Away supporters ?

[Lord Bracknell]

I'm disappointed that it seems that the Albion have not done more to give assistance to Donny fans travelling down. I just hope it's symptomatic of the general workload on the club right now.

I'm sure that the Albion want as many visitors as possible to arrive via coach and train - and very much in that order - but it's inevitable many will wish to use the car and guidance should be given - both out of general courtesy and also to ensure things go as smoothly as possible for everyone attending the game and those who live in the on-street parking areas that may be targeted by those who know no better.

I've bounced the ATC question on this subject - Transport arrangements for Away Fans travelling to the Doncaster Game - it may be too late for Donny fans but I hope we're able to give better official advice to others coming our way this season and beyond.

Good work, Bozza.

I detect a genuine wish among Albion fans to get our opponents conveniently into the stadium, so that we can all enjoy a great atmosphere. We like a bit of banter on NSC, but I'd feel a bit more comfortable if we could get on to the front foot. As things are at the moment, my sympathies are entirely with the original poster.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

That's how the club did it when we were at Withdean, it worked very well too. I'm not sure how (or if) the club has justified these travel vouchers being separate to the matchday ticket to be honest....perhaps it was something to do with limited P&R space

*Boring answer alert*

Actually ... it was all to do with VAT - payable on match tickets, zero rated on public transport tickets.

 

[Diar]

you still on here

Yeah... thought you'd gone seeking Lebensraum!
Now, about this username....

 

[Diar]

Its all to do with teething problems and sudden crowd increases. Staff just won't be used to it yet.
I thought from the start that Thor did'nt mean to be as grumpy as he seemed. He just did'nt think it through enough before posting.
That's the trouble with the British these days... they just dont think things through!
Now, when I were a lad...

 

[terryberry1]

Just a note on the treatment of those visiting the Amex in future :-

Please please communicate with us all properly, it's not good form to make the following assumptions..

1) Brighton can give out as many tickets as they feel inclined for a dedicated ''away'' stand. n.b. there are rules concerning 'away' allocations in the npower Championship.
2) Brighton can't assume that EVERY away supporter travels by coach. Every club have both supporters that live in the vacinity of your club or might choose to have weekends in your city that would usually necessitate train/car travel.
3) Brighton should inform 'away' fans and their clubs of parking arrangements. This is common decency to guests .
4) Brighton should never state that they hadn't taken arrangements for 'away' supporters into consideration. This is clearly a huge oversight verging on the disrespectful.
5) Brighton should let the 'away' club know of any changes and updates on ticket arrangements in good time. Again good manners.

Now I understand that it's a new stadium (with years of planning gone into it) and there may have been oversights but please please sort this out for everyone's sake.
It's a beautiful stadium, in a lovely city ..........don't spoil it for others as I fear you have spoilt it for many of our supporters. We at Doncaster Rovers are usually treated with respect whenever we travel by the home support, home club and the police and stewards.
On this occasion we have been treated like tramps knocking on the door of your mansion. We don't deserve that and I really hope that this a teething problem.
Cue the defensive posturing and abuse..............RTID

Its a 1 off day for you. You will be relegated this season so you wont have to worry about coming back again

 

[thoreveraviking]

Its all to do with teething problems and sudden crowd increases. Staff just won't be used to it yet.
I thought from the start that Thor did'nt mean to be as grumpy as he seemed. He just did'nt think it through enough before posting.
That's the trouble with the British these days... they just dont think things through!
Now, when I were a lad...

Of course I didn't mean anything in a derogatory manner but loads of our supporters had to wait until this Tuesday to find out if they were indeed going to get a ticket for a game with a 400 mile round trip.
I don't give a flying shite who's bloody fault it was and I suspect it was '6 of one and half a doz. of t'other. Again it's the fans (of any club) incidentally who are left wondering whether to keep pre-booked hotels, coach seats etc. or indeed should they be lucky enough find a way of doing the trip at very short notice.

It seems to be the lot of all footy supporters to be fooked about by clubs, police stewards etc. everytime.

 

[kevo]

It now looks like the remaining away section tickets will be available for sale via the DRFC ticket office for collection at Brighton. As seen on the VSC forum:

"Approx 30 tickets left in the office, but have been advised that if we require more we can arrange for them to be collected from Brighton."!

In which case, the away end should be near to full, if the posts from other Donny fans are to be believed. Strangely tho, the news that more tickets are available doesn't seem to be on the official DRFC site, just on the forum.

 

[thoreveraviking]

Doncaster the style capital of Europe

Of course it is, you will see that on Satdi.......NOT.

 

[Brownstuff]

Football is too bloody organized these days
More fun when you don't know what is gonna happen
The joys of kipping overnight in freezing cold train stations, them were the days

 

[wellquickwoody]

It seems to be the lot of all footy supporters to be fooked about by clubs, police stewards etc. everytime.

When will we raise a voice to change it though?


Sent from my inbred hatred of all things South London .....HD

 

[Ian from Doncaster]

In which case, the away end should be near to full, if the posts from other Donny fans are to be believed. Strangely tho, the news that more tickets are available doesn't seem to be on the official DRFC site, just on the forum.

Strange indeed, but unsurprising I'm afraid..

 

[The tall one]

With regards to the southern beer.
You'll have your home brew in the away end.
The bars will be open before, during and possibly end of the game.

You'll also get padded seats and a betting kiosk as well as Sky Sports, and photos of your players beamed onto the concourse Walls.

 

[Ian from Doncaster]

With regards to the southern beer.
You'll have your home brew in the away end.
The bars will be open before, during and possibly end of the game.

