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A ticketing malfunction saw thousands of fans left waiting in lengthy queues with no social distancing outside Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium prior to Friday’s NRL preliminary final between Melbourne Storm and the Canberra Raiders.

The malfunction, which briefly delayed kick off, saw fans unable to scan tickets. With reports saying as many as 20,000 people were stuck waiting while Ticketek attempt to fix the problem, frustrated fans took to social media to criticise the failure.

Later some Twitter users, including The Courier-Mail entertainment reporter Amy Price, claimed they had been let into Suncorp Stadium without having their tickets checked, with minimal bag checks and reserved seating completely disregarded.

With the venue’s gates reportedly opened and fans allowed to enter without checking tickets or following COVIDSafe protocols, fans questioned how important practices to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus had been abandoned so quickly.

Price posted just before 8pm “Trying to get into Suncorp. Game starts in 4 minutes and we’re hardly moving. Disaster”, with a picture showing a large crowd remaining outside the stadium.

After the game, Ticketek Australia tweeted an apology for the failure at the NRL contest, noting “Ticketek apologises to Storm and Raiders fans that were delayed getting into Suncorp Stadium tonight due to a technical issue. We also apologise to the NRL and Suncorp Stadium.”

Fox League commentator Andrew Voss reported “there’s some kind of ticketing crash, thousands of people are still outside.

“They’ve delayed this as much as they can but for such a big game they can’t be pushing it back too much.”

The Storm beat the Raiders 30-10 in front of 37,112 fans at the 52,500-capacity venue.

Reports suggested that Ticketek also experienced issues at the AFL preliminary final on Friday at the Adelaide Oval.

The clash between Port Adelaide and Richmond reportedly welcomed 24,292 into the 53,500-capacity venue.

Image: Amy Price/Twitter.

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