| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! 08:09 - Dec 21 with 10569 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
I know you'll never please everyone. Thing is, I went away regularly back in the day (when we were sh!t) spending £thousands. Then it tailed off for various reasons, mostly having a partner and thinking it's not really fair to go to football every weekend.
These days, though, I'd like to go to the odd away game - especially London games seeing as I live here - but I can't due to not having the points.
Ok, it could be argued those people with the points have collected them fair and square, but really they just happen to have gone to away games more recently. And the thing is, every away ticket they snap up due to having the points ...gives them MORE points, making them more likely to get the next tickets, etc. etc. How am I ever supposed to break into this exclusive club?! Not only am I prevented from getting the tickets, but in the process I'm pushed further and further away from future ones!
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 10:56 - Dec 21 with 1719 views | hoppy |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 08:23 - Dec 21 by The_Flashing_Smile |
Yep, you've pretty much summed up my thinking and the ballot thing is a great way around it. I do have mates with decent points so there's an avenue there - as long as it's a game they're not going to as well (unless eligible people can buy two tickets?!)
But yeah, one of the downsides of our success I guess. Gone are the days you could just rock up at Millwall and pay on the day.
On a related note, even Leeds sold out pretty rapidly despite being £47 a pop and a couple of days before Christmas! How much can clubs charge before people say, "Nah, you're taking the piss now"? |
'eligible people' can't buy more than one ticket, so it is only one per member.
We've got tickets for Stoke away, but it wasn't the smoothest way of doing things. At the time of purchase, I was on 19 points, KJ was on 18 points (so both in the same 15+ band), but Yasmin was only on 14 points (the 10+ band) - so I was able to buy 2 tickets on Thursday last week in the 15+ band, but had to wait until Friday to get Yasmin's ticket, which now moves her into the same bracket as KJ, although I've now moved onto 20 points. So for any future games, either we have to wait until the lowest common band becomes available and risk not getting them at all, and still possibly not have the chance of getting 3 together, or buying mine at the earliest opportunity and risk not being able to get the other two in the next band. |  |
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 11:03 - Dec 21 with 1684 views | J2BLUE |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 10:28 - Dec 21 by ParisBlue |
3 home games over the last 18 months doesn't sound excessive.
I do think they'll introduce a home point scheme as well though. The Norwich queuing was unnecessary. |
I agree but i'm sure they still had complaints!
#thepublic |  |
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 11:13 - Dec 21 with 1666 views | bazza |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 10:53 - Dec 21 by Plums |
You've missed a bit. You have to pay to open the door before you put your foot in it.
That's the bit I object to.
My loyalty is being sold back to me - with nothing in return.
I know it's what happens all over the place so I'm resigned to it but I'm amazed how normalised it's become. |
I know, but You can’t please all the people .. etc etc. |  | | |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 11:21 - Dec 21 with 1641 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 09:53 - Dec 21 by homer_123 |
In short though, isn't simply a reality of being successful?
There is a limited number of tickets and no perfect way of distributing. You've literally said yourself it's right to reward those that go regularly, ergo, no matter what approach you take it will always rewards those that travel more often. |
It rewards those who currently go more often, not historically.
What's wrong with having a 20-30% share of the available tickets put into a ballot for everyone, so it's not just the most recent travellers who are always rewarded (and over time end up making it a closed shop)? | |
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 11:29 - Dec 21 with 1625 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 09:54 - Dec 21 by bazza |
I think there were middlesboro tickets available late on, I’d say any fan who travels away to stoke, Sunderland , boro , Bristol, etc has the god given right to first dibs on the more local tickets, it’s a fair system, you’ve just got to get your foot back in the door, with the less glamorous fixtures, otherwise it’s like walking to the front of the bus queue because you’ve caught the same bus the year before . [Post edited 21 Dec 2023 9:55]
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Not all fans live in Ipswich!
All our away fixtures sell out before general sale, what do you mean by "get your foot back in the door with the less glamorous fixtures"?
