Passing on tickets to gain points

[League Wan]

A fan is still going and the ticket has been paid for so the club can't/won't do anything. As above it's really up to people to stop which they won't, if I was sitting on high points I'd also want to keep it that way. For the record I have low points so can only really go to the oddball ones.

 

[Gronkowski]

There's a myth now firmly in place that everyone on high points doesn't actually go to away games, but farms their number out. It's bollocks. The majority of people with the points go to the games.

Aye I think the issue is made up to some extent.
Quite a few in my match circle on high points and very rarely are there any spares floating about.
It’s just the latest in the saga of the ‘closed shop’ brigade.

 

[42]

I think a non transferable mobile ticket makes it more doable. Ticketmaster for gigs have live/moving qr codes and tickets are only transferable to an email address. If we implemented that type of ticketing(again grounds would need technology) as soon as transferred off an account holder the point is lost

Which would basically mean (especially for branches) one person having to act like school teacher, and stand there scanning loads of people in. It's not practical & a pain in the arse.

The ticketmaster ones, all you have to do is log onto your emails on someone else's phone & add then to their wallet anyway. It's a bit more faffy but you can get round it.

 

[Tongey]

Again how many fixtures does this affect? There have been numerous threads, which have pointed out that people could build up points by going to games, over the last 3 years, for games that didn't sell out or went to general sale. Appreciate its not ideal when people do this, but it probably only stops people getting tickets to a few games each year, which are all high loyalty points and the people twisting are probably nowhere near enough points anyway.

 

[CrosbyFTM]

As a start, how about people police themselves in the interest of fairness to the wider fanbase, and simply stop doing this? I realise that's a tall order and wishful thinking, but essentially this is a fan problem, rather than a club problem, especially since there's no easy way for the club to do anything about it.

It wouldn't fix it completely, and selfish behaviour will always happen, but if more people called it out when they see it happening, rather than going along with it, we'd see some improvement at least.

Actually the people doing this are acting for the wider fan base cause it means those of us who aren’t able to have season tickets can still get tickets for away games. I think it’s a great thing and long may it continue!

 

[HawaySkin]

If we implemented a show ID at turnstiles type thing it would be the death of our away support. It's easy to build points up but this only seems a problem when more popular away games come round

 

[RTGAdmin]

There's a myth now firmly in place that everyone on high points doesn't actually go to away games, but farms their number out. It's bollocks. The majority of people with the points go to the games.

It obviously happens, but I really don’t think its the huge problem people are making out. As you say, most people with high points go to the games, and the number abusing the system won’t be very significant.

It is harder to climb the ladder than it used to be as you used to get points for applying whether successful or not, but anyone can still build up points and any loyal regular away fan will eventually get enough points to get to nearly all away fixtures.

 

[tunstallhill]

If we implemented a show ID at turnstiles type thing it would be the death of our away support. It's easy to build points up but this only seems a problem when more popular away games come round

it would be an unworkable nightmare.

someone forgets their ID ? not getting in.
massive queues
and someone has to drop out on the day of the game (happens all the time) that ticket then can't be sold on, so an empty seat in the ground, a fan out of pocket, and another fan outside of the ground willing to pay for the ticket and use it but is unable to.

its an absolute nonsense

 

[Sgt Pepper]

There's a myth now firmly in place that everyone on high points doesn't actually go to away games, but farms their number out. It's bollocks. The majority of people with the points go to the games.

Aye I do wonder to what extent it’s even a problem. At the end of the day there’s generally ample opportunity for people to build up their own points, you just have to accept you’ll have to do the unfashionable ones first and it may take a little bit of time. Nobody can surely expect they deserve to be at the front of the queue for Boro, Leeds, Hull and the likes?

I don’t get to as many aways as I used to but I would say you’re pretty bang on because you soon become familiar with a lot of the faces in our away ends across the country.

There’s also those who are genuinely helped out by a mate who may not be able to make it anymore so pass on their ticket to someone they know who’s desperate to go. In the grand scheme of things is this really a big deal when it’ll be on such a small scale out of 2,000-4,000 tickets?

 

[FULFORD MACKEM]

There's a myth now firmly in place that everyone on high points doesn't actually go to away games, but farms their number out. It's bollocks. The majority of people with the points go to the games.

This!

 

[Gronkowski]

Again how many fixtures does this affect? There have been numerous threads, which have pointed out that people could build up points by going to games, over the last 3 years, for games that didn't sell out or went to general sale. Appreciate its not ideal when people do this, but it probably only stops people getting tickets to a few games each year, which are all high loyalty points and the people twisting are probably nowhere near enough points anyway.

Just this season you could have done Cardiff Portsmouth Preston x2 Plymouth Millwall, add in the women’s game & that’s 7 before Xmas.

