[Albion] Independent Football Ombudsman rules on Albion fan ban and loyalty points deduction

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Well, the clubs not registered by the IFO and I can understand why publicly they have refuted the report as it opens the floodgates and sets a tone for all ticket matters down the line, which they probably are not staffed or geared up for.

However I would be surprised if the publicity doesn’t change tolerances and views internally going forward.

There’s clearly some ambiguity in the terms and conditions and the terms don’t specifically call out sanction impacts to minors. I suspect the terms will be updated to close the nuances and maybe additional tiers of sanctions.

They need to update their IT to ensure the actual ticket holder is notified of purchases / changes in all circumstances to close the door to suggestions.

Takes the edge of the good work being done on the pitch sadly

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Well, the clubs not registered by the IFO and I can understand why publicly they have refuted the report as it opens the floodgates and sets a tone for all ticket matters down the line, which they probably are not staffed or geared up for.

However I would be surprised if the publicity doesn’t change tolerances and views internally going forward.

There’s clearly some ambiguity in the terms and conditions and the terms don’t specifically call out sanction impacts to minors. I suspect the terms will be updated to close the nuances and maybe additional tiers of sanctions.

They need to update their IT to ensure the actual ticket holder is notified of purchases / changes in all circumstances to close the door to suggestions.

Takes the edge of the good work being done on the pitch sadly

Very much this. We can identify a Paraguayan wonderkid in the arse end of Libertad that can play Premier League football but we can't send out an email when you buy a ticket. Sake.

 

[Horses Arse]

Why accept it though?

It's a brilliant football club in so many ways on and off the pitch. But why can't it be brilliant in the way it deals with this sort of thing as well? As opposed to the opposite.

Because it is impossible, that's how it feels at least when they decide to give you a slap.

Ultimately, they do not care about you, me, folk that have invested in this club for decades. They are doing so much right on the pitch that they don't need to worry about it, they've more they can bring through the turnstiles.

It's big business, you and I are an inconvenience. The behaviour experienced and discussed on this thread has been in progress for years. It's established, there is no way to change it other than taking your 'custom' elsewhere. Which of course we can't do. I can't at least.

 

[Sirnormangall]

If fan B had been wealthy enough to be a 1901 member none of this would have happened.

Exactly. The solution is simple: be a 1901 member and you can do what you like

 

[Horses Arse]

Well, the clubs not registered by the IFO and I can understand why publicly they have refuted the report as it opens the floodgates and sets a tone for all ticket matters down the line, which they probably are not staffed or geared up for.

However I would be surprised if the publicity doesn’t change tolerances and views internally going forward.

There’s clearly some ambiguity in the terms and conditions and the terms don’t specifically call out sanction impacts to minors. I suspect the terms will be updated to close the nuances and maybe additional tiers of sanctions.

They need to update their IT to ensure the actual ticket holder is notified of purchases / changes in all circumstances to close the door to suggestions.

Takes the edge of the good work being done on the pitch sadly

Yep, strengthen the terms, punish some more. Exert authority further. Tolerances reduced rather than increased, if you're never wrong then why change?

 

[GT49er]

Good. This heavy-handedness is ridiculous and hopefully this will help the club reflect on it's total inability to analyse a situation with sense and empathy. The guy who had all that grief for putting his Wembley seat number on here was shameful. Isnt it that Jenny Gower woman in charge of all this stuff? Reeks of power trip.

Apparantly not. The club's response appears to be, Bollocks to that, we're not having it and we'll stop people using seats they've paid for whenever we like.

Wonder when Chailey will be along to put everybody right?

 

[amexer]

Unbelievable. He was a youngster taking his girlfriend to a game of football using his Fathers name without telling him. A Brighton football fan .Not a tout or a criminal. 2 appeals plus a face to face meeting than this independent appeal. Talking about over the top when all it needed was a phone call from the club.
What is even worse is clubs response to independent appeal. The person should not let it rest until he has has had a refunded cost of 10 games lost.

 

[rool]

Unbelievable. He was a youngster taking his girlfriend to a game of football using his Fathers name without telling him. A Brighton football fan .Not a tout or a criminal. 2 appeals plus a face to face meeting than this independent appeal. Talking about over the top when all it needed was a phone call from the club.
What is even worse is clubs response to independent appeal. The person should not let it rest until he has has had a refunded cost of 10 games lost.

And then I wouldn't put it past this particular set of club management to refuse to renew his season ticket.
Shame on them as said above.

 

[atomised]

Or bought from STH’ers who use it as a mini business income.

not always as cut and dried as that the people I sit next to normally put their tickets on the exchange they ended up in the hands of utd fans. I doubt you could make even a mini business income out of the £27.86 per ticket this would give you.
assuming it was a game requiring purchase history I can only assume that process is flawed.
it makes me feel wary of putting my ticket on the exchange if it's that easy for it to end up in opposition hands

 

[Commander]

It's a very similar scenario which ended up in myself getting a 10 match ban and a deduction of 50 loyalty points , later reduced to 5 games and 50 loyalty points deducted when my eldest son couldn't go to the game ( because of the train strike) so I took my other son .( Albion plus member)
My eldest received the ban but I took the hit because I purchased the tickets for the Wolves game.
The whole story is in another thread on here somewhere

It is really sad that the club actually think that this is a reasonable way to act. Is there a single person in the fan base that would agree with that decision?

