Gor Mahia vs Sony Sugar ticketing statement
Courtesy of futaa.com
Sunday 9th September was in every way going to be Gor Mahia’s Fans tipping point for the 2012 season. Everything was right; the club is in form winning back to back matches, a win against SoNy Sugar would take the club to second just behind arch rivals AFC Leopards, it was a Sunday, the English Premier League (EPL) was on a break and this meant everything was right for a deluge of fans to flock the stadium. The time for Fair weather fans was here
But somewhere along the way, something went wrong and the fans overwhelmed every plan put in place and gained free entry into the stadium after breaking the VIP car entry gate. A step by step look into the day may inform the ongoing debate about the game and the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness witnessed at purchase of tickets and entry into the stadium not only for Gor Mahia but Kenyan football in general.
Every match organization principally involves the Home Team, The Police, The Ticket Agents and the stadium owners. Each party has their role to play and when one fails; it inevitably spills and embroils all the others. In many instances, the ticketing agent takes a lot of the slack because they are the people fans meet first and foremost and tend to be the most conspicuous.
Tickets for all Gor Mahia matches this season have been printed by the club and handed over to Ticket Masters for sale. The argument has been that one party cannot print and sell the tickets at the same time; it represents an opportunity for fraud. This may be true depending on the party one is dealing with and if a client chooses to limit our role to sale and verification, we have no problem with that.
Find tickets at the Stadium
This Sunday, tickets were handed over to Ticket Masters at 8:00am at the city stadium. 2,000 VIP and 6,000 Terrace tickets were registered then stamped and issued for sale to five of our cashiers. Three cashiers at the Booth at the Terraces and two cashiers at the Booth at the VIP. Sales began at about 10:00am. Attempts by ticket Masters to send some tickets to Kenya Cinema for sale were stopped by Gor Mahia Security people with the allegation that they could not guarantee what happens in town and since it was not a week day, all fans would find tickets at the stadium.
Arrangements for the match ticketing security were put in place including stationing of police on horseback to help in crowd control especially ensuring everyone was in queue at points of sale and points of entry. This arrangement had been agreed at match security meeting on Tuesday and only waited execution.
Up to about 2:15pm, everything worked and anyone who arrived then will attest to the fact that there were queues that were flowing. At about 2:25pm, Gor Mahia’s Security consultant, one Paul Obonyo who only got his job two matches ago went and ordered all police officers to withdraw from points of sale and entry. The queues collapsed as some fans jammed the points of sale and entry.
By 2:45pm all points of sale and entry were gridlocked, nobody could buy tickets and no one could gain entry into the stadium. The crowds outside kept swelling and gathering, 15 minutes into the game, the crowds outside had become impatient and made their way into the stadium through the VIP Car Entry Gate.
After the situation was contained by the police on horseback, a rumor that tickets had run out was started and without consulting Ticket Masters as to the availability of tickets at the booths, some tickets from old matches were issued to some Gor Mahia Stewards for sale. These individuals started running all over the place with tickets selling to anyone willing at whatever price they agreed on.
At some point, Nkaari Martin captured one steward selling tickets to people on a queue at the official point of sale yet the registered tickets for the match had not run out. The steward was handed over to an official at which point he was asked to stop. In total, two VIP books were issued of 100 tickets each and seven terrace books of 100 tickets each. All the terrace tickets were returned where only 227 had been sold. The VIP tickets are yet to be accounted for.
Who is in Charge?
When a client chooses a ticketing agent, he ordinarily should provide room for planning and execution. The moment the client does not provide enough room for planning and execution or the client provides the room but his stewards get in the way of the execution, little can be done. At Gor Mahia matches, the security people who are people without any security experience whatsoever tend to overwhelm every plan put in place and formulate their own and coerce agents, officials and police into their ways.
Why would a security person who is not elected by fans have so much power as to order police to vacate positions agreed on at a Security meeting? Why would security people cancel plans for a point of sale in town? Where do they get the power to order for extra books from previous matches and go on and sell them without the Ticket Agent’s knowledge and consent?
My answer is simple, they thrive in chaos. They hope for as much chaos as is possible because that is where loopholes for private gain abound. While there are some honest security people, the vast majority of them are there to cash in and this is a fact that has never been said and addressed. If the club is to contract an agent for a job, give the agent the power to execute their plan so that they can take responsibility for all that goes wrong.