You'll also get padded seats and a betting kiosk as well as Sky Sports, and photos of your players beamed onto the concourse Walls.

All great, but it's what happens on the pitch that really matters

 

[Brovion]

*Boring answer alert*

Actually ... it was all to do with VAT - payable on match tickets, zero rated on public transport tickets.

So how did it work before? And why couldn't they have kept a similar system when you 'bought' the voucher along with your match ticket? Certainly the one-off vouchers could be printed (like they were before) alongside the one-off match tickets. If the VAT is a problem then treat them as two purchases - after all if you go shopping in Marks and Sparks you may well buy zero-rated children's clothes along with adult ones; the fact that in this instance your two separately-identifiable purchases are physically joined together by a perforation is neither here nor there.

Away fans would then get their travel voucher with their ticket as before; currently a load of them are going to drive down and wing it, which rather goes against the 'sustainable transport' policy. On a personal note as there were no one-off Doncaster vouchers available when I bought my ticket I've either got to make a separate trip to the shop/stadium to buy them (assuming they're now available which anecdotal evidence says they are), or drive and park somewhere. I wonder if I can buy the vouchers at Mithras House? That's something I know you've asked before - did you ever get an answer? (Apologies if I've missed it in all the other myriad threads and announcements)

 

[mune ni kamome]

This may be a stupid question but I presume you can take your car to the stadium and park to buy vouchers and look round the shop etc. I'm planning to get my voucher today.

 

[trueblue]

Just a note on the treatment of those visiting the Amex in future :-

Please please communicate with us all properly, it's not good form to make the following assumptions..

1) Brighton can give out as many tickets as they feel inclined for a dedicated ''away'' stand. n.b. there are rules concerning 'away' allocations in the npower Championship.
2) Brighton can't assume that EVERY away supporter travels by coach. Every club have both supporters that live in the vacinity of your club or might choose to have weekends in your city that would usually necessitate train/car travel.
3) Brighton should inform 'away' fans and their clubs of parking arrangements. This is common decency to guests .
4) Brighton should never state that they hadn't taken arrangements for 'away' supporters into consideration. This is clearly a huge oversight verging on the disrespectful.
5) Brighton should let the 'away' club know of any changes and updates on ticket arrangements in good time. Again good manners.

Now I understand that it's a new stadium (with years of planning gone into it) and there may have been oversights but please please sort this out for everyone's sake.
It's a beautiful stadium, in a lovely city ..........don't spoil it for others as I fear you have spoilt it for many of our supporters. We at Doncaster Rovers are usually treated with respect whenever we travel by the home support, home club and the police and stewards.
On this occasion we have been treated like tramps knocking on the door of your mansion. We don't deserve that and I really hope that this a teething problem.
Cue the defensive posturing and abuse..............RTID

Bloody hell. What a self righteous whinge....

.... Welcome to NSC. You should fit in perfectly

 

[trueblue]

At Doncaster you won't need P&R. There is parking at the stadium, a distinct area for away fans too, plus loads of industrial estate parking and a nearby cinema complex.
.

No such luxury down here sadly - there just isn't the land available with sea to the south and protected Downland to the north. As you'll know, it was hard enough to get a field for the stadium - let alone for parking..

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Good point trueblue - I was wondering just how many of our guests this season will be aware of just how many hoops the Club has had to jump through to to get the new stadium - and now the arrangements to make it work. I guess that Donny might be a bit more aware than many because of their newish stadium but may not understand some of the detail about limitations and constraints on getting punters to/from the ground.

Some seem to overlook that our City is hemmed into a narrow strip between the sea (effectively losing 180 degrees of potential building land) and the South Downs (now a national park etc) that makes finding space for a stadium a challenge, let alone where there is reasonable access. I wouldn't mind betting that Donny had the choice of some brown field sites for their new stadium. Shoreham Harbour and Brighton station were suggested as potential sites for us which were impractical, otherwise it was all green belt including Falmer and the associated implications.

Our site at Falmer was far from ideal and planning permission necessitated major landscaping and innovative engineering solutions to squeeze the stadium into the hillside below Village Way in order to reduce its impact into the environment. Yes we have a railway station and the A27/A23 corridor on the doorstep of The Amex which are big advantages but dont have significant space to accommodate several thousand cars hence the need to have effective park and ride systems - and to effectively communicate this to away fans. At least we have good experience of this from Withdean albeit on a smaller scale. It is about making the site at Falmer work - and so far it is remarkable that there have been so few gremlins.

From my point of view (especially as an exile having to travel from outside Sussex) the travel / parking arrangements might be a tad inconvenient for some but I feel that all of these factors are what makes The Amex different from most new stadia and therefore somewhat unique - and hurrah for that!

 

[drfc1]

After all the huffing a puffing it seems DRFC fans can have the full allocation after all, at the minute there are a handful of tickets left at the Donny ticket office but they are saying people can buy and collect at BHA ticket office on the day.
Well done to BHA for sorting it albiet a bit late for many to arrange transport, hope we shift plenty more and put a few extra quid in your coffers.

 

[Hotchilidog]

After all the huffing a puffing it seems DRFC fans can have the full allocation after all, at the minute there are a handful of tickets left at the Donny ticket office but they are saying people can buy and collect at BHA ticket office on the day.
Well done to BHA for sorting it albiet a bit late for many to arrange transport, hope we shift plenty more and put a few extra quid in your coffers.

Hope you shift them. We'll see you saturday.