes” the FFA press release stated. Apparently “his stature underlines the size of the AFC Asian Cup.” Many would say HG Nelson has had his moment in the sun, while the Asian Cup is still growing, so that statement is open to debate. It does seem an odd choice and the advert itself weak.
Alessandro Del Piero, does make an appearance in the advert as do former Socceroos Brett Emerton, Mark Bosnich and Alan Davidson, Matildas star Kyah Simon but you have to look hard to be aware that it is in fact them in the background. It would appear that the advertising agency did a great pitch as CEO of the AFC Asian Cup Local Organising Committee Michael Brown claimed, “The advertisements are a nice blend of Australian humour in the Asian context. Viewers will see that they pay homage to Asia’s rich football heritage, while appealing to the sense of excitement and fun of the broader Australian sports fan.”
Have to say we felt it lacked humour, and gave very little sense of excitement. But you tell us what you think.
less funny half? are you serious? they are both funny and have been for the last 30 years. roy AND hg are comic geniuses. hg is definitely at his best with roy and, imo, vice versa. the fact that he (and roy) are still around after 30 years says a lot.
Can’t stand HG Nelson! As you say he was only funny as a foil for Roy Slaven. As for the advert it is pathetic. When you look at the quality of the football adverts around the world promoting the game, and equipment is this real the best we can do? It is embarrassing!
HG Nelson is not funny and as you say without Roy Slaven is nobody. A dreadful choice. The advert is insipid. There is no excitement in it at all. Do they really think that this is going to make people want to go to the games? As for the cameos I had to watch it twice before I even realised that they were in the advert. Alan Davidson??? What did he ever do and who remembers him? Paul Wade, Charlie Yankos, Alex Tobin, John Kosmina, why not use someone people know?
I give it 2 out of 10.