Advance ticketing?
Why is there more elaborate ticketing plans when Gor Mahia is playing away to other teams? Simple, there is more room for planning and execution. The excuse that advance ticketing was canceled because of fake tickets is a blatant lie. In its history with Ticket Masters, Gor Mahia has not encountered any fake tickets because ticketing fraud from fans is easy to contain. What is difficult to contain is internal intrigues and suspicions of who is trying to steal from where.
Tickets are not sold in advance because nobody trusts the other and we would all rather do things where everyone can see what the other is doing. The greatest threat to ticketing anywhere in the world is not the external threat but the internal one and in our quest to contain it, it leads to haphazard plans that have no contingencies meaning should threats appear, we have no way of containing them leading to loss of lives and property including club income.
Conclusion
Gor Mahia is a great club with a lot of potential that sometimes gets lost because of bottlenecks in management process. It is a club one cannot help but love and marvel at. Working for Gor is a great honor in as much as it is a profitable enterprise. We at Ticket Masters owe Gor Mahia a load for making our company what it is today and we strive to only advance its worthy cause. That is the ideal.
In practice, various interests and conflicting visions and authority get in the way and that is when things turn awry. For Gor Mahia to achieve efficiency and effectiveness it is these contradictions that must be solved and then maybe people can have the power to execute their mandate and be held responsible for it.
Written 11/09-12 11:38 By Nkaari Martin K
Over to to you EC. Your side of the story? Let some heads roll here. What is the criteria for appointing these ‘security’ men?
This is a compressive report. I am earger to hear from the club official before we can make averdict.
My advice to Gor.better solve this issue after the league.
My advice to k’ogalo mahono, we are an army ourself thus if we have to have security team then assign them duties recieving and reporting to police and not vice versa, 2. Change there role to stewards guiding green army to their seats, eliminating all drug abusers especially bhang smokers which is now becoming official membership tag. It is done officially on stands making threat to our health and those of our members of family in company. Remove this people from the gates. Lastly remember the rules No entry into match venue on the match day 30min. to kick off time, No sale of match tickets at the venue on match day 2hrs before kick off. LET police do there work freely without blame game.
Thank and thank you Mr Nkari.
This must be addressed asap. EC who is in charge here? If your are messing, mess, if someone is stealing, steal, if someone is sleeping, sleep but let it not spill anywhere near the technical and playing unit. Now we know, we will clean up at the next polls.
What happened on that Sunday was unfortunate to say the least. When the gates were broken we at the VIP stands were apparently now on our own security wise.And security arrangement should extend to crowd control even after the match. Look at what happened on jogoo road, why should the yobs interfere with traffic flow after the matches? Somebody is fast asleep and with the growing crowds at these matches,there could be a tragedy very soon.
@barefoot bandit; allan audi and omusala wache musimamo ya watermellon do you want to say that u haven’t witness any issues raised above at any kogalo home match? Read my last statement above and advice me when and where those laws have quoted were changed? Lets not wait till its a disastor. Personally i prefer being in stadium between 1.30pm &2.15pm when kick off is at 3pm with my ticket inside my pocket not queuing by the gates to purchase tickets. Simple how do non official issue instruction to the police? I think even officials should speak to chief inspector incharge of platoon and not any other officer lets respect hierachy. @ ja thurgi ji it has reached the playing units indirectly because very soon they will not recieve match winning bonuses, go to camp in time and last salary issues this is because some one will publish a statement of account guided with on accounting principle and concepts declaring losses. One motivating factors according to maslow is esteem needs, safety needs while Frederick Herzberg in his dual factor theory states that lack of prompt and good salary payment dissatisfiers people.
I never liked it that day. I am sure somebody is sleeping/eating well on the Job. Can I hear from Bwana the Sec Gen, as this is the main source of revenue for K’Ogallo. The boys are playing well and its attracting more fans and this is a fact that cannot be ruled out at all costs. Since wealso want the Boys motivated, this is the opportunity to capture as much revenue as possible. George Bwana can you strategize in this manner. I want to see K’Ogallo where strategies overule fan thinking. If the crowd is so big and there are no services being offered then be sure they will serve themselves in a way that you will not like and the impact will be felt overboard. Bwana am on your neck.