 

[Weststander]

not always as cut and dried as that the people I sit next to normally put their tickets on the exchange they ended up in the hands of utd fans. I doubt you could make even a mini business income out of the £27.86 per ticket this would give you.
assuming it was a game requiring purchase history I can only assume that process is flawed.
it makes me feel wary of putting my ticket on the exchange if it's that easy for it to end up in opposition hands

Some STH’ers at PL clubs rarely attend games. The open market price for someone who loves Liverpool, ManU or Arsenal is sky high. Or ManC winning the title and no doubt Newcastle now.

I’’m not talking about Exchange reimbursing 1/19th of a ST cost.

Don’t know how they manage it in a phones only environment? Perhaps owning a barely something G old model, just for this purpose.

 

[Oh_aye]

Really poor from the club all round. Would be such a big win for them to admit it, make a good gesture and create good feeling. (And seriously look at some of their policies around ticket sharing)

 

[Weststander]

It is really sad that the club actually think that this is a reasonable way to act. Is there a single person in the fan base that would agree with that decision?

He hasn’t posted yet

 

[Commander]

Your case makes the whole thing even more bizarre.

With respect you did contravene the rules (I fully understand why, and agree any form of punishment given the circumstances seems harsh), yet you had your punishment downgradeded when you appealed.

The chap in the IFO report neither bought a ticket nor did he share it, yet received a full punishment for doing so, and his punishment was not downgraded upon appeal.

Whether the club follow the IFO's recommendations or not, and the chap's tweet suggests he has yet to receive his apology...



...he has missed 10 games of the best football this club has ever played including the double victories over Liverpool, the thrashing of West Ham, putting one over on Palace, the Brentford thriller, the Wolves rout and last night's epic win. No apology will get that back - it's gone and he missed it all for no good reason, as assessed by a fully independent body that specialise in these very kind of thing.

I genuinely think if I went through this exact situation then I would be done with the Albion. I don’t see how I could come back after that. It would be non-league football all the way for me. It’s absolutely appalling from the club, especially when there are touts regularly making thousand of pounds out of Brighton tickets. If this was Germany we’d be boycotting games.

 

[Elbow750]

If the club had emailed the supporter, as the season ticket holder, as well as the son who made the purchase, then this wouldn't have been an issue as the supporter would have been aware of the purchase in their name.

Secondly the IFO report says the supporter was only given 7 days to appeal, whereas the club's own procedures say the appeal time is 14 days. I've been involved in court proceedings where these seemingly very small differences become very important. If the club doesn't follow its own procedures in setting the correct time to appeal, who's to say it followed the correct procedures in conducting the appeal itself? 12 Angry Men and all that..

 

[Horses Arse]

I genuinely think if I went through this exact situation then I would be done with the Albion. I don’t see how I could come back after that. It would be non-league football all the way for me. It’s absolutely appalling from the club, especially when there are touts regularly making thousand of pounds out of Brighton tickets. If this was Germany we’d be boycotting games.

We could wait around the concourse for an extra 10mins like the mighty Ashburton army. That'd show them. Massive show of strength

 

[studio150]

Reading the IFO report properly instead of skimming, the facts of this case seem to be...

1. Fan A buys a ticket in Fan B's name. Fan B is completely unaware because the club's Friends and Family ticketing function permits this activity but, crucially, does not notify Fan B of the transaction at any time.

2. Fan A gives the ticket to Fan C.

3. The club finds out Fan C is using the ticket via an ID check

4. The club sanctions Fan B, even though the club's fan charter does not actually cover this scenario in any way at all? The club's charter covers someone buying a ticket (Fan B didn't) and sharing it with someone else (Fan B didn't).

Has anyone else read it from top to bottom? It feels like I'm missing a detail as I don't see how Fan B can be sanctioned if I understand it all correctly.

Yes, I've read it in full.
The wording of the away ticket policy is written that the person purchasing the ticket(s) are responsible, so on that basis you're correct. No doubt this will be updated to reflect what the club are looking to achieve, that the person named on the ticket is responsible.

This may need an email being issued to everyone where a ticket is purchased under the friends and family option rather than just to the lead purchaser, so that they are aware that a ticket has been purchased in their name.

What I would say, is that following the policy being introduced that the ticket allocation for away games has seemed to work a lot better.

With European football on the horizon, it is even more important that the Club ensure that the ticketing system works correctly and fairly.

 

[Husty]

Very well run club on the pitch. Very poorly run club for those in the stands. Still a long way to go on that front, as is obvious here.

Will never happen with Barber at the helm though. The man’s incapable of such things.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Awful heavy handedness and completely unnecessary to treat fans like this.

 

[amexer]

Response from PB about result of independent is typical Never wrong. The enquiry about travel could well show all the time are doing so well they can do what they like. You may well find if form keeps up and match day tickets walking out the door at £50/58 PB may well be happy to have have 2k less ST holders.