Not one person does not have sympathy for the innocent people caught up in this.
But this is turning into a rant about RAWA amongst others. If we’re being honest I bet 95% of the match going fans don’t even know or care about this. And the people you are now going after have acted.
And still the fundamental (and very simple) question has not been responded too.
Did he knowingly pass on Premier League away tickets to those not entitled to them? A simple yes or no would suffice. Or an answer with no whataboutary either.
Talking about Championship games years ago is not relevant.
Let me rephrase your question to
"have away tickets sometimes been used by someone other than the person who's membership no. they were allocated to"
Let's not be naïve. The answer is almost certainly yes.
Lets also put it in context - it happens amongst fans at every club, in every supporters branch, right across the country. At home* AND away matches.
Is that absolutely, 100% fair? - probably not, but again, the movement of tickets between individuals (in culture as well as sport) is common practice because life isn't doesn't always bend to a companies T&C's. Until face-ID comes in (which WILL happen) then it's impossible to police. Glastonbury, Wimbledon, the Oasis comeback, whatever.... when demand outstrips supply, people use their friends and contacts to pass tickets on..... often at a premium
which has NOT happened here.
Let's add some more context - SAFC have previously always been supportive of supporters branches purchasing bulk tickets (using the necessary points) for reasons I've already outlined on this thread. How the branches then 'share' the tickets amongst them has been ignored. What's more, the club have 'used' this particular branch secretary to distribute tickets (or indeed return them) when it has suited them.
Two things have changed. 1 is there has been a change in ticket office management personnel at SAFC. The 2nd is that we are Premier League.
There may well be reasons the likes of RAWA don't want to get more involved, but we should also be conscious that a business who don't want to have their decisions scrutinised can easily muddy the waters by saying there are implications beyond the issue being focused on, i.e. internal matters - or by using phrases like 'widespread misuse' or numbers like '50% of tickets being misused' without context or detail.
Whatever more is said, speculated upon, or disputed, there are two regrettable outcomes.
The branch secretary has been given a ban which does not just affect him - it affects over 200 loyal, hardcore fans. The fact he's done so much for club and fellow supporters has not been considered in the ban given. That is wrong.
And the club have set a precedent. If they follow that through it will make a process they are already showing themselves incapable of managing, even worse for any supporter who chooses (or is able) to buy a tickets on a match-by-match basis... such as every away game in the season.
*NB: We're already seeing arguments in this thread about who gets home match tickets. If the club decide to do more ID checks at the SOL, and impose the same zero-tolerance approach to the sharing of tickets, expect chaos to follow. We've had the same name applied to some season tickets going back to 1998....... and you can bet your bottom dollar there'll be multiple instances where that ST has been passed between family members ever since.
