[Albion] ST revoked for touting Arsenal game? Now with PB response (post #306)

[Lethargic]

Without the consent of the club it is illegal to sell/pass your ticket onto another person - its the law of the land not the whim of the club. They are now taking action because some people have gone too far and are frankly taking the piss out of the club, this has to be stopped. By taking this action and being seen by the feds to be proactive in acting they are leaving sensible fans to follow the rules as previously exercised if you get my jist and so far I have seen no evidence to the contrary.

 

[Originunknown]

The club is right to take a hard line on this.

Any advertising attempting to re-sell tickets at any price or even give them away for free should not be entertained. This leads to away supporters desperate to go ending up in the home end. This makes my piss boil and any action the club takes against you is justified in my opinion.

If you really can't go, give them to a mate without posting publicly to the entire world on social media or a message board.

 

[Goring-by-Seagull]

"Don't want away fans in the home end" - like none of our fans have gone in the home end at other grounds

 

[golddene]

Why didn't you buy a ticket?

You must be fuming that the club closed the ticket exchange so far ahead of the game, as if it had been opened then you may have been able to go.

If I give you a shout ahead of, say, the Man Utd game with a spare ticket for nothing but a pint, presumably you'd say "no" and would rather leave the seat empty.

Not totally sure if this is correct but I think it is as I looked to see any availability for the Arsenal match and tickets sold out at the season ticket holder additional seat scheme, so poor matey who you quoted would not have been able to buy unless (1) he had bronze membership (2) already had a season ticket and had not already purchased an additional seat. They did not go on general sale ( previous purchase history) as all tickets were sold out at that stage!

 

[sully]

Without the consent of the club it is illegal to sell/pass your ticket onto another person - its the law of the land not the whim of the club. They are now taking action because some people have gone too far and are frankly taking the piss out of the club, this has to be stopped. By taking this action and being seen by the feds to be proactive in acting they are leaving sensible fans to follow the rules as previously exercised if you get my jist and so far I have seen no evidence to the contrary.

There is evidence in this thread that someone “following the rules as previously exercised” has been banned. Clearly not an exception. That is why we no longer have the ticket exchange forum on here.

The law hasn’t changed, just the actions of the club.

 

[sully]

The club is right to take a hard line on this.

Any advertising attempting to re-sell tickets at any price or even give them away for free should not be entertained. This leads to away supporters desperate to go ending up in the home end. This makes my piss boil and any action the club takes against you is justified in my opinion.

If you really can't go, give them to a mate without posting publicly to the entire world on social media or a message board.

Not every season ticket holder has a ready supply of mates to hand tickets to.

I went for years on my own and wouldn’t have known anyone to pass a ticket on to or who would offer me a spare. That has now turned round to virtually everyone I know who might want to go already having a ticket. Both scenarios make your point redundant.

The ticket exchange worked fine on here for years. I’ve bought and sold tickets through it many times. It is easy to check that the purchaser / seller is genuine and you could choose not to risk selling a ticket to London Pompous, for example. Why now is everyone defending the club’s stance on this. They are not dealing with a perceived issue at all sensibly or sensitively.

 

[mikeyjh]

Without the consent of the club it is illegal to sell/pass your ticket onto another person - its the law of the land not the whim of the club. They are now taking action because some people have gone too far and are frankly taking the piss out of the club, this has to be stopped. By taking this action and being seen by the feds to be proactive in acting they are leaving sensible fans to follow the rules as previously exercised if you get my jist and so far I have seen no evidence to the contrary.

It may be illegal but the club are not obliged to enforce it - It's one thing I truly don't understand about how Brighton operate. There's been few games where touting would be truly profitable, so what if people want to pass on their tickets? As has been said earlier, telling that it doesn't seem to apply to 1901 or corporate tickets - I've been to loads of games but never personally bought a ticket.

 

[BNthree]

IThere's been few games where touting would be truly profitable, so what if people want to pass on their tickets?

But the club hasn’t banned anyone for passing on unused tickets to a mate, it is people advertising them for sale that have got in trouble.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Not every season ticket holder has a ready supply of mates to hand tickets to.

I went for years on my own and wouldn’t have known anyone to pass a ticket on to or who would offer me a spare. That has now turned round to virtually everyone I know who might want to go already having a ticket. Both scenarios make your point redundant.

The ticket exchange worked fine on here for years. I’ve bought and sold tickets through it many times. It is easy to check that the purchaser / seller is genuine and you could choose not to risk selling a ticket to London Pompous, for example. Why now is everyone defending the club’s stance on this. They are not dealing with a perceived issue at all sensibly or sensitively.

Because there have been tickets advertised for £70 each on Facebook. The club has to act whether it wants to or not.

 

[CaptainDaveUK]

"Don't want away fans in the home end" - like none of our fans have gone in the home end at other grounds

I can tell you now there are going to be BHA exiled fans in the home end at Goodison on Saturday.

 

[Bozza]

Because there have been tickets advertised for £70 each on Facebook. The club has to act whether it wants to or not.

The club absolutely does NOT have to act when those identified as long-standing fans pass on a ticket to another Albion fan for face value or less. This scenario is a world away from opportunists intentionally and knowingly looking to profit.

