Away fans - ticket sales

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OB1
Posts: 1555
Joined: 22 Jan 2011, 08:46
Location: Formerly Block C Underhill - Now block E East stand The Hive

Away fans - ticket sales

Post: # 158367Post OB1 »

When I was at the Hive recently I asked one of the staff if there were any plans to stop away fans buying tickets for the home areas on line.
He said he didn't think there were, if this is so then there could be problems when we play clubs such as Portsmouth and Luton who will probably sell all of their allocation. The last time we played Luton at the Hive there were quite a few of their fans in the home west stand seats and some of them were quite intimidating.
Can the liaison group approach the club regarding this.
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petersperoni
Posts: 699
Joined: 22 Jan 2011, 18:42

Re: Away fans - ticket sales

Post: # 158397Post petersperoni »

We certainly will pass this on but I do know the club are aware of this problem, and not just Luton fans. It is very difficult to monitor as, for instance, I personally know a couple of Barnet fans who live in Luton so taking an address isn't a guarantee of who supports who.

Does anyone have any suggestions of how to overcome this problem? I'm not asking on behalf of the club but when this matter is passed on to them it would possibly be helpful if we had suggestions to go over with it.
DerekRocholl
Posts: 4329
Joined: 02 Feb 2011, 16:59

Re: Away fans - ticket sales

Post: # 158436Post DerekRocholl »

petersperoni wrote:We certainly will pass this on but I do know the club are aware of this problem, and not just Luton fans. It is very difficult to monitor as, for instance, I personally know a couple of Barnet fans who live in Luton so taking an address isn't a guarantee of who supports who.

Does anyone have any suggestions of how to overcome this problem? I'm not asking on behalf of the club but when this matter is passed on to them it would possibly be helpful if we had suggestions to go over with it.
Unless the Club is in the fortunate position of all home seats being sold to members/season ticket holders it is almost impossible to prevent away supporters buying tickets in home sections of the ground. So the answer lies in the way the Club addresses the potential associated risks.

1. Good forecasting to plan space allocation against realistic forecasts of numbers for games where a big away following is to be expected. The vast majority of away fans would prefer to be in a designated away section so if you are expecting 2,000 of them to turn up out of a crowd of 4,500 take that into account in the way tickets are promoted for sale in different parts of the stadium.

2. Expect that there will be away fans who for some reason end up in home sections and have very clear information about how unacceptable behaviour will be treated in the ground (by home or away fans) and then ensure the stewards uphold the standards.

3. Don't over-react with heavy handed stewarding in anticipation that issues might arise because this is inclined to turn into a self fulfilling prophesy. The vast vast majority of football supporters go to games just to enjoy themselves and don't have any intention at all of wanting to cause problems for anyone else. If a few away supporters get in with the home supporters in 9 times out of ten the worst that will happen is that there will be a bit of banter or friendly taunting - for most of us it can actually add to atmosphere and enjoyment of the day.
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