With your bus queue analogy it's like every time you go to the bus stop you find yourself at the back of a queue so long it has more people in it than fit on the bus! | |
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 11:31 - Dec 21 with 1620 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 10:00 - Dec 21 by norfsufblue |
The fairest way is to go back to queueing round the block for the ticket office to open. Get there early enough and you are going to get your ticket!... I once turned up at midnight for derby tickets at midnight the day before release and was still 3rd in the queue👍😂😂.... and it was quite good fun..
Arhh... the good ole days |
Except that doesn't work for people who don't live in Ipswich! | |
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 11:38 - Dec 21 with 1588 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 10:56 - Dec 21 by hoppy |
'eligible people' can't buy more than one ticket, so it is only one per member.
We've got tickets for Stoke away, but it wasn't the smoothest way of doing things. At the time of purchase, I was on 19 points, KJ was on 18 points (so both in the same 15+ band), but Yasmin was only on 14 points (the 10+ band) - so I was able to buy 2 tickets on Thursday last week in the 15+ band, but had to wait until Friday to get Yasmin's ticket, which now moves her into the same bracket as KJ, although I've now moved onto 20 points. So for any future games, either we have to wait until the lowest common band becomes available and risk not getting them at all, and still possibly not have the chance of getting 3 together, or buying mine at the earliest opportunity and risk not being able to get the other two in the next band. |
Yeah it's a tricky situation. Back in the day away days were a fun day out, you'd get all your mates together, have a few beers etc. So much harder to do that now. | |
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 11:41 - Dec 21 with 1568 views | norfsufblue |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 11:31 - Dec 21 by The_Flashing_Smile |
Except that doesn't work for people who don't live in Ipswich! |
I know its not practical nowadays, was mostly in jest BUT I do live in the North of the county and made "the effort " on more than one occasion to get tickets I really wanted ! |  | | |
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 11:46 - Dec 21 with 1550 views | durhamj |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 09:54 - Dec 21 by bazza |
I think there were middlesboro tickets available late on, I’d say any fan who travels away to stoke, Sunderland , boro , Bristol, etc has the god given right to first dibs on the more local tickets, it’s a fair system, you’ve just got to get your foot back in the door, with the less glamorous fixtures, otherwise it’s like walking to the front of the bus queue because you’ve caught the same bus the year before . [Post edited 21 Dec 2023 9:55]
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Agreed, you could definitely pay cash to get in at Middlesbrough. Was a bit surprised to see the signs, but there were tickets going spare. |  | | |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 11:46 - Dec 21 with 1546 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 11:41 - Dec 21 by norfsufblue |
I know its not practical nowadays, was mostly in jest BUT I do live in the North of the county and made "the effort " on more than one occasion to get tickets I really wanted ! |
North of the county! Get you! You must have a few airmiles!
Yeah I appreciate you were mostly jesting. But imagine a Town fan living in Sunderland who wants to watch Sunderland v Ipswich... they have to travel to Ipswich to queue for a ticket, hope they actually get one, then travel back to Sunderland to watch the match. Madness! | |
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 12:16 - Dec 21 with 1479 views | itfcjoe |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 11:29 - Dec 21 by The_Flashing_Smile |
Not all fans live in Ipswich!
All our away fixtures sell out before general sale, what do you mean by "get your foot back in the door with the less glamorous fixtures"?
With your bus queue analogy it's like every time you go to the bus stop you find yourself at the back of a queue so long it has more people in it than fit on the bus! |
Basically to get foot in door you buy a membership and buy ticket for any game you can do and attend it until you have got up the list more |  |
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 12:20 - Dec 21 with 1464 views | ozzy_itfc |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 11:46 - Dec 21 by The_Flashing_Smile |
North of the county! Get you! You must have a few airmiles!
Yeah I appreciate you were mostly jesting. But imagine a Town fan living in Sunderland who wants to watch Sunderland v Ipswich... they have to travel to Ipswich to queue for a ticket, hope they actually get one, then travel back to Sunderland to watch the match. Madness! |
I guess in modern times it would be virtual queue online.
Personally i don't see why they don't give at least a portion of tickets to 'first come first served' in a virtual online sale . The same as everyone has to buy concert tickets or even other sporting tickets. Everyone has a chance to get tickets then.