The problem with some people in charge of Gor is that they have not woken up to the fact that things have changed. We cannot do things the way we did ten years ago (or even two years ago) and expect different results. The mandate for Gor should be to get a different company (not GM itelf) to print the tickets and Ticket Masters (or whoever is chosen) to do the sales. GM can then have their agents (KK guards did this for some time) to supervise the sales and entry at the gates. This removes (or in this case reduces the influence of vetted interests) and also enforces segregation if duties. Ingwe with their fewer fans collect some good sums of money and though we collect more we almost double their numbers.
We have to think of doing things the mordern way. As GM we cannot afford to do some things by ourselves as we don’t have the capacity nor the knowhow. The best we can do is to outsource some of these tasks to organisations which are professionally qualified to do that. What happened to the security team KK guards who were partnering with GM some times back? All in all we have to do away with jua kali ways of doing things ,for example, there is no room for self-proclaimed youth scouts and embress new ideas as GM is now a big organisation with a big and varied human resource following requiring modern ways of management for their safety and comfort
pliz let’s stop disorginizing the stability of the club at the moment.This isn’t the right time to put pressure on the club,it is better 4 the organizers to solve the simple issues pertaining security and the Luga boys to go 4 the daily bread and make as happy as K’Ogalo descendants, give Luga apeace of mind to lift the trophy.
the most corrupt of these arrangement are the so called gor security men. these guys are the once who let non-payers in free. they collude with the bribe infested police force.this is something i have witnessed time and again. give the printing and selling to ticket masters and let this be audited by gor mahia. gor mahia on the other hand is to provide security. make sure that all those hand abouts who jaza the entry gates are not there , thse include the mandazi, soda sellers who jam the entry points. the security are otherwise only to help the police as they cannot arrest anyone. the manadate is simple , approach the entry point only with a ticket. but africans with corruption are TIGHT. this will never end. it’s a good point to show that it’s not the politicians who are the problem in this country. it’s the people, that’s why they urinate anyhwere, fight to enter matatu’s, fight to alight from matatu’s, siphon from overturned lorries, are always on strike for more money despite the fact that the bellies are almost touching the ground, invade any land and claim ‘it’s our land’,leave home to watch a football match without the intention to pay and on and on… so now you want the gate collection to be accounted for! lets DREAM ON. all the same my blame lies with the so called gor security.
my suggestion to problem;
it’s always good to try and give a solution. we know that gor cannot afford the layed out security arrangemnt. then go about it this way. outsource the security to the gor branches. instead of the EC setting out those guys they call security, let each branch(not necesarily all) forward their candidates for secutirity tasks. these will in turn be made to work with the police. the only thing is that these guys will be paid a certain % of the gate takings.advantages;the security bill becomes cheaper, everybody pays, higher gate collections and arrest(by the police). the ticket guys are left with the task of printing receipts and selling and the police (with support of select gor security) to make any arrests. it is not hard to count how many ppl enter and demanding the equivalent amount from the ticket guys. ignore this and even if you bring in G4S, kenya army etc nothing will ever change; reason, gor security are provided for by the EC (in other words the branches that elected them), it’s a way of giving them back something to eat.
Guys this issue was raised and our EC are not siting pretty waiting for a solution from planet PLUTO.My take is as we draw near the end of the season the EC should expect the crowd to balloon even more especially with vulnerable “TOK KOMWANDA”.
My take is please for once why can you guys see the sense in what @OMWAMI Omusala has proposed and simply go into limbo like what log , the team and JABILO has done, so that when we regroup again we shall be fresh with new energy and vigour to take us to the next level. ” I am enjoying myself in Accra, waiting for the derby courtesy of JO-NDHIWA!!
@Admin please try and come up with a different version of story be it human, social or historical analysis between the current GM and the previous scenario that bring humor to fans as opposed to this copy and paste that only degenerate into name calling and foul mouth. And yet the issue was in public of which our EC has responded accordingly.
BLOGGERS why don’t you guys take a break and be in tandem with the team as fans. Anything thrown over on this site at the moment without proper analysis of what our objective is might turn out to detrimental. GUYS take a RECESS and RELAX ; YAWA!!!!!!!!
The issues raised in the article are weighty and should be treated with the seriousness they deserve.
