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FREE FOOD AND drink was provided to attendees at an American football match in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, following a technical issue which prevented card payments being made.
The college football match, which was between the Northwestern Wildcats vs the Nebraska Cornhuskers, saw card transactions unable to be processed for two hours due to an issue with the Aviva Stadiums payment provider.
Attendees at the game described packed queues at bars while systems were down, with people stocking up on drinks as queues grew longer and longer.
One woman who attended the game with her daughter said: “I went up to get some food and soft drinks for myself and daughter and it came to just under 20 euro. I offered my card and was told that ‘everything is free’ by the cashier due to a technical issue”.
“I then went to offer cash instead but was told cash was not an option. The queues were getting longer at that point and people were stocking up on drinks”
The queue for alcohol at Aviva Stadium right now because everything is free due to the internet being down. pic.twitter.com/JWS4IxyfxR
— Amie Just (@Amie_Just) August 27, 2022
Aviva Stadium had previously announced that it was going cashless ahead of it’s reopening in 2021, as part of efforts to increase service speed and reduce queuing times.
One Dublin man who attended the game told The Journal that the situation was “absolute pandemonium”.
“God bless the staff who made the best of a chaotic situation,” he added.
The amount of beer being given out led to massive amounts of hard plastic cups, with fans then constructing a ‘cup snake’ from one level of the stadium to another.
Another man, who travelled from Carlow to see the game, told The Journal that watching the snake be constructed was “brilliant” and that the entire event had a “party atmosphere”.
“The scenes where the guys were trying to get the line of cups to reach the second level were brilliant,” he said.
In a statement, the stadium’s catering provider, Levy UK and Ireland said that despite issues with payments, staff continued to operate the food and drink kiosks.
“Our team at Aviva Stadium were extremely quick to ensure that the fan experience was upheld and food and beverage kiosks were kept open serving customers for the entirety of this period,” said a spokesperson for Levy UK and Ireland.
The spokesperson added that the issue was with the payment provider rather than with the Aviva Stadium itself.
“Due to technical issues caused by our payment provider, SumUp, we were unable to process card transactions for two hours at Aviva Stadium during the Northwestern Wildcats v Nebraska College football match,” said a spokesperson for Levy UK and Ireland.
“This was not a technical issue isolated to Aviva Stadium or indeed Ireland.”
On Twitter, SumUp said that there were issues with “logins, payments and other services” from 5.30pm which ran until 7.30pm, when payments were restored at the Aviva.
“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this caused customers and would like to thank our employees at Aviva Stadium for the spirit they showed in keeping everything going,” added the spokesperson.
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I was there on Saturday, and to describe it as ‘absolute pandemonium’ is over the top. Yes, the queues were very long but there was no unrest or anything like that. The atmosphere for the whole game was great and the free stuff just added to the party feeling.
@Lar Lewis: Sounds like my kind of party.
That puts a whole new slant to ‘minimum pricing of alcohol’ !!!
I say fair play to them for rolling with it and providing the food/drinks for free, many retailers would have just pulled down the shutters and left the attendees without!
What an absolute disaster. We’d never let such a thing happen here in Cavan !!!
Never!!
@Me: you get nothing for free in Cavan except the rain!!!
Thankfully cash is still legal in this country to use.i wonder is the card system to suit the customer,highly unlikely.next time I go to a six nations match will enjoy buying a pint with cash.thanks aviva
@Joe Stafford: unfortunately you’ll be going thirsty so. A retailer can legally refuse to accept cash, so long as it is notified in advance, hence why the Aviva made the previous announcement and shops put up signs. I know the Consumer Association of Ireland is lobbying against this loophole though.
@D. Memery: the fault lies at the banks feet. It’s more costly for a business to work in cash due to bank fees which then drives their decision to only accept card. Some business bank accounts will charge ridiculous fees to lodge cash so it leaves a business no choic really. They need to lobby against the banks, not the business loopholes.
@Clodagh Nic L: there are more than just bank fees to the cost. All the organisation and infrastructure of handling cash, balancing tills, doing counts, securing the cash, paying extra to people with authority to handle he cash, cash pickup bu armored van from the stadium. It’s a whole chain of cost that they can just wipe out by going cashless and swipe is just so much quicker.
@Clodagh Nic L: they are lobbying government and the central bank, not the retailers, to close the loophole, but my result in increased costs to businesses if the bank fees aren’t also addressed
I think this is a perfect showcase of the dysfunction in this country
@Sean Casey: Yeah, because a temporary and localised internet outage has never happened in any other country in the world. The hyperbole is strong with you.
@Sean Casey: Think it shows perfectly that you just want to have a go at our great country.
Wonder who will end up having to cover for the looses from 2 hours of free food and drink, the catering company or the payments provider?
@D. Memery: the insurance but the fault causer will be looking at a lawsuit
@D. Memery: sumUp I would think. What will we do with rolling power cuts in the winter when you won’t be able to pay by card or indeed even cash as all the tills will need electricity to operate?
@Ronnie Smith: as rolling power cuts are normally planned and announced in advance I’d imagine retailers will have to shut up shop, as their other systems dependant upon electricity, like lights and anti-theft systems, would also be out, but customers should be aware in advance
@Ronnie Smith: s
Sumup units work on battery too, and GSM ;)
I think Aviva Stadium will survive this glitch considering they have made €5m profit last year :)
Would the same result happen at an Irish game? If it wasn’t thousands of Americans that were being catered to, would the shutters have come down?
@Noel O’Gorman: the majority of attendees were Irish
A lot of American Football fans now in the Country
@William Ryan: You be surprised how many,huge following down here in limerick for a long time.
Why anyone would go and watch that game is beyond me. Each to their own I suppose.
@Terry Fagan VO: Terry, I brought my son (16) who loves watching it on TV. My wife, 21year old daughter & myself hadn’t a clue at the start, what was going on but the atmosphere was electric.. especially when the crowd beside us started making a plastic cup snake out of all the empties. Just a great buzz about the whole “show”.
@Terry Fagan VO: was at the match on Saturday and the atmosphere was brilliant, was as good as if not better than any football match I have been to in the same stadium. Also while American Football is very stop/start, the matches are rarely boring to watch (as long as you understand the rules).
Just wondering if this is a breach of the liquor laws in this country? There are minimum pricing rules which prevent alcohol being sold too cheaply, or given away. Anyone?
@Robbie Corrigan: Haven’t a clue but another question is the minimum pricing for everything or just shops and off licence,does it count for pubs as well, probably a stupid question from me.
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