I wanted tickets to the NFL this year. Have been for the past 5 years. Got unlucky with my place in the queue and didn't get tickets. demand outstripped supply, I didn't get a ticket but I had an equal chance and I have to accept it. [Post edited 21 Dec 2023 12:52]
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 12:47 - Dec 21 with 1416 views | SouthfieldsBlue |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 12:16 - Dec 21 by itfcjoe |
Basically to get foot in door you buy a membership and buy ticket for any game you can do and attend it until you have got up the list more |
It's definitely fairer than the previous system. A silver card was basically useless last season, which meant if you don't have a season ticket for geographic reasons you were basically locked out of away matches. The system this season means I've been able to get to a fair few more, even if it has been Middlesbrough, Stoke etc. | | | |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:04 - Dec 21 with 1376 views | gosblue |
Over the past few seasons I’ve had to pay on the day for many games as I couldn’t always commit to Saturdays in advance. Unfortunately there is no record of those purchases so no points for them. But that’s on me so no complaints. One area for improvement could be to make it easier to return unwanted tickets and to create a reserve list for those tickets. I managed to get one returned WBA ticket but there must have been a dozen empty seats around me so my missus could have come. Middlesbrough was easier as it didn’t sell out which in turn made it easier to get Stoke tickets as we’ve now got more points. My only advice would be to get a membership and keep trying. Leicester. Preston and Swansea probably won’t sell out. | | | |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:13 - Dec 21 with 1361 views | andytown |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 12:47 - Dec 21 by SouthfieldsBlue |
It's definitely fairer than the previous system. A silver card was basically useless last season, which meant if you don't have a season ticket for geographic reasons you were basically locked out of away matches. The system this season means I've been able to get to a fair few more, even if it has been Middlesbrough, Stoke etc. |
Wasn’t my experience with a silver card last year. Got to 7 away games inc Cheltenham & Peterborough. Only one I couldn’t get a ticket for was Cambridge. | | | |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:28 - Dec 21 with 1319 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 12:16 - Dec 21 by itfcjoe |
Basically to get foot in door you buy a membership and buy ticket for any game you can do and attend it until you have got up the list more |
I mean yeah, but the premise of my OP is "I'd like to go to the odd away game - especially London games". I can't really justify the time or money to go to far flung games.
It's just a little moan really, I appreciate I could do more to get tickets. I could, if I really wanted to, pay over the odds* for a ticket on the black market. But that's not really the point of my gripe.
*In the pub before the derby I overheard a guy talking to his mate saying he hadn't been able to get a ticket... and that someone had offered him one for £600! [Post edited 21 Dec 2023 13:31]
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:30 - Dec 21 with 1312 views | sjg |
Yes, it is fair. Much fairer than anything that favours people that want go to a game near where they live but never travel significant distances to follow the team, like the people who would miss out on those tickets. Demand is higher than supply so someone is always going to miss out, those that go most regularly should not be the ones penalised. | | | |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:34 - Dec 21 with 1287 views | bluelagos |
Can see where you are coming from. Anyone without a substantial points who who wishes to go to the local games (London aways and Norwich) has pretty much no chance given the current demand for tickets.
So how will you or any new fans ever get onto that ladder? You'll need to wait until we are sh1t again - which could be who knows how long.
Seems to me we will have a similar issue for home tickets too, especially if we get promoted. We have capped ST sales which means there are tickets available for the "new/casual/unable to commit" fans but realistically, bloke wants to take his 2 kids to a game for the first time - is getting quite hard for them atm.
The answer is to hold back some tickets for a ballot. Plenty of premiership clubs do this - as a member you throw you hat in the ring for a ticket for a game (in advance) so in theory someone who has never been to see whoever can still have a chance.
Some clubs had such demand that STs were basically owned by families - Dad had passed away and the ST was shared by the kids after his death. I read that Man U had something silly like 5% if all ST holders were dead.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2397623.stm
Am sure the club will look at how other clubs do it - but the current scheme even incentivises people to go to matches they might have otherwise missed - to build up even more points - and so the gap gets ever larger...