 

[EMM]

Nothing can be done about it until ID checks are performed either at the turnstile or we change the way we sell tickets altogether. For example, Birmingham now reserve 2/300 tickets that they’ve sold and randomly select people via email to meet at the ground of the away game to pick their tickets up with ID. Naturally, it puts people off giving their number out because you could be selected for a random ID check. That’s about as good as it’ll get in the EFL I think.

Leicester do a similar thing, they contact a select amount of away fans the week before an away match and they have to report/check in to prove they travelled. When following England away i have to collect my ticket from a dedicated point and show ID. It can be done but it would need organisation something which we seem to have gone backwards with.

 

[FULFORD MACKEM]

Just this season you could have done Cardiff Portsmouth Preston x2 Plymouth Millwall, add in the women’s game & that’s 7 before Xmas.

Ample opportunity for people to build up points again.

 

[Blyth]

Punters using concessions and stealing money from the club is a bigger issue. Loads coming in on bairns tickets.

 

[viccarlton]

Nothing can be done about it until ID checks are performed either at the turnstile or we change the way we sell tickets altogether. For example, Birmingham now reserve 2/300 tickets that they’ve sold and randomly select people via email to meet at the ground of the away game to pick their tickets up with ID. Naturally, it puts people off giving their number out because you could be selected for a random ID check. That’s about as good as it’ll get in the EFL I think.

How bizarre is that, sounds like a recipe for disaster and more whingeing from those that are never selected.

 

[HABA87]

I could have bought Millwall tickets yesterday and palmed them off with relative ease to quite a few different people and taken the points.

But I didn't because it doesn't sit right with me.

 

[Disco_Pants93]

How bizarre is that, sounds like a recipe for disaster and more whingeing from those that are never selected.

People either moan about others lending their numbers out for points or moan about the solution. Having random ID checks would 100% improve the issue hence why many clubs are doing it and internationals have been doing it for ages. You can’t implement ID checks on the turnstile with any ease but you can select a random amount to pick tickets up at the away ticket office bringing with them their ID.

 

[Bossworld]

There seems to be a lot of people with high points getting away tickets and passing them on.
I went to watch Ferencvaros in Hungary a couple of years ago and to obtain a ticket you have to be a member, it’s easy enough to do,you turn up at the ticket office, fill in the form and they scan your thumb print. ( costs about 50p) and you can buy a match ticket at the same time.
Then everytime you buy a ticket it has your seat number on, but you need your membership card to gain access using your thumb print, therefore you can’t pass your ticket on.. it was set up to stop away fans from entering the home end and people with bans gaining entry…. Great idea.

Dunno if it's still the same situation but went to a Ferencvaros match back in 2019, and it seemed the system you've mentionef was in place to stop hooliganism/enforce bans etc.

However, we were travelling over from Bratislava that morning and didn't know if we'd have enough time pre match. For about €5 extra per ticket, you could buy "VIP" tickets that circumvented the entire process

The passing on of tickets is a thorny issue. As a Wolves fan exiled in the North East, since we got promoted back to the PL we've usually sold out our allocation at SJP. I don't have a Wolves season ticket and my Dad gave his up 15 years ago, so my only chance of tickets is using someone else's number.

Is it fair on others who need the points, to get tickets for Villa away, or the Sky 6 games - probably not. But it's my only realistic means of getting to a Wolves match these days and it's mutual back scratching I guess.

On the flip side, my son and I are season card holders at the SOL - I think I've got 3 loyalty points (I did QPR away a few years back while down with work) and a couple of cup games. He'd love an SAFC away day but at 6 years old, no chance of a midweek trip or the far flung games that usually make it down to SC with 0 points. I know we won't get tickets for the "local" games like Hull or Leeds, and that's in part due to people farming loyalty points.

Laboured point being, I see it from both sides.

 

[The Great Soprendo]

Actually the people doing this are acting for the wider fan base cause it means those of us who aren’t able to have season tickets can still get tickets for away games. I think it’s a great thing and long may it continue!

It's an interesting point actually, and in most examples of high demand ticketing (eg gigs) it's done on a first come first served basis, or at best with a wide-open presale to a larger group of fans. I'm not advocating that for football, but it does beg the question around our assumption that those who go most often have first dibs. You could argue that is actually unfair to the wider fanbase, and we need a way to make the awayday experience a bit more accessible to more people (eg an open ballot for a small proportion of tickets, or a guarantee that for larger allocations there will be a general sale phase for a proportion).

All that aside, there's got to be an example somewhere of a club that gets this right, where the fans are happy with the system, that we could replicate.

 

[lambretta]

Wonder why they wont give us the upper tier? There's no home season tickets in there, and we've definitely had it in the past (I sat in the front row back in the 90s so admittedly a long time ago).