Blame 'englandfans' not England fans for empty seats at Wembley
Adrian Chiles wrote in yesterday's Sun on the topic of empty seats at England matches in the new 'late' Wembley Stadium. He put the blame fairly and squarely at the foot of corporate fans feasting whilst the action was on.
"I really can't imagine how dispiriting it must be for the players. The very people supposed to be driving them on to immeasurable acts of heroism and technical brilliance are elsewhere, thoughtfully masticating on a bit of cheddar and digestive and draining the dregs of a bottle of over-priced wine.
Eventually, belching a little, they'll rise to their feet and stagger vaguely in the direction of where they think their seats might be.
And if and when they get there they'll most likely have the nerve to remark that the players don't appear to be giving their all."
Chiles is only partly right. The official attendance figure for the match against Israel on Saturday was 85,000. The figure for last nights impressive win against Russia was oficially 86,000.
That leaves the F.A. with a shortfall of 9,000 tickets either left unsold or where punters didn't pitch up.
And it isn't as if 'Late' Wembley doesn't have previous in this regard. The F.A. Cup Final and Community Shield matches at the stadium both featured conspicuous amounts of empty seats, and there was a contractual dispute over ticket allocations for the Championship Play-Off and Challenge Cup Finals that left swathes of the stadium unsellable to fans who could have attended.
But seriously, if you've got that many unsold seats for England's crucial competitive home qualifying fixtures, then you know you've either got your pricing model or you ticket distribution model wrong. You can't tell me that there were less than 90,000 people in England who would have liked to have gone to each of those games.
I should know.
Earlier this year I was in Crete watching the England vs Germany game in The Kiss Bar in Agia Marina. It is a fantastic place with four TV screens, about 3,000 channels of satellite TV, and free wifi.
Whilst I was there, knowing that I would probably be in the UK in September, I thought I'd check whether I could get tickets for the England games going on whilst I was in the country.
I thought that the official F.A. site would be a good place to start - and I was in luck. I was greeted with a massive splash screen advertising that there were still tickets remaining for the game last night against Russia.
Brilliant, I thought - until I looked into it a bit further.
In order to apply for tickets, you need to be a member of the englandfans scheme. Which is a mere £45. And that entitles you to apply for one ticket.
So for me and my brother-in-law to go to last night's match, we would have had to pay out £90 just to apply for a ticket - with no guarantee of getting in to see the game. That isn't a one-off cost, that is an annual fee to be in contention to get tickets a fee covering each two year Euro or World Cup qualifying campaign - as pointed out by Paul Unwin in a comment on this post. (He also points out that it entitles the member to a £ discount on tickets, and so pays for itself if you attend 9 matches).
I appreciate that the F.A. have to deal with the security issues around England fans travelling abroad, and need a way of ensuring there is a fair distribution of the scarce tickets available at the finals of tournaments (providing, of course, that England qualify). However, slapping a £45 premium on the purchase of a one-off ticket seems a trifle excessive.
Especially if you find you can't actually sell the games out.
Meanwhile, Adrian Chiles is a topic I shall return to later on today...
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You couldn't be more wrong. Every englandfans member who applied for tickets got them You can apply for tickets outside of the members priority period through a ballot system, most of those who applied then also got them. The people resposible for this are the corportaes who don't turn up having paid for a ten year ticket and the media who make it seem like an impossible task getting tickets when the truth is that if you want a ticket, in all probability you will get one. You do need to join the englandfans+ scheme to apply for away tickets, this is right and just, as various checks need to be done to stop sensationalists like yourself from having more dross to write.
>> Every englandfans member who applied for tickets got them
Fair point, except how do I know that in advance? How do I know that I'm not paying £45 for nothing when there are only a couple of fixtures a year I can get to? And what other business could get away with a £45 surcharge on even applying for tickets?
As someone who has been going to see England regularly since 1990, I would have jumped at the chance to get to the Israel or Russia match, but I'm not prepared to spend £45 just for the chance to buy a ticket. £20 maybe. £10 for sure. How much does englandfans cost to administrate that it needs to be £45 per head with no guarantee of getting to see a game?
>> You do need to join the englandfans+ scheme to apply for away tickets, this is right and just
Absolutely, having been in Marseilles during France '98 I'm well aware of what being an England fan away can be like
>> sensationalists like yourself from having more dross to write
We'll agree to differ on that, right?
i think its wrong to join if your not going to these games the fa should monitor the so called members and stop thier membership simply because there are plenty of people who would take thier place and attend these games its not fair on those who want to go.
There is so much wrong with this article it's unreal.
No 1. the £45 that you are on about is not an annuel fee but a fee which runs from the end of the world cup till the end of the european championships so if you joined at the start it would be roughly 2 years.
No 2. by joining this club you get a £5 reduction on your ticket so infact you could save from this if you went to enough games.
No 3. Tickets availble have never yet sold out to englandfans members so yes you would have got tickets if you would have bought within the period given to englandfans, thereafter they are then put in a ballot along with other tickets put to one side for your average supporter who has got himself a fan No which you can get free of charge.
No 4. Englandfans also offers joining packs Etc. Newsletters, travel information for games and advice for those going to games.
In all £45 may look expensive if your buying one ticket I will agree but if you support the national Team over the given period it can be looked on as a bargin, I just don't think your giving all the facts and somtimes not the correct information.
>> In all £45 may look expensive if your buying one ticket
Which, Paul, is exactly what I was trying to. And if I wanted not to go alone, it is £90.
I don't live in the UK anymore and only visit for work. I can't predict per Euro/World Cup campaign when, or if, I'll be in the country and it co-incides with a home England game - but that doesn't stop me wanting to go and support my country at every opportunity available to me
>> somtimes not the correct information
That is a fair point and I will correct the article accordingly about the annual nature of the fee.
I'm an englandfans member, and it's great value.
I paid £25 for my ticket for last night, to go to a Prem game it would be more like £50. It costs £20 to see some League 1 teams!
As for not knowing it was a fee for a two year membership, when I joined I looked into it and it seemed pretty well explained on the website.
I think you jumped the gun with this article.