[Albion] 10-game ban and 50-loyalty point deduction

[Pogue Mahone]

He can put them on the ticket exchange

I don't think this is in anyway fair. If the club are stopping him from accessing matches that he has paid for, then they should refund him - it shouldn't be down to him to recoup what he can.

And the Ticket Exchange is in no way a reliable way of getting your money back - it often doesn't open, and when it does tickets often remain unsold.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Not clear from the Twitter thread, but it sounds like his sons are U18. Is it possible for an U18 to buy their own tickets without an adult account and credit/debit card and additional tickets from F&F lists?

The average parent would be fairly livid if their teenager used their CC, or even just his fan number, without permission, and making him face the consequences would be seen as appropriate punishment and a life lesson. Hence the fact that the dad has accepted the ban rather than it being transferred to the son seems odd.

Another possibility is that the father is bullshitting and thinking he had a good excuse….until the club called his bluff.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Ticket swappers are jumping the queue.
If the allocation was sold out Mr J Bloggs, at the end of the queue, would have been unable to go because this ticket was used fraudulently.

I see. It's a loyalty points thing. Fair enough.

I can't get over excited about people who occasionally go to away games missing an away game. I assume diehard home and awayers always get their tickets.

 

[nwgull]

Tl;dr? It's not the club's fault, it's a minority of fans who think the rules don't apply to them.

I think your TL;DR sums it up perfectly.

 

[Stat Brother]

When they get checked out - take their names and deal with those who cause the trouble,

If the girlfriend was doing that then of course she should be punished - as should those who enabled the ticket (knowingly or not). But this attitude that everyone who goes to a football match is a potential hooligan unless proven otherwise causes problems.

Forgive me if I'm incorrect but you seem to be coming at this from the position of she's not a hooligan, she did nothing wrong, so what's the problem?

The problem is that omits the fact she (they) did do something wrong by obtaining the ticket falsely.
Irrespective of what happens after the fact it doesn't change the core issue.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Call me cynical but I don't buy his "I didn't know" story. 2 of his U18s go to a game. It doesn't come up that she's going with? Or she comes around on the day with a scarf? Or it's not mentioned at all since the tickets bought?

And surely he'd get a confirmation email saying that the tickets bought?

There is a flaw in the system in that unless you log onto your account and check history you will never know who has purchased tickets on your behalf….unless they tell you of course.

I agree with the rest of your post though. I don’t buy it either. Surely the son would have mentioned it to his father? If not, why not? Something doesn’t add up.

 

[nwgull]

Another possibility is that the father is bullshitting and thinking he had a good excuse….until the club called his bluff.

Sort of what I was getting at when saying it’s odd that dad has taken the punishment.

 

[BNthree]

2. Even if he was aware, the Friends & Family part of the ticketing system means that anyone can buy a ticket on behalf of someone that they have a F&F relationship with. That second person will not know that a ticket has been bought in their name unless the purchaser tells them. The ticketing system implies trust between those who form F&F relationships, not unreasonably.

Isn't that what that Josh/Fusion YouTube lad did? Bought guest tickets in other season ticket holder's names and sold them on? Would be helpful if the ticketing system emailed the person allocated the ticket so they are aware which could potentially minimise this happening again.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

He can put them on the ticket exchange

Part of the problem is the internet remembering card details. I can imagine he didn’t know what his sons did, so why isn’t one of them banned instead of him?

It has already been posted that he was given the choice of it being him or his son who took the punishment and he chose it to be him.

 

[Stat Brother]

I can't get over excited about people who occasionally go to away games missing an away game. I assume diehard home and awayers always get their tickets.

How do you get to be a diehard awayer if the away tickets aren't sold fairly?

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

To be fair to him, he mentions not putting his ticket on the exchange as it’s in the middle of his two sons and doesn’t want some random there.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

There is a flaw in the system in that unless you log onto your account and check history you will never know who has purchased tickets on your behalf….unless they tell you of course.

I agree with the rest of your post though. I don’t buy it either. Surely the son would have mentioned it to his father? If not, why not? Something doesn’t add up.

I’m assuming there’s a good chance he dropped the three of them at the train station or coach pick up before they headed to wolves without an adult!

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Forgive me if I'm incorrect but you seem to be coming at this from the position of she's not a hooligan, she did nothing wrong, so what's the problem?

The problem is that omits the fact she (they) did do something wrong by obtaining the ticket falsely.
Irrespective of what happens after the fact it doesn't change the core issue.

Of course. The ticket was obtained falsely. And that was my original point. What harm was done. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. The club has chosen to create the issue because people without the loyalty points to get to all the games might miss out on a game. Or she might be a hooligan - because well, she's at a football match.

Just address the problem of the people who do get checked out/arrested. The rest of it is all unnecessary. A sledgehammer to crack a nut.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

<snip> It's not the club's fault, it's a minority of fans who think the rules don't apply to them.

Precisely. (That's me non-violently agreeing with you )

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

As an aside, I hope for his sake he’s attended more than half of the home games this season otherwise he could fall victim to the 25% rule!

 

[Driver8]

To be fair to him, he mentions not putting his ticket on the exchange as it’s in the middle of his two sons and doesn’t want some random there.

His son’s girlfriend could always buy it.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

How do you get to be a diehard awayer if the away tickets aren't sold fairly?

So is this the problem the club are addressing ?

Is this an actual problem - or a hypothetical one. If it is an actual problem I am sure Tony and Paul could resolve it without all this. I have faith in them.

 

[drew]

Personally, have little sympathy. The rules were advised and there was plenty of info from the club and discussions on this forum and probably on other media. The rules were broken and they got caught. We only know one side of the story and we don't know whether this was the first time the girlfriend (or any friend of the sons for that matter) had done this. Someone also mentioned another 'loyal' fan who had been punished for giving someone else his away ticket and again, he knew or should have known better.

My view is that I wouldn't risk (and never have) losing my access to the Albion by letting someone else use an away ticket in my name. Publicising this story will hopefully mean even fewer will risk it.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

I guess there are two points...

1. He may not have been aware of the rule. A LOT of stuff comes out from the club, and some of it is easy to miss. I rarely visit the official club site, I never see emails from the club either (no idea if they send them or they just end up in Promotions/Spam within gmail) and I don't tend to open twitter other than on match days. It was the thread I linked to early on this thread that informed me of the club's new process for away tickets.

2. Even if he was aware, the Friends & Family part of the ticketing system means that anyone can buy a ticket on behalf of someone that they have a F&F relationship with. That second person will not know that a ticket has been bought in their name unless the purchaser tells them. The ticketing system implies trust between those who form F&F relationships, not unreasonably.

On point 2 seems an obvious avoidable flaw in the process and simply code that any activity assigned to a fan number is emailed to the fan in question. Also works for the club as no defence of arguing you didn’t now for future issues

 

[attila]

Modern football bollocks, as I told Mr. Barber a few weeks ago. As far as I am concerned: you buy a season ticket, you give it to whomever you choose if you can't use it, and the only time there should be any kind of sanction is if the person concerned behaves like an idiot, which is most definitely your responsibility. It is at that point that this sort of sanction should come in. Stuff like this is ludicrous. It's like a tour promoter telling someone who comes to a gig using a ticket bought by someone else that he's not just banned from the gig but from the next nine dates on the tour as well. Wouldn't happen in any other branch of the entertainment industry. And the argument that the season ticket is discounted and someone else should pay full price is, in an age when we don't know what day or time we're going to be playing because of TV schedules and the huge revenues they bring, absolutely untenable. If the whims of TV mean we can't attend a game then we should be able to pass the ticket on.