Town are set to introduce a new ticket touting policy to address the reselling of tickets which has become a major issue in the opening weeks of the season.

With tickets difficult to get hold of both for games both home and away, fans with higher priority have been purchasing seats and then selling them on illicitly before other supporters with a lower priority are able to legitimately secure their tickets.

In some cases this has been done in order to gain points on the new Super Blues membership system in order to stand a greater chance of gaining seats for higher demand matches, such as the derby at Norwich City.

The unauthorised reselling of tickets to football matches is illegal even at face value, while the club is looking at ways of redistributing season tickets through official channels if fans are unable to make particular games, a service a number of other clubs already offer.

“We’ve had waves of contacts from numerous fans very frustrated around the issue [of ticket reselling],” CEO Mark Ashton said at this evening’s Fans’ Forum.

“We’ve had contacts from the relevant authorities and now we’ve had several contacts from the police on regards to this and particularly what is unfortunately classed as touting.

“It is something that we now have to take extremely seriously and we’re at a point where we have to deal with it seriously. There has been a lot of internal discussion on it.”

Chief operating officer Luke Werhun added: “On the reselling aspect and ticket touting, we have developed a ticket touting policy that will be coming out over the next week and with that there will be sanctions if people are caught selling tickets through unofficial channels.

“Regarding [the questioner’s] point on fans reselling season tickets, we are looking at a handful of providers that provide that service for us where, if you can’t make a game, someone else will be able to purchase that ticket or you could donate it to the Ipswich Town Foundation or whatever. We are looking at that solution, so watch this space on that one.

“But to Mark’s wider point on ticket touting, we are looking at that very seriously because that is right now something that is not fair for other people that are waiting in the queue, waiting for their sales window to open and they can see other people who are able to get tickets when they shouldn’t necessarily be able to.”

Ashton continued: “It’s probably the biggest thing that’s filling my inbox at the moment, the biggest topic. When we start getting contact from the police and the relevant authorities and that number of fans who are concerned about this, we have to act.

“But we wanted to do was take our time, do this properly. As you can imagine, we’ve been in a transfer window, so we’ve been slightly busy. But we will deal with it properly and a policy will come out and we’ll deal with it accordingly.”

Photo: ITFC

ArnieM added 20:45 - Sep 13 How times have changed at Ipswich. ALL tickets are very much in demand now. Absolutely never in doubt as to who is the biggest Club in East Anglia.
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Bazza8564 added 20:56 - Sep 13 Frankly this is excellent news, especially for away games with fans no longer able to buy purely for the point. Most people are unaware that reselling a ticket in the UK for a football match is actually illegal, hence the police involvement. It's not just about touting, it's about banning orders etc etc which is where the 1994 legislation started
4

Kickingblock added 21:29 - Sep 13 I like the point mentioned in the 3rd paragraph about looking into the redistribution of a season ticket holders seat when they are unable to attend a match. A great way of making use of an empty seat. How would the season ticket holder be reimbursed?
1

churchmans added 22:42 - Sep 13 Kicking block! In regards to the 3rd paragraph As a season ticket holder in the rare occasion I cannot attend a match I will decide who I give my ticket to (normally a mate or an aqauntaince)and I don't need reimbursement! It is a sure fire way of keeping Interest It is a sure way to keep
4

E_I_E_I_E_I_O added 22:47 - Sep 13 Wow. I pity anyone that has seriously contacted the Police on this matter. The Police have got priorities a million times more important I'm sure.
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bobble added 03:17 - Sep 14 if people are stupid enough to pay high prices then who cares ?
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gosblue added 07:51 - Sep 14 There should be a way to register interest in tickets once they are sold out. Points could be awarded for being on the reserve list and it could simplify the re-selling process. I didn’t think getting away tickets would be such an issue in the championship with bigger grounds. I’ve got Sheff Wed tickets but I didn’t manage to score Sunderland tickets. The re-selling of a season ticket seat could see money reimbursed into an account to be cashed out or put towards tickets including next year’s season ticket. Is it Hull City that have a scheme for registering family members to use your season ticket if you can’t make it?

0

tractorboybig added 08:08 - Sep 14 if a season ticket holder you should be able to nominate one person to use your ticket if you are unable to make the game,
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Doc_Albran added 09:37 - Sep 14 Got no problem with this in principal, however, I often give my (and my son's) season ticket to a friend and their child, or to two mates who upgrade my son's ticket - I don't resell (they pay for the upgrade). As long as the new policy doesn't get in the way of that and tries to force me to sell my ticket as opposed to gifting it to somebody, I'm good with it. Just need to be aware of the law of unintended consequences!

1

VanDusen added 16:46 - Sep 14 For England members you have to use the ticket or you don't get the points added to your record. In these days of barcodes should be easy enough to do - esp if the FA are able to do this for international away fixtures. That will at least stop things like the swathes of empty seats around me in the allegedly 'sold out' away end at Reading for a start.
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runningout added 18:03 - Sep 14 slightly concerned we get games where seats are sold but nobody is sat in them. Hope it doesn’t happen
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Nomore4 added 18:25 - Sep 14 Half the season ticket holders at Barcelona don’t attend games or only attend what games they want. Selling the seat on. I’ve paid good money over the years for my ITFC season card, including through some of the clubs darkest years. If I can’t make a game through brighter times, my seat will be sold to the highest bidder……
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Kickingblock added 20:05 - Sep 14 Churchman's. I agree with you and do the same myself. But sometimes, (eg. if I do hospitality) and nobody wants my ticket, then my seat is unused/wasted. I think that is a shame because it could have been made available for general sale and someone else would have seen the match. There are clubs that "reimburse %? match credits" to supporters who cannot attend a match that put their seat up for resale in the club pool. Win win situation. I appreciate a down side would be, if large numbers of season ticket holders pooled their seats for "lesser interesting" games midweek in midwinter, the club would loose revenue. But that shouldn't happen as it isn't 3rd division football anymore. I hope that makes my point clearer.

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