Overall I think the points system is better than no points, but I'd still look to adapt it so some fans can get a chance to see away matches who are currently locked out. |  |
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:40 - Dec 21 with 1256 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:30 - Dec 21 by sjg |
Yes, it is fair. Much fairer than anything that favours people that want go to a game near where they live but never travel significant distances to follow the team, like the people who would miss out on those tickets. Demand is higher than supply so someone is always going to miss out, those that go most regularly should not be the ones penalised. |
You talk like travelling significant distances is a badge of honour. For starters, the transport costs are huge and could be prohibitive to many. Would you want to price out poorer supporters?
Secondly, people buying for their most local games is better for the environment.
Again, when you talk about "those that go most regularly" you mean in the most recent times - this season and last. Anything before that isn't counted. And as several of us have pointed out, that ends up making it a closed shop - because the people who have the points for those tickets not only get the tickets, they get the points which gets them further tickets. Johnny Come Latelys get all the tickets; supporters who've been through thick and mostly thin for donkey's years (but less so more recently) are penalised. Which, equally, isn't fair.
So rather than give ALL the tickets to the most recent travellers, give them say 80% and hold back 20% for everyone else. Seems entirely reasonable to me. | |
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:46 - Dec 21 with 1236 views | bluelagos |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:40 - Dec 21 by The_Flashing_Smile |
You talk like travelling significant distances is a badge of honour. For starters, the transport costs are huge and could be prohibitive to many. Would you want to price out poorer supporters?
Secondly, people buying for their most local games is better for the environment.
Again, when you talk about "those that go most regularly" you mean in the most recent times - this season and last. Anything before that isn't counted. And as several of us have pointed out, that ends up making it a closed shop - because the people who have the points for those tickets not only get the tickets, they get the points which gets them further tickets. Johnny Come Latelys get all the tickets; supporters who've been through thick and mostly thin for donkey's years (but less so more recently) are penalised. Which, equally, isn't fair.
So rather than give ALL the tickets to the most recent travellers, give them say 80% and hold back 20% for everyone else. Seems entirely reasonable to me. |
"So rather than give ALL the tickets to the most recent travellers, give them say 80% and hold back 20% for everyone else. Seems entirely reasonable to me."
Me too. And that's as someone with enough points to get priority on most games. (Fingers xd for Naaridge) | |
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:52 - Dec 21 with 1219 views | The_Romford_Blue |
Due also to work and having a missus, I’m in the same boat as you.
Done 12-18 away games a year for the last 10 years until the last 18 months and now can’t buy a ticket on my own points and rely on others being able to help.
The mistake they made with the new points system was only including the last year rather than the last 5 years for example. [Post edited 21 Dec 2023 16:30]
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:57 - Dec 21 with 1198 views | JakeITFC |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:40 - Dec 21 by The_Flashing_Smile |
You talk like travelling significant distances is a badge of honour. For starters, the transport costs are huge and could be prohibitive to many. Would you want to price out poorer supporters?
Secondly, people buying for their most local games is better for the environment.
Again, when you talk about "those that go most regularly" you mean in the most recent times - this season and last. Anything before that isn't counted. And as several of us have pointed out, that ends up making it a closed shop - because the people who have the points for those tickets not only get the tickets, they get the points which gets them further tickets. Johnny Come Latelys get all the tickets; supporters who've been through thick and mostly thin for donkey's years (but less so more recently) are penalised. Which, equally, isn't fair.
So rather than give ALL the tickets to the most recent travellers, give them say 80% and hold back 20% for everyone else. Seems entirely reasonable to me. |
The FA (who have a membership for England away games) operate a 70/20/10 ballot for major tournaments as follows:
70% of tickets to the top cappers in order (who have applied for that game) - i.e. for a 5,000 away allocation, 3,500 will go to those who have collected the most points
20% of tickets balloted to those who don't make the 20% ballot, but have been to at least four home games and two away games - that is to reward those who are nearly at the points but not absolute newcomers
10% of tickets balloted to everyone else who applied.