To ban a long-standing fan for a period of time based on a single known transgression is wholly excessive and displays absolutely no empathy towards football supporters. You do have to wonder about the mindset of those who think this course of action is appropriate. Career ticketing professionals who have never been and are not football supporters themselves? I have no idea, but this isn't telling someone they can't go to Tesco any more, when there is Sainsbury and Asda just down the road. This is a relationship with a football club - special, intimate and can't be changed on a whim.

By all means slap the person on the wrist, tell them they've had their one chance, but ban them from Albion games? **** me.

And to be clear: throw the book at touts and opportunists absolutely.

 

[drew]

There is evidence in this thread that someone “following the rules as previously exercised” has been banned. Clearly not an exception. That is why we no longer have the ticket exchange forum on here.

The law hasn’t changed, just the actions of the club.

Are you referring to the anecdotal evidence that you posted about someone who advertised on facebook?

If you want the Amex to turn into the Emirates then let's allow sth to sell their seats to anyone. The club have turned a blind eye to the illegal act of passing the ticket on to friends and family (they are relying on the judgement of the STH who would know if there are problems caused by the person using the ticket they could lose their season ticket) but they are quite right to stop people selling to all on sundry whether to recoup your outlay or, as is more likely to happen if it is allowed to continue, for a profit.

Touting, whether through dubious characters loitering around outside venues or the legalized resale sites should all be illegal.

 

[CaptainDaveUK]

Why can't BHA lead the way and just have a proper ticket exchange system on NSC or on their own website. If a fan wakes up ill on Saturday or for whatever reason can't go with his group then they can still take his ticket to Goodison. On route they post on website / NSC. Exiled fan in Merseyside replies with fan number and they arrange to meet. The club should reinstate a proper ticket exchange because currently they are part of the problem in reverse.

 

[dazzer6666]

But the club hasn’t banned anyone for passing on unused tickets to a mate, it is people advertising them for sale that have got in trouble.

It’s simply this isn’t it ? All the club have done is moved the line where they are prepared to turn a blind eye to this.

Flogging at a profit to unknowns ? No.....
Publicly advertising on facebook etc ? No.....
Quietly letting a mate borrow your ST ? Yes......

Don’t have any inside info at all but it’s quite easy to see where people may have been taking the piss, exploiting demand etc etc in a number of ways so fully understand the crackdown. It’d be a shame if this extends to no longer being able to informally pass a ticket to a mate now and again.

As regards ‘aways’ in the home seats, no way this can be stopped (and we do it ourselves). Probably worse for us as we have a higher number of away fans (particularly of the ‘big clubs’) with purchase history with us as we’re their ‘second team’ (or simply their local team). If they are discreet, and STFU (like I would if roles were reversed) then it’s not a big problem.

 

[drew]

The club absolutely does NOT have to act when those identified as long-standing fans pass on a ticket to another Albion fan for face value or less. This scenario is a world away from opportunists intentionally and knowing looking to profit.

To ban a long-standing fan for a period of time based on a single known transgression is wholly excessive and displays absolutely no empathy towards football supporters. You do have to wonder about the mindset of those who think this course of action is appropriate. Career ticketing professionals who have never been and are not football supporters themselves? I have no idea, but this isn't telling someone they can't go to Tesco any more, when there is Sainsbury and Asda just down the road. This is a relationship with a football club - special, intimate and can't be changed on a whim.

By all means slap the person on the wrist, tell them they've had their one chance, but ban them from Albion games? **** me.

And to be clear: throw the book at touts and opportunists absolutely.

I would suggest that revoking their ticket for only 4 games is a slap on the wrist. Do we know for certain that first time transgressors were punished equally as those that might have sold or tried to sell before?

The club might not have to act but if they don't the problem will get bigger. Acting and publicising the fact should put off those seeking to profit. I personally don't want to go to my seat in west stand upper against the big six teams next season only to find out that I'm sitting in the company of unfamiliar people all sporting away colours (and probably half and half scarves).

 

[Lenny Rider]

It goes on everywhere unfortunately, recently bought tickets for Groves vs Eubank, direct from a local boxing family, they were decent seats so didn't baulk at the price of £450, until that is we got them and they had £400 printed on them.

Perhaps he knew he was going to lose all along so was merely maximising his income?

 

[mikeyjh]

But the club hasn’t banned anyone for passing on unused tickets to a mate, it is people advertising them for sale that have got in trouble.

Passing on/selling on, same meat different gravy - I'm not talking about 'touting' in the traditional sense but why worry so much about people selling on for face value? What is so bad about having a ticket exchange on here?

 

[Return of the Rev]

It goes on everywhere unfortunately, recently bought tickets for Groves vs Eubank, direct from a local boxing family, they were decent seats so didn't baulk at the price of £450, until that is we got them and they had £400 printed on them.

Perhaps he knew he was going to lose all along so was merely maximising his income?

Get round there quick and grab him by the throat and get your £50 back

 

[Bozza]

But the club hasn’t banned anyone for passing on unused tickets to a mate, it is people advertising them for sale that have got in trouble.

When people pass them onto a mate there is very often a reciprocal financial transaction involved. I know of one such large group where this happens for every game with £25 being the acknowledged going rate.

(Note to Albion supporter services: I have clearly NEVER done this myself as it's against the law, the rules and I'd like to still go to games.)

 

[Taybha]

I can tell you now there are going to be BHA exiled fans in the home end at Goodison on Saturday.

Yup ,apparently i didn't exist as a fan pre Amex days so without a ST it's pretty much the only way to go .