2 weeks Ago By Ryan Rowe
THOUSANDS of footie fans were locked out of Hampden and stuck in massive queues ahead of today's Scottish Cup semi-final between Hearts and Aberdeen. Confusion over the use of a new app led to delays in funnelling supporters through the turnstiles and into the stadium. 1 Hearts fans queuing outside West Stand at Hampden Credit: SUPPLIED The SFA announced they were ditching paper tickets completely for the first time ahead of this weekend's pair of semi-finals in Glasgow .
So it will be the same setup tomorrow when Celtic and St Johnstone visit the national stadium. SunSport has learned that as close to three minutes before kick-off there were thousands of fans still waiting outside the ground. Because the SFA did away with paper tickets, supporters would only be permitted access by scanning a barcode on their smartphone.
The tickets had to be downloaded onto the device via the Hampden app, and the QR codes for each ticket didn't go live until today. Punters on social media were quick to notice that the stadium didn't look as full as it could have come kick-off. One fan wrote: "Probably Scotland 's third and fourth biggest clubs in a semi-final last chance of a trophy for both sides Hampden with swathes of empty seats.
It's a 52,000 seat stadium." Another said: "For a semi-final that crowd in Hampden is embarrassing ." Most read in Football CASH CRISIS Crisis-torn Hamilton owe £500k including year's unpaid rent as fears laid bare PRICEY PARTY Furious Celtic complain to SPFL over Dundee United ticket hike for title party CAMP HORROR Scottish Prem club call in cops after child ‘racially abused’ at footie camp GAFFER'S GOAL 'The ultimate honour' - St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson opens up on dream job Hearts secured over 20,000 briefs - having sold out their original allocation of 19,000 - for the clash at Hampden.
Aberdeen were awarded a similar allocation for their end. More to follow. Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page.