It is sad to see somebody claiming to be a Gor Supporter, carrying a bottle of whiskey and trying to gain access to the stadium free of charge. Where is the wisdom here? The so called bouncers would then sip the whiskey and let in him and somebody with a ticket will be pushed and shoved and subjected a thorough search.
THINGS MUST CHANGE OR CHANGE WILL CHANGE THINGS
we never seem to learn from past disasters.Any game that involves GOR or AFC is bound to attract huge crowds as evidenced on Sunday.
However,the disorganization at the ticketing booths and point of entry was a big let down and a major put off to fans who thronged the stadium.
It is not rocket science that we need to manage crowds better to avert a looming disaster.
1.if we must sell tickets on match day at the venue,get additional security staff and have more ticketing booths to avoid huge crowds queuing at 1 point.
2.like in most stadias abroad,open many gates into the stadium for free flow into and when leaving the stadium
3.arrange for advanced ticket sales for a free walk in into the venue at whatever time.
Unfortunetly the same measures we apply for games that attract very few and countable fans,is the same measures that we apply when dealing with thousands of fans and that the disaster that is looming!!!
Mr. Nkaari Martin K, thank you very much for all the points highlighted.
Bloggers, the ball stops with the EC, whom we have continued to castigate in the recent past but have refused to neither listen to our comments nor reform from these bad yesteryears evil habits. In this regard, at the end of season, we fans are requesting our able Chairman Mr. Ambrose Rachier to convene either an extra ordinary annual general meeting or special general meeting where we discuss and expose these evils habits. At these meeting, we are also going to veto the replacement of all the inept officials who have blatantly refused to change from their misplaced bad habits.
I do propose that the Club Officials should engage private investigators to pursue these leads. I also propose that Gor Mahia should work with one of the commercial banks in selling receipts. This can be a bank with wide branch network.
Our chairman has done a lot but he is being let down by inept and good for nothing officials whose aims are to rip-off the club and deny the club rightful earned revenues. I know in all our matches, the club should be collected between Kshs.1.5 million to Kshs.3.5 million per match but this is not happening due to these officials who are hell-bent in stealing from the club.
There were some rumours that two club officials were caught red handed counting their loot in a car parked outside the stadium. Shame on these officials and very soon we are going to expose them.
Finally, I do confirm that the only leader in Gor Mahia is our Chairman Mr. Ambrose Rachier who deserves to be in this office. The rest should just be shown the door and be investigated by police or Ethics and Anti-Corruption officers.
Fellow blogers, my official shirt names for my beloved club are: APUOYO, JANAM, OYWERE AND NYIKWA RAMOGI. However, i have noticed that an ‘Apuoyo’ has appeared on this blog for the 2nd time today. I use Pod Antie on this blog. I wanted to make it clear that when you see my shirt Apuoyo in the terraces, am not the same contributor as Apuoyo here. To avoid the confusion, either this Apuoyo changes his blog name or i change my shirts, dont know which one works better. Or blogers continue to remember that the shirt and the Apuoyo here are different people….
well said Mr. Nkari…somethings must change in Gor!
THINK WE NEED TO BE AUDITED ALL THE BOOKS THEN WE CAN KNW WHERE THE PROBLEM LIES……..KUNA SHIDA KUBWA NA EC.
THE RECENT ONE IS ABOUT THE SPONSOR GIVING OUT 60 KITS OF NEW JERSEYS EACH OF GREEN AND ANOTHER 60 OF WHITE BUT THE TEAM ONLY GOT 25 OF EACH……….THEY R REALLY EATING EVEN SOME WENT AHEAD TO RESIGN FROM WHERE THEY WERE WORKING AS PER NOW GOR IS PAYING ALL THERE BILLS
Way forward:
1. GM EC must build trust with Ticket Masters and let them take full charge or change the ticket agents but that should be after the league.
2. Fully make use of e-ticketing
3. Eliminate non experienced security stewards as this will be a loophole for corruption.
By the way I’ve read in above that ‘they chased the police officers at the ticket points’. who then is in charge if police officers are running away from Tana River and at Tok Komwanda?
Let us focus on 23-Sep-2012 match as these are just meant to destruct our attention. Wacheni mchezo. Mr. Chairman (Racheir) pls take charge.
