The Club today announced that the ticket allocations for away supporters for the forthcoming visits of West Ham and Leeds United to the Stadium of Light have been reduced following instruction from the Safety Advisory Group.
Ticket sales in the home sections will only be to Sunderland fans registered on the club’s database and there will be no match day sales.
The Football League identified both clubs, throughout last season, as causing a significant safety risk by persistently standing in seated areas of stadiums whilst attending away matches and asked all Clubs and local authorities to take action.
The Safety Advisory Group, an independent body made up of representatives from the local authority, Northumbria Police, Tyne and Wear Fire Brigade, Northumbria Ambulance Service and the Football Licencing Authority, the national body that oversees safety at football clubs, have monitored the behaviour of both West Ham and Leeds United supporters throughout this season at away games and persistent standing has continued.
Failure to control persistent standing could result in the Safety Advisory Group revoking the Club’s safety certificate and without this certificate the Stadium of Light could not stage football matches. SAFC must therefore accept the decision of this committee and the Safety Advisory Group has instructed the Club to reduce the visiting ticket allocation for both teams to 1,500.
In order to ensure the safety and security of all supporters and in compliance with the wishes of the Safety Advisory Group, Sunderland AFC will only sell tickets in the home sections of the Stadium to those supporters who have a purchasing history with the Club – i.e. those who are recorded on the Club’s database and are recognisable as Sunderland fans.
The database contains details of those fans who have purchased a match ticket since the Club moved to the Stadium of Light. This is with the exception of those fans who have only ever purchased on the day of a game as it is unfortunately not possible to record data at the turnstiles or in the ticket office during such busy times.
This measure is being taken to ensure that visiting supporters cannot purchase tickets in home sections of the Stadium of Light. Tickets will not be available on-line or via ticketing agencies and can only be purchased from the Stadium of Light ticket office.
Chief Executive Peter Walker expressed the Club’s disappointment at being forced to implement these measures:
“We are extremely disappointed that we have been forced to take such drastic action and are of course concerned by the implications for those well-behaved supporters wishing to follow their team. This decision will also have a significant financial impact on the Club.”
