West Coast Eagles fans snap up tickets amid east-coast meltdown

[Ulquiorra]

WEST Coast fans have been predictably quick to snap up tickets for next week’s qualifying final, amid struggles for east-coast fans that have caused supporters to vent their fury.

After just over half an hour of around 6000 general public tickets for the Eagles’ clash with Collingwood going on sale from 2pm this afternoon, only single-seat restricted view options remained available.

It came after members and ‘In The Wings’ fans got their turn earlier in the morning, with tickets going fast for the first-ever Optus Stadium final.

A number of Eagles fans took to social media to express their disappointment about missing out. But in a statement, Ticketmaster said they were pleased with how the roll-out had occurred.

“Ticketmaster is happy to report a successful on sale for the blockbuster for the qualifying final at Perth’s Optus Stadium,” it read.

“It is the first finals on sale for Optus Stadium and we are proud to have serviced thousands of footy fans.

“As with any major on sale, Ticketmaster works very hard behind the scenes to ensure we can handle huge demand and today’s on sale was no different.”

All tickets for the clash have been held back for printing until tomorrow afternoon, while a final small-scale release of tickets will go on sale from 2pm next Tuesday on the Ticketmaster website.

It was a very different scene on the east coast for the other three first-week finals clashes, with a crashed Ticketek system causing havoc for fans.

In an admission they got it wrong the first time, Ticketek will adopt a staggered approach when tickets to the AFL finals series go on sale again on Wednesday - 24 hours after a system failure left fans fuming.

Richmond, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Geelong, Sydney and GWS fans vented abuse on Tuesday after logging on to the Ticketek website to buy tickets only to be met with delays and misinformation.

The member access window for three finals involving those clubs opened at 9am, with sales to the general public due to begin at 2pm.

While some fans were able to purchase tickets, thousands more were stuck on hold, watching non-refreshing websites throughout the day due to the failure of Ticketek's online systems.

Ticket sales were eventually suspended as the company scrambled to reset their crashed system.

Under the revised sales schedule, tickets for club members to the Richmond-Hawthorn qualifying final will be available from 11am on Wednesday, the Melbourne-Geelong elimination final from 1pm and the Sydney-GWS elimination final at 3pm.

Tickets for AFL members and the general public will go on sale on Thursday.

The AFL vented its frustration at the debacle in a statement released on Tuesday afternoon.

"The AFL are extremely disappointed in the experience a large number of our club members were presented with when trying to purchase their tickets today," the statement read.

"We share in our club members frustration and are working with the venues (MCG and SCG) and their provider (Ticketek) for a full explanation.

"Additionally, we wish to assure competing club members that the member allocation for these games have been held while we worked through the issue."