Ottawa soccer fans left hungry and waiting at stadium
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 3, 2007 | 6:06 PM ET
CBC News
The caterer for the FIFA U-20 World Cup tournament at Ottawa's Lansdowne Park apologized Tuesday after food stands ran out on Saturday, leaving fans hungry during the five hours of the tournament's back-to-back opening matches.
Aramark, the international catering company supplying international foods during the tournament, told CBC News it would double-stock all its kiosks for Tuesday's doubleheaders at the park — the Czech Republic versus North Korea at 5 p.m. ET and Panama vs. Argentina at 7:45 p.m. ET.
'My friend's mom and my friend's little brother stood in line for about 45 minutes — one half of the game — and came back because they ran out of food.'— Soccer fan Alex Bergeron
On Saturday, the company had no Panamanian bean salads or Czech perogies left to sell by the start of the second game, which began between Argentina and the Czech Republic at 7:15 p.m. ET. Beer kegs went dry soon after.
At that point, many of the thousands of fans at the sold-out games had already worked up a keen appetite watching the match between North Korea and Panama that started at 4:30 p.m.
Ticket holders at the stadium are barred from bringing their own food or from coming back after leaving the stadium to get food on their own.
FIFA officials said the rules are in place for security or organizational reasons and they have no plans to change them.
Lisa Jamieson, who attended the games with her husband and two children, said she wouldn't have minded the rules if the food were easier to get.
"The stadium obviously wasn't prepared for that many people," said Jamieson. "I stood in line for over half an hour to get four hot dogs and missed half the Argentinian game, unfortunately."
Others, such as Linda Bergeron, had even less luck.
"We waited in line once for 20 minutes for popcorn and when we got to the front, they said the popcorn maker broke," she said.
Her son Alex Bergeron added, "My friend's mom and my friend's little brother stood in line for about 45 minutes — one half of the game — and came back because they ran out of food and they had nothing. That was very frustrating for me."