This has its pros and cons (like every system)
- the 70% is very hard to break into (it is a rolling two tournament qualification window)
- those on the cusp of the 70% can be very unlucky and lose out to somebody with zero points
- a lucky person can in theory get tickets for everything if their name keeps getting drawn, and other lower cappers can be shut out through no fault of their own |  | | |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:59 - Dec 21 with 1194 views | sjg |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:40 - Dec 21 by The_Flashing_Smile |
You talk like travelling significant distances is a badge of honour. For starters, the transport costs are huge and could be prohibitive to many. Would you want to price out poorer supporters?
Secondly, people buying for their most local games is better for the environment.
Again, when you talk about "those that go most regularly" you mean in the most recent times - this season and last. Anything before that isn't counted. And as several of us have pointed out, that ends up making it a closed shop - because the people who have the points for those tickets not only get the tickets, they get the points which gets them further tickets. Johnny Come Latelys get all the tickets; supporters who've been through thick and mostly thin for donkey's years (but less so more recently) are penalised. Which, equally, isn't fair.
So rather than give ALL the tickets to the most recent travellers, give them say 80% and hold back 20% for everyone else. Seems entirely reasonable to me. |
Travelling significant distances is not a badge of honour but is definitely a sign of loyalty?
You should get tickets to all the London games because it's better for the environment... what a great way of sounding selfless in suggesting something completely selfish 
When you ballot 20% of tickets, you're penalising those on the cusp of being in the 80%. If you want to be able to go to the high demand games, do the hard yards in going to places like Middlesbrough that got to general sale. Simples.
The only problem with the ticketing system is that they didn't include points brought forward for those that went to away games last year without a membership. | | | |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 14:01 - Dec 21 with 1183 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:57 - Dec 21 by JakeITFC |
The FA (who have a membership for England away games) operate a 70/20/10 ballot for major tournaments as follows:
70% of tickets to the top cappers in order (who have applied for that game) - i.e. for a 5,000 away allocation, 3,500 will go to those who have collected the most points
20% of tickets balloted to those who don't make the 20% ballot, but have been to at least four home games and two away games - that is to reward those who are nearly at the points but not absolute newcomers
10% of tickets balloted to everyone else who applied.
This has its pros and cons (like every system)
- the 70% is very hard to break into (it is a rolling two tournament qualification window)
- those on the cusp of the 70% can be very unlucky and lose out to somebody with zero points
- a lucky person can in theory get tickets for everything if their name keeps getting drawn, and other lower cappers can be shut out through no fault of their own |
Regardless of lower cappers occasionally missing out, it's a fairer system than the top group just getting everything, forever. | |
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| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 14:05 - Dec 21 with 1177 views | highpeakblue |
| The whole away ticket points system thing - is it fair?! on 13:40 - Dec 21 by The_Flashing_Smile |
You talk like travelling significant distances is a badge of honour. For starters, the transport costs are huge and could be prohibitive to many. Would you want to price out poorer supporters?
Secondly, people buying for their most local games is better for the environment.
Again, when you talk about "those that go most regularly" you mean in the most recent times - this season and last. Anything before that isn't counted. And as several of us have pointed out, that ends up making it a closed shop - because the people who have the points for those tickets not only get the tickets, they get the points which gets them further tickets. Johnny Come Latelys get all the tickets; supporters who've been through thick and mostly thin for donkey's years (but less so more recently) are penalised. Which, equally, isn't fair.
So rather than give ALL the tickets to the most recent travellers, give them say 80% and hold back 20% for everyone else. Seems entirely reasonable to me. |
It would make it much more of a closed shop if they went significantly further back when counting away tickets. Younger fans would be blocked out because those who went to a decent number of games several years ago would continue to get priority.
The current system does allow newer/younger fans to get access to high demand away tickets relatively straightforwardly by building up points over 1 or 2 seasons only. This does however involve attending the lower demand away games that usually require more travelling.
Only counting the current and previous season means that if any regular away goer has a season not being able to attend matches for whatever reason then the following season they will be back with everyone else on very few points. There is definitely an argument for going back another season, but going much further back would greatly increase the closed shop nature of the system.
A ballot for a % of tickets is a reasonable suggestion. People close to the priority band where the other tickets sell out would however feel aggrieved that they are likely to miss out in the ballot to fans who may not have been to any recent away matches. | | | |
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