PATRONS who turned up at the National Stadium on Saturday to get their tickets for the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships were left disgruntled after they were told that preferred tickets were no longer available.

Most, if not all, patrons, turned up in high spirits with the hope to get tickets for the exciting final day of the annual championships, but some were left disappointed.

Albert Corcha, who is in charge of ticket sales, told the Jamaica Observer that they started out selling four tickets maximum per person, but later decreased that number to two, as they wanted to accommodate as many patrons as possible.

“I think that we are doing very well. There is no way we can satisfy everybody… I mean until we get a bigger stadium, until we have more seats available at the grandstand, we are going to have problems,” he explained.

The Calabar High School principal added that tickets are available for all the other days, but not for the grandstand on Saturday as 612 tickets were sold off for that day, along with 15 seasonal tickets.

“We have more than enough tickets for Friday. I am encouraging more people to come out on that day because the crowd is not as large as a Saturday and I think it is going to be a very good day in terms of track and field.”

The box office at the National Stadium reopens Wednesday at 8:30 am.

A security guard, who wished not to be named, said the crowd had been on location from as early as 4:00 am, and had to be locked out of the complex.

“I think the policy needs to change,” he said.

Melva Bryan, a patron, believed that they are being unfairly treated.

“This is very sloppy and they have their chosen people to give the tickets, so when you as a ‘small fry’ come into the line, they (are) telling you all sort of things, they (are) telling you to let the kids stay home.

“It has been like this for years now and sometimes it’s not even the improvement that it needs…it’s the system, the people who are in it that are doing the nonsense.”

Leroy Brown, another patron, said he has considered leading a protest demonstration.

“Is the first in history I ever see something like this, because they usually give us three tickets and they decrease on the quantity of it now. I don’t know what happen. The bigger man save them for his big friends in aircondition and we down here in the sun, I think we need to take a step towards this and demonstrate,” he said.

Marcia Maxwell said she was waiting from 7:00 am and didn’t get what she went for.

“We come here how long and we don’t get any tickets. Only Thursday and Friday grandstand they have left and we wanted grandstand tickets for Saturday…why are they saving the tickets for special people?” she asked rhetorically.

Camella McLaggan views the situation as distasteful.

“I think that this is downright stupidness… I don’t know how yuh can be here at 11 o’clock and yuh can’t get neither season ticket, neither Friday ticket and people on the outside have the ticket selling for $10,000 for two. The country just full up a corruption and politics — it is in Champs, it is in football, it is in cricket,” she argued.

One woman, who doesn’t want to be named, said all she needs is the extra ticket.

“It bad because mi want three tickets and mi can’t get three, a two mi ago get… give me my extra ticket that’s all mi a ask for.”