Away Tickets

[Marc]

So you'd go Wigan away, Crewe away, all these horrible places if your finances would let you?!

Yes

 

[magoo]

Exactly!

If money was no object i would travel around the world to watch the albion. But money is an object, so i have to pick and choose my games. I resent being labled less loyal or less of an albion fan because i can't afford to go to every away game!

I went to Sunderland. Cost me £130 quid to watch us lose. But i'd do it again if i had the money.

 

[Lammy]

Originally posted by Uncle Buck

Sorry but on the England thing you are wrong.

You mean that you dissagree with me. You cannot say I'm WRONG.

I think the first thing is the FA had to set a club up to distribute away tickets, as they need to vet members, they did not want hoolies in the club.

fair enough. nothing to do with prioritising tickets though. That's like the AMS.

Now the screaming is not ideal, but an element has been cut out, in Euro 2004 it was interesting to see the number of families out there and people from minorities, not really seen away with England before.

again this is great and I agree but nothing to do with prioritising tickets.

The away tickets have to be distributed in some form of priority, we all pay to join a club and those that go to the far flung corners of the world deserve to be rewarded for this.

why? The reward for going to these far flung places is to see England play in a far flung place.

But more importantly, the priority is needed for tournaments, as the people that have gone to Azerbijan, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Austria etc have a lot more right to the tickets than the person that goes to Wales away.

Again this is your opinion but you are stating it as FACT. This way of thinking could be taken into the music industry where you get loyalty points for seeing acts live in concert. That is not the point of the concert. The idea is to let as many fans see the act as possible. In my opinion the same should go for football teams. You are not going to increase your fanbase by creating an elite group of supporters.

But more than anything the FA scheme is in place to control and manage who the tickets are going to, as another serious outbreak of trouble and in 2006 we could be the team could be staying at home rather than beating the Germans 4-2 in the final. The FA needs to be seen to be doing everything possible to prevent trouble.

Totally agree which is why we already have the AMS scheme in place.

 

[Uncle Buck]

You are wrong when it comes to England. A scheme of loyalty has been in place since Euro 1988, people sort of accept it. Also we pay £40 for two years membership and as part of this it is the right to get tickets through loyalty.

 

[fatboy]

We are not going to agree on this one and are going round in circles.

I think the way I do because I go to every game and think I should have priority when tickets might sell out as I run the risk of not getting one because some big game charlie applies.

Lammy thinks the way he does because he does not want to/cannot go to every game and he wants to maximise his chances of getting a ticket for any game he does want to/can go to.

As there are more fair weather fans than people who go week in, week out I doubt the club will ever bring in a loyalty scheme.

And I get the impression they care more about not upsetting the fair weather fans as they know that the people that come week in, week out will continue to do so whatever loyalty schemes they do or do not bring in.

 

[Lammy]

You are wrong when it comes to England. A scheme of loyalty has been in place since Euro 1988, people sort of accept it. Also we pay £40 for two years membership and as part of this it is the right to get tickets through loyalty.

I never said there wasn't a loyalty scheme I said I didn't think their should be a loyalty scheme.

Out of interest, would you be prepared to pay £20 a season to have priority on away tickets?

 

[fatboy]

Out of interest, would you be prepared to pay £20 a season to have priority on away tickets?

Yes. Would you?

At less than one pound a game I think that would represent great value for money.

 

[Lammy]

We are not going to agree on this one and are going around in circles.

I think the way I do because I go to every game and think I should have priority when tickets might sell out as I run the risk of not getting one because some big game charlie applies.

Lammy thinks the way he does because he does not want to/cannot go to every game and he wants to maximise his chances of getting a ticket for any game he does want to/can go to.

As there are more fair weather fans than people who go week in, week out I doubt the club will ever bring in a loyalty scheme.

And I get the impression they care more about not upsetting the fair weather fans as they know that the people that come week in, week out will continue to do so whatever loyalty schemes they do or do not bring in.

This is quite a good debate and I don't think we are going around in circles. You are right that I see myself as an avid fan of BHAFC and yet circumstances prevent me from seeing them as much as I would like. However, it is interesting to get other peoples take on this subject.

Let's think about this logically.

The club doesn't make any money from fans that just visit away games. Therefore if a new scheme were put in place it would need to be funded by the fans. Uncle Buck reckons it costs him £40 every other year for a similar scheme for England. This seems fair enough.

I DEFINITELY would not want to see tickets set aside for a loyalty scheme, but it wouldn't bother me so much if the scheme offered a head start to certian individuals.

So would you be prepared to spend £20 a season for admin costs of the scheme? The scheme would then demand a certain number of points from members to be eligable for certain games. So even though you've paid your £20 if you don't have enough points you still wouldn't get special treatment.

If you did qualify for priority you would be allowed to apply for your tickets 3 days before they are put on general release.

What dayya reckon?

 

[Lammy]

Yes. Would you?

At less than one pound a game I think that would represent great value for money.

Personally I wouldn't. Because although I tend to cherry pick my away games my choices are usually dictated by my availability rather than the availability of the tickets.

