AFLFA: Adelaide and Richmond fans face Grand Final ticket heartache

Adelaide and Richmond fans face Grand Final ticket heartache

AFL FANS ASSOCIATION (AFLFA): “GIVING FOOTY FANS A VOICE”



Fans face AFL Grand Final heartache as more than 95,000 Adelaide and Richmond members – almost enough to fill the MCG – miss out on tickets, the AFL Fans Association says.

 

AFL Fans Association president Gerry Eeman says that the inadequate allocation of Grand Final tickets to club members means that thousands of Crows and Tigers members will miss out.

“Thousands of Adelaide and Richmond members who have followed their team through thick and thin will miss out because too many tickets end up in the hands of neutrals and corporates,” he says.

This year the AFL increased the competing club Grand Final ticket allocation from 15,000 each to 17,000, taking the total to 34,000. The AFLFA has long argued that it should be 50,000.

Richmond officially had 72,669 members this year and Adelaide 56,865 – a total of 129,534. This means 95,534 competing club members will miss out.

Last year the AFLFA wrote to the AFL and the AFL Commission outlining its arguments as to why the AFL should increase the Grand Final allocation to competing clubs to 50,000 tickets. Attached was a petition signed by more than 3300 people in support of this increase.

In its submission, the AFLFA warned the AFL that if it didn’t lift the allocation and a team like Richmond made the Grand Final, it would suffer considerable public backlash.

The AFL’s letter of response was curt, sharp and did not acknowledge any shortcomings in the ticket allocation as it then stood. Interestingly, despite not acknowledging any shortfall, the AFL did lift its ticket allocation from 15,000 to 17,000 per competing team a couple of months later.

The AFL’s response did not indicate whether it passed on the submission to the AFL Commission for consideration as requested.

We also note that the AFLFA and Greens MP Sam Hibbins jointly contacted the AFL several months ago to request a meeting to discuss the issue of the Grand Final ticket allocation.  The AFL never responded to this request.

“AFL clubs are built on a membership model,” Gerry says. “The inference of club membership marketing campaigns is often that ‘real fans become members’ and that ‘fans should support their clubs by becoming members’.  However, the loyalty asked of fans by their clubs is not being adequately rewarded or reciprocated due to the current ticket allocation.

“Giving thousands of tickets to non-competing clubs which are then sold off in packages is just plain wrong. The AFL must not allow this to happen again. The AFL also itself sells off many tickets corporate packages before the finals even starts. In doing so, they are prioritising an instant cash fix over the interests of club members who are the lifeblood of the competition.”

As previously highlighted by the AFLFA, at the FA Cup in England, FA Cup competing teams are allocated 57,464 of 90,000 tickets, which is 64 per cent of the total allocation in comparison to the AFL’s 34 per cent allocation.

In recent years, competing club members have shared 30,000 tickets, MCC members 25,000, AFL members/Medallion Club 21,000, corporates/stakeholders about 17,000 and all 18 AFL clubs about 7000 tickets. 

Gerry says more competing club member tickets can be found from allocations fed into corporates/stakeholders and non-competing clubs.

For more information contact: AFLFA president Gerry Eeman on 0403 938 484.
Email: [email protected] or [email protected].

 

Source: www.afl.com.au

 

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