A few tense weeks followed the initial confirmation that fan tickets would be available. The OGAE Facebook page was checked daily to ensure that our fees had been paid and were received by the club. Preferences were lodged for seated or standing tickets. Lists of those requesting tickets were scoured to ensure our names appeared. Fans started heated arguments over how to distribute tickets if only a small number were allocated. Everyone is mindful of the fact that while OGAE Rest of the World (ROW) has arguably some of the most passionate ESC fans, we are not a priority as we do not have a show entrant.
Fortunately, we did not need to resort to such drastic measures. Our initial ticket allocation covered most of those requesting tickets. As ROW members requested more seated than standing tickets, our club president, Roy, managed an international negotiation of United Nations proportions to swap our allocated sitting tickets for two standing tickets from countries such as Norway who had requested more sitting tickets than they were allocated. So all the attending ROW members were guaranteed their fan packages.
The whole ticket swap then had to be approved by OGAE International. The ticketing company then had to adjust for all the ticket swaps, delaying the purchase date. But who cares? We had guaranteed tickets to all the shows including the Grand Final. We are on our way to Eurovision 2014!
