Fans attending Olympic football games at Wembley Stadium complained of
“ridiculous” concession lines after some tills stopped working,
according to Neil Lancefield of the London INDEPENDENT. Fans buying
concessions during Sunday’s Senegal-Uruguay and Great Britain-UAE matches “were told they could not pay by Visa, the only credit or debit card accepted at London 2012 venues,
and must use cash.” The “disgruntled spectators took to Twitter to vent
their anger.” One fan wrote, "80,000 people in Wembley Stadium, and the
Visa card payment system has broken down -- lot of people without cash
going hungry & thirsty!" (INDEPENDENT, 7/30).
The London GUARDIAN’s James Meikle noted the crowds attending the
games “were left hungry, thirsty and frustrated when Wembley's
concessions were unable to accept credit cards.” A Visa spokesperson
said, "We understand that Wembley's systems failed and therefore they
were only accepting cash at the food and beverage kiosks. This cash only
decision was made by Wembley management and not Visa” (GUARDIAN, 7/30).
Visa is also using the Olympic venues to “test a new 'cashless' form of
payment using mobile phones, which it hopes will render bank notes and
coins redundant” (London TELEGRAPH, 7/30).
MAKING A RACKET: YAHOO SPORTS’ Les Carpenter reported
several fans during Saturday’s tennis matches at the All England Club
“surrounded volunteers working the press areas at Centre Court and
shouted complaints about noise.” One woman said, "You can't even hear
the ball hit the racquet." Fans said that the noise is
“because of the media sections specially built for the Olympics.” During
Wimbledon, the media is “kept in a quiet area and radio reporters are
not permitted to broadcast updates to their stations unless they are
doing it in a soundproof press room.” But the Olympics “don't have such
restrictions.” Special press areas were built into the “last several
rows of the stands” at Centre Court. The areas are “essentially tables
with electrical outlets and internet connections,” and they are not
soundproof. The conversations from the media “wafted through the stands
and toward the court” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 7/28).
Meanwhile, USA TODAY’s Gary Mihoces noted though rain “forced
cancellation of most of the Olympic tennis matches Sunday at Wimbledon,
there apparently was enough play that it went beyond the limit for fans
to qualify for ticket refunds.” Play was delayed at the start, then
“halted after about 55 minutes.” Play resumed at 6:45pm local time “on
11 outdoor courts.” LOCOG Deputy Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Manager
Jayant Mistry said, “If it’s less than two hours of play on the outside
courts, then we give a full-day’s refund” (USA TODAY, 7/29).