@fred i agree with u. I suggest that this security consultant Paul Obonyo should be held resposible for what happened on Sunday.
Guys Isues raised by Nkari are shocking. What happened on that day could easily cause a deadly stampede. After the Nyayo stampede of 2010 I think a committee recomended certain minimum safety and security requirements before and during matches. The Ec should demonstrate compliance to such while fans must observe practical moral maturity. I wish to offer support to APuoyo@7 last two sentences.
To me there is nothing new here its been like this ever since its only the volume that has changed.
Who thinks and says that it has not reached the players when guys can see players kits donned by fans.. haven’t you seen jerseys mean for players put on by fans, do not say that no one can differentiate between a replica and players jerzeys.
However thank you Mr. Nkaari for coming out to put this in writing.
You can see fans talking of acting at the polls when we all know what happens there and even the audited accounts will be presented by GM officials and not the auditor himself.
Its a circus only Christ himself may deliver the GM family from when he commands a change of heart to the two organs responsible for this mayhem- the Fans and EC.
Why is it hell difficult to change the constitution to accomodate a thin office. If its more prudent and responsibe to convert GM to a Company Limited, how comes its so impossible? Definately the police are well trained on security matters and will do it better any day, the who are these security, that even orders the police to vacate? Can’t you see even bloggers agitating for the so called security from branches!
Its very simple and direct..Ingwe collects more than us coz they have outsourced. Just let go.
The tickets issue is dicey….but we must get it right, sooner rather than later. There have been unconfirmed reports that both Ticket Masters and some EC officials have been colluding to ‘eat’from gate collections. It’s a very easy thing to do. What Nkaari has done here is to come out in the open 1st, a clever thing to do, and it obviously earns Ticket Masters a lot of sympathy, if we are viewing it from the roof top or from atop a tree. But on closer view, there must have been a time both parties were benefitting and now things have gone awry, and what we are seeing are mere signs of a fall out. It’s the wrong thing to do.
I believe the EC can work with TM to successfully optimise gate collections if only both parties sacrifice their personal interests. As fans we pay to watch live matches because we want our players to benefit directly, they provide so much entertainment yet we know in Kenya Soccer is not yet paying well.
TM can earn their commissions, EC can get their allowances and players get their due bonuses if this is well managed.
EC must come out clean on this.
Don’t fool yourselves, not everyone is happy @ the EC since Logarusic sealed the loopholes meant for eating e.g bloated squad. This chaos is a deliberate scheme to siphon funds from K’galo.
The other fraud are these dances and dinners by one perpetual fundraiser e.g Faiz “Fundraiser” Ochieng.
How much the the village dance @ Maladen raise coz soon after village dance Bwana reported that the club was defaulting on players winning bonus.
The EC is bloated, and some are only to loot the club.
That match stewards cause chaos for this to be done.
What Ticket Masters failed to highlight is that GMFC 1.lost close to Kshs.600,000.00 as 3,000 thieves entered the stadium without paying.
2.GMFC will have to pay for the damaged gate.
Then someone tells us to attend a kshs.5,000 a plate dinner and if you cannot afford that go for the cheaper kshs.500.00 a plate.
Absolute hogwash
To be sincere lets hire price waterhouse coopers team headed by Guy murphin to design new internal controls and structures that will help seal all loopholes on match day right ticket printing and selling, security checks and measures to avoid all labalu
Thanks Jo-NDHIWA for the good result. TUSKER and SOFAPAKA shares the spoil as expected. We now have one match more than the top six teams and come this weekend let my prediction carry the day triumphantly by ensuring that AFC lose to western stima by a any margin, TUSKER lose to KCB by any margin and please pardoned ULINZI, SOFAPAKA and THIKA united to play to a draw. Thanx Jo-NDHIWA!!!!! Laleni SALAMA Jo K’Ogalo!!!
I second Okoth Jabilo’s predictions
Gor mahia office will explode and burn like the trailer which exploded in sachagwan
my suggested solution is give ticketing contract to a bank who will in turn hire a good firm to handle it on our behalf lets use out ATMS to buy tickets in away we will bring down loss of revenue how can the club print tickets and give it to ticket masters to sell this is open fraud George bwana you are a big let down here this firm to me is a bogus one with no professional standing for once could we have some order imagine for has not made any profit if not surplus money since 1968
@JB, this is the best