[url]http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-30/troops-drafted-to-fill-empty-games-seats/4163122[/url]
[IMG]http://sport.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00168/soldaterlead_168629o.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE]
Troops drafted to fill empty Games seats
London Olympic organisers have drafted in the military to fill thousands of empty seats in a bid to head off a growing backlash over Games ticketing arrangements.
The opening day of the Games saw hundreds of seats at sold-out events left empty.
At the first session of the men's basketball, roughly 70 per cent of the prime seats close to the court were empty. Tennis and rowing have had similar gaps in the crowds.
Organising committee boss Seb Coe is playing down the furore, saying the seats had been allocated to accredited officials from Olympic organisations and sporting federations.
But now soldiers - who had been brought in to cover shortfalls left by the failure of the Games private security contractors - have been brought in to plug the gaping holes in the stands.
Troops have spent their rest breaks watching events, while teachers and students have also been given tickets.
Sponsors have been quick to deny the empty seats belong to them and Lord Coe is ruling out punishing anyone who does not turn up.
"You're talking about an issue that was the first couple of days, as I said, it's not uncommon as people are figuring out how and where they're going to spend their time," he said.
"They're accredited areas. It is not for the organising committee to remove an accreditation."
But spectators have been angered by the sight of the unfilled seats.
"All the public gallery tickets were rammed, they were full and the atmosphere was fantastic," spectator Rachel Beckwith said.
"But the good seats at the bottom were all empty, there were maybe two, three people dotted around.
"Well it's an absolute shame, I think it's disgusting that there's so many seats left vacant."
Dylan Reeder spent hours outside Wimbledon having seen empty seats on television, hoping to score a ticket, with no luck.
"Well that's the thing we've seen this morning as well, like volleyball's the same, gymnastics, swimming," he said.
"You come all this way and you just want to see good sport."
The head of Australia's Olympic committee John Coates is unimpressed as well.
"It's a bad look. We didn't have that problem in Sydney," he said.
"I don't know what you do. I guess one of the problems is the sponsors do get allocations of tickets and it seems that, I'd say that's who's not turning up, some of their guests."
There are signs the new tactics might be working.
"For the beginning of it there was a few empty seats down in the kind of corporate area roughly for about an hour," Rebecca Palmer said after she left a beach volleyball match.
"Once it kind of got a bit later, the sun came out, they filled up. So not so bad actually."
Lord Coe says no one will be talking about it in a couple of days, but he no doubt wishes the problem had not risen in the first place.[/QUOTE]
....Where can I sign up?
Heh, looks like one of my mates from basic is in that picture.
The military are mobilizing! The Queen must've issued an UK-wide order
God save the Queen
It has now come full circle, [del]the circle of life.[/del] the circle of money.
I think the mistake they have made here is not telling them to get out of their uniform... At least when China did this they weren't wearing uniforms.
You can clearly tell they're into it.
[QUOTE=Jsm;37006642]I think the mistake they have made here is not telling them to get out of their uniform... At least when China did this they weren't wearing uniforms.[/QUOTE]
Yeah that camo is so good all those seats are going to look empty anyway.
They all look bored and pissed off
[QUOTE=Morbo!!!;37006812]They all look bored and pissed off[/QUOTE]
Because the volleyball seats were already full
Wow London really fucked up with the logistics of the whole thing.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;37006872]Wow London really fucked up with the logistics of the whole thing.[/QUOTE]
Why? Because the people didn't show up?
[QUOTE=Matt-;37006965]Why? Because the people didn't show up?[/QUOTE]
They oversold tickets and turned down 10,000 attendees who bought tickets and yet they have a attendance-shortage
These Olympic games just seem terribly organized. Not a day passes that you don't hear about some incident.
[QUOTE=Spirit_Breaker;37007067]These Olympic games just seem terribly organized. Not a day passes that you don't hear about some incident.[/QUOTE]
As I have said before I honestly think this is due to the openness of the British government about these things, and the level of journalism here. Nothing can sneak past the media. I bet these things (and worse) happened in China and Greece but they just weren't reported.
[QUOTE=Starpluck;37007044]They oversold tickets and turned down 10,000 attendees who bought tickets and yet they have a attendance-shortage[/QUOTE]
Ah, thank you for informing me.
[editline]30th July 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=Spirit_Breaker;37007067]These Olympic games just seem terribly organized. Not a day passes that you don't hear about some incident.[/QUOTE]
It's only the third day, I've not heard much anyway, just crap about NBC and no audience.
[QUOTE=Matt-;37007110]
It's only the third day, I've not heard much anyway, just crap about NBC and no audience.[/QUOTE]
Most of the big issues happened prior to the start (G4S).
It can't just be me, but does this guy look like he's on the verge of breaking down into tears?
[img]http://i.imgur.com/5QHle.png[/img]
The games can't be that bad, surely. :v:
[QUOTE=Matt-;37006965]Why? Because the people didn't show up?[/QUOTE]
They sold tickets for 10,000 seats that didn't exist for one event while other events are underfilled.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;37007210]They sold tickets for 10,000 seats that didn't exist for one event while other events are underfilled.[/QUOTE]
Sorry to say it but
Exactly how retarded was the organization on their part? This retarded.
i'm not surprised, most of the events i looked at the tickets were £500+ each..
[QUOTE=Jsm;37007097]As I have said before I honestly think this is due to the openness of the British government about these things, and the level of journalism here. Nothing can sneak past the media. I bet these things (and worse) happened in China and Greece but they just weren't reported.[/QUOTE]
You have to put it in perspective too, the Olympics must be fucking massive ballache to organise, I mean seriously morning-after-a-hammer-to-the-testicles level of ballache. Some things are bound to go wrong, at least the opening ceremony went pretty much fine except for that woman with the Indian team
China had the fake singing+fireworks, we have shitty ticketing
Must be pretty cool serving as a soldier at the olympic games
[QUOTE=smurfy;37007584] we have shitty ticketing[/QUOTE]
If anything it's helping foreigners understand British life! Waiting in queues for a long time before receiving disappointment.
God bless the Queen!
Next thing you know we'll be invaded by someone and we'll see that we only lost the war because the troops were watching the olympics.
That would be embarrassing.
Unlikely, but embarrassing.
I see one smile in that whole picture.
[QUOTE=psychotic;37009799]I see one smile in that whole picture.[/QUOTE]
It is worth noting that a significant number of soldiers in question lost their family leave because of the security shortage (AKA, the private security firm screwing up quite massively). Even with effectively getting free Olympic tickets, I can understand why a lot of them would be pissed off by the whole situation, especially seeing as quite a few of them would have just returned from Afghanistan.
Half of them look as if they're high :v:
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