 

[fatboy]

So would you be prepared to spend £20 a season for admin costs of the scheme? The scheme would then demand a certain number of points from members to be eligable for certain games. So even though you've paid your £20 if you don't have enough points you still wouldn't get special treatment.

If you did qualify for priority you would be allowed to apply for your tickets 3 days before they are put on general release.

What dayya reckon?

Yes.

And if I didn't having an acceptable number of points I would not apply to the scheme.

It is a good idea.

 

[Lammy]

Yes.

And if I didn't having an acceptable number of points I would not apply to the scheme.

It is a good idea.

Should I put a business proposal together and approach the club?

 

[fatboy]

Should I put a business proposal together and approach the club?

 

[empire]

cant see the problem,end of the day you miss out on a ticket in our end you go in other area,if you want to see the game your do that,stop moaning,if your too slow and lazy to apply on time go in home end!!b4 anyone slates me,recently at big games been at forrest,derby,reading,luton,grimsby,hereford,northampton,and if it comes to me missing out for other big games to so again

 

[magoo]

My biggest concern is that we're rewarding the wealthy. Football has never been for the wealthy, it's for the working classes which is why it has to remain cheap and easy to get to. It's fast becoming a persuit of the wealthy. Especially with our clubs prices.

 

[LowKarate]

I firmly believe that there should be priority given to regular attendees.

West Ham will be my 4th away game this season (usually I'd have done 7 or 8 by this stage of the season, but circumstances have meant that is not possible for me this season).

I have come close to missing out before when I'd done almost all the away games and it ticks me off that it seems to be beyond the wit of the club to get this right. Other clubs do it, so it's not rocket science.

If there had been 2700 Brighton fans who'd done more games than me this season and the club had a loyalty points scheme in place I would accept the situation with good grace.

I also believe that the club should introduce an away season ticket so that the really dedicated couldn't possible miss out. This couldn't possibly interest more than 200 people, so it isn't as if it would take out too many tickets from the general allocation.

 

[Yorkie]

I firmly believe that there should be priority given to regular attendees.


I also believe that the club should introduce an away season ticket so that the really dedicated couldn't possible miss out. This couldn't possibly interest more than 200 people, so it isn't as if it would take out too many tickets from the general allocation.

Funnily enough the most dedicated are the official supporters club but I have read some really annoyed posts by NSC'ers that Liz Costa's lot should get tickets but a lot of them go to every single match.

 

[oapdodge]

Where does it say they are accepting tickets for Rotherham away?

In that case I may as well put in an application for every away game for the rest of my expected life.

Only joking. Sorry Andy.

 

[The Laughing Bluebird]

Here's how away tickets are allocated at Cardiff City:

The Bluebirds have a membership scheme whereby fans can pay a fee of £20 at the start of each season to become a club member. Memberships have to be applied for in person in the first instance, full ID details are required and members have their photos taken at the club's ticket office. These photos go onto the club's database and appear on the ID cards.

Club members have first call on tickets for home matches, away matches, cup matches and play-offs. They get discounts on merchandise in the club shop (usually 10%, but as much as 25% for replica shirts) and they also get a free copy of the club's yearbook.

Season ticket holders are considered automatic club members. They are also issued with ID cards and get all of the above privileges, but they do not have to pay the annual £20 membership fee.

The priority for tickets to away games is given as follows:

1) Season Ticket Holders
2) Club Members
3) Other Fans who are Registered on the Club's Database

Fans who fall into category 3 can rarely get tickets for away games these days, as almost all Cardiff away games are all ticket and tickets are restricted to season ticket holders and club members only in such instances.

Season ticket holders usually have two or three days to buy their tickets before they go on sale to members, and members then have an additional few days to buy their tickets before they go on sale to other registered fans.

For away matches where the demand for tickets is likely to be larger than the allocation, the club has a system whereby the season ticket holders and members who have travelled to the most away games that season get priority.

For instance, if away match number seven was likely to prove a popular fixture, then those fans who had attended three or more previous away games would be likely to get priority. In such cases, the club writes to the fans on its database who qualify and asks them to purchase their tickets before a certain date. After that date, tickets will go on sale to the other season ticket holders and club members if there are any left.

The club has worked hard in recent years to make its ticketing system as fair as possible. The measures it has introduced have worked well and have also helped in the fight against hooliganism.

Generally our fans seem happy enough with the arrangements, and personally I don't think they could be any fairer. Those who are prepared to support the club financially by purchasing season tickets and memberships are rewarded by getting first call on away tickets, and the most regular away travellers are rewarded for their loyalty when allocations are small by being given priority for such matches.

 

[fatboy]

Those who are prepared to support the club financially by purchasing season tickets and memberships are rewarded by getting first call on away tickets,

and the most regular away travellers are rewarded for their loyalty when allocations are small by being given priority for such matches.

 

[Beach Hut]

At some point, once Falmer is built, the AMS will need a rethink on policy.

Perhaps best wait till we have the fan base to support the change.