' Should they look after the Loyal Fans First? '

Should loyal Welsh football fans get first dibs on World Cup tickets?


Sunday 17th July 2016


BY HUW SILK


Football Supporters’ Federation Cymru want fans who've been with the Wales side through every high and low to get priority for World Cup seats




The game will soon be on to bag tickets to see the Wales football team in action again

Wales’ heroics in France during Euro 2016 have captured the imagination of a whole nation.

But now there are fears fans who have been behind the team even before the glory of the last two years will miss out on being able to watch future games because of a surge in interest in the national team.

The national side play their first qualifier for the 2018 World Cup in Russia in just seven weeks, a home tie against Moldova.

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However, some supporters are concerned that because tournament tickets are not yet on sale, those who have given their backing to the side in the long term could struggle to do so again with thousands of new fans set to join the queue.

David Rawcliffe/PropagandaThey were there: Welsh football fans showing their supportThey were there: Welsh football fans showing their support
There are now calls to give those who bought tournament tickets for Euro 2016 qualification priority for the 2018 campaign.

But, because the Moldova game is so close, some supporters worry there may not be enough time for such a loyalty scheme to be implemented.

'Look after those who were on board for the last two years'
Paul Corkrey, from the Football Supporters’ Federation Cymru (FSF), said: “The sooner the tickets come on sale, the better.

“When you have got a demand for tickets there are two things you have got to do.

“You can’t upset the people who have always had tickets, but you also can’t discourage new people. So it is a fine line.

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“Our view at the FSF is the current tournament ticket holders bought their previous tickets before Wales had this success, so they should have a week or so to buy new ones before they go on general sale.

The Wales players salute the fans at full-time after bowing out of Euro 2016Wales players salute the fans after bowing out of Euro 2016
“We should be looking after those who were on board for the last two years.

“There are 14,000 of those, so if say 13,000 renewed that would still leave 17,000 for general sale, plus 1,000 corporate and 2,000 or so for away fans.”



Stuck by Wales through thick and thin
As well as not being able to get tickets, Mr Corkrey said he hoped those who regularly went to Euro 2016 qualifiers would not be forced to purchase seats away from friends and family because of the high demand.

Asked why the FSF was so keen to reward those who had been to the last set of qualifying matches, he explained: “Success isn’t always there, and if you upset the ones who stuck by Wales through thick and thin then if it all goes down the chute then they may not come back again.

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“We have to make sure they are not alienated.”

There have been some calls to host Wales games at Principality Stadium, the capacity of which – at 74,500 – is more than double that of Cardiff City Stadium.

But the players are said to prefer the atmosphere at the smaller, 33,000-seater stadium.



Thousands of empty seats?
And Mr Corkrey said any apparent advantage of being able to sell a few more tickets were firmly outweighed.

“You could get 50,000 there regularly, which would satisfy the appetite for a larger crowd, but it could still leave thousands of empty seats,” he explained.



Should long-standing supporters get first chance of tickets?
YES
NO

He also pointed out that Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey et al have a preference for the more intimate setting of the Bluebirds’ home ground.

And he said the dividend Wales receive for qualifying for a tournament massively overshadowed the added revenue brought in by selling a few more tickets to games – and qualifying could be in jeopardy if Wales’ players were forced to play where they did not want to.

“Do you want to go to the Millennium Stadium and perhaps get knocked out, or stick with what we have got?” he asked.

Nobody at the FAW could be reached for comment.

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Good on the FAW for rewarding loyalty.

If only my insurance company did the same!

Stick with the 'loyal' fans and forget the 'floaters' as they will disappear faster than they appeared if there is a downturn of fortune and results!

The venue preference of the players should be taken into account as an even bigger priority

Good on the FAW (for once)

Definitely look after fans who bought tournament tickets first. It would be a disgrace if those who bought those before Wales had any success miss out to some of the new ones who are lets face it after tickets due to success.

I'm all for attracting new fans but never at the expense of the loyal ones who will be be there through thick and thin. Defo give them a window prior to general sale

I agree that they need to look after the loyal fans but it's not as simple as saying that's everyone who went to France.

