The decision to take AFL football back to the Whitten Oval produced a tremendous atmosphere, but the demand for February football led to disappointment for fans who turned up to the Western Bulldogs-Richmond game on Saturday afternoon without a ticket.
With the ground close to capacity, a few hundred club members without match tickets were left to wait until the game started and until available space was re-evaluated.
Eventually, all the queueing patrons were allowed in, and made it into the ground by quarter-time.
The AFL issued a statement prior to the game to explain the situation.
"Only patrons with a Ticketmaster ticket will have access into the venue at this stage. The AFL in conjunction with the venue will assess if there is any additional capacity remaining at the commencement of the match (4.40pm EDT). Only at this time will the AFL be in a position to assess if any further member scans or daily ticket sales will be available."
An event coordinator estimated the crowd had reached around 9000 at quarter-time.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/nab-challenge-members-forced-to-wait-at-whitten-oval-20150228-13rl5d.html
