Olympic ticket mess

Families of the New Zealand men's Olympic football side are devastated at the prospect that they might not get to see the team make its first appearance at an Olympics because of a ticketing "fiasco".

Just three tickets have been allocated to New Zealand by the Beijing organising committee for each of the three qualifying matches, but 27 are required by the seven Kiwi families who had planned to watch their loved ones achieve a "once in a lifetime" feat in China.

Brenda Henderson, mother of Wellington midfielder Craig Henderson, contacted The Dominion Post yesterday and said the "fiasco was fast turning into a nightmare", with some families having already spent thousands of dollars on their dream, while others had to confirm flights later this week.

"We put in our request for Olympic tickets through the appropriate channels, which is Premier Events in Auckland, two days after the draw was made, on April 23.

"They subsequently put it on to China on April 28, but only in the last week have we been informed there is an issue with the tickets."

One family of three had been successful in gaining tickets, she said, but "they're not feeling very flash, because they don't want to be the only ones there".

Premier Events, New Zealand's official Olympic ticketing agency, had been advised by its Beijing office that the fourth and final round of ticketing would start "sometime in July".

"That doesn't help us," Henderson said. "Look, we've got colleagues in China who could've got us tickets but we went through the right channels here, we keep getting told by Premier Events it will be sorted out, and effectively we've been now told, tough."

She found it unfathomable that New Zealand would be allocated just three tickets in what are up to 70,000-capacity stadia in China.

"Beijing's Olympic motto is 'One World, One Dream' ... yeah right!. The Chinese will be the only ones there. They are keeping all the tickets for themselves and we've got three in a 70,000-seat stadium."

"Most of these young men will never have the chance to represent their country again as Fifa rules stipulate Olympic footballers must be under 23 years of age."

Premier Events directed The Dominion Post inquiries to managing director Malcolm Beattie, who did not return calls as he is overseas.