I know many people who went to games in France who had never even been to a football game never mind a Wales game Simarly I also know people who have never missed a home international game, even in the bad days, who couldn't afford to go to France.

Where were all those thousands of Welsh fans at the Euros when we weren't even selling out the qualifiers until the Belgium game ?

Tha FAW need to guard against the games becoming too elitist like the egg chasers but also reward the real, loyal fans. It will be tricky and they simply won't please everyone, particularly if the decision is (quite rightly in my opinion) to stay at the CCS.

Funny I use to say Reward the loyal Cardiff City Fans first before all the Glory hunters came along and then deserted our club leaving it divided and in chaos and we're still deep in it.
Yet many had ago at me for it.
Those who bought new season tickets in the two glory years should have paid high prices compared to the loyal fans. Also when we got relegated our season tickets went up because the price freeze had finished.

We are paying for it all now with low crowds and low season ticke sales, a sad fact.

Prices are cheap now, but a bit to late.

I missed out on the tournament tickets last season as they sold out and wasn't able to get any matchday tickets , this year I've bought a membership I would expect that the tournament tickets should go to the ones who were there last season 1st then go on sale to new members

Funny I use to say Reward the loyal Cardiff City Fans first before all the Glory hunters came along and then deserted our club leaving it divided and in chaos and we're still deep in it.
Yet many had ago at me for it.
Those who bought new season tickets in the two glory years should have paid high prices compared to the loyal fans. Also when we got relegated our season tickets went up because the price freeze had finished.

We are paying for it all now with low crowds and low season ticke sales, a sad fact.

Prices are cheap now, but a bit to late.

Agree with you Annis, City have lost a hardcore of supporters who have become fed up with being treated badly.

Hopefully Welsh FA can see who have been members for past few tournaments or what was the point in forking out for it?

Funny I use to say Reward the loyal Cardiff City Fans first before all the Glory hunters came along and then deserted our club leaving it divided and in chaos and we're still deep in it.
Yet many had ago at me for it.
Those who bought new season tickets in the two glory years should have paid high prices compared to the loyal fans. Also when we got relegated our season tickets went up because the price freeze had finished.

We are paying for it all now with low crowds and low season ticke sales, a sad fact.

Prices are cheap now, but a bit to late.

Agree with you Annis, City have lost a hardcore of supporters who have become fed up with being treated badly.

Hopefully Welsh FA can see who have been members for past few tournaments or what was the point in forking out for it?

Karl, many on here will disagree with us, but I know for a fact it's not money with some it's how bad the club treated them during the red so Glory years and they won't return under Tan.

As to Wales they've been getting it right for the last 5-10 years

Funny I use to say Reward the loyal Cardiff City Fans first before all the Glory hunters came along and then deserted our club leaving it divided and in chaos and we're still deep in it.
Yet many had ago at me for it.
Those who bought new season tickets in the two glory years should have paid high prices compared to the loyal fans. Also when we got relegated our season tickets went up because the price freeze had finished.

We are paying for it all now with low crowds and low season ticke sales, a sad fact.

Prices are cheap now, but a bit to late.

Agree with you Annis, City have lost a hardcore of supporters who have become fed up with being treated badly.

Hopefully Welsh FA can see who have been members for past few tournaments or what was the point in forking out for it?

Karl, many on here will disagree with us, but I know for a fact it's not money with some it's how bad the club treated them during the red so Glory years and they won't return under Tan.

As to Wales they've been getting it right for the last 5-10 years

We are some of those who have not bothered with City and I know a few more who also have not bothered and it all boils down to being treated poorly. We all have different opinions on how the Club have got things wrong but treating us like fools takes the biscuit.

Sorry to say Wales got it wrong with these tournament tickets, should have been 1 ticket to everyone who had paid to be tournament member, let the rest fight over the remaining tickets. They blamed uefa but they could have sorted it, why else employ people in a ticketing dept

Funny I use to say Reward the loyal Cardiff City Fans first before all the Glory hunters came along and then deserted our club leaving it divided and in chaos and we're still deep in it.
Yet many had ago at me for it.
Those who bought new season tickets in the two glory years should have paid high prices compared to the loyal fans. Also when we got relegated our season tickets went up because the price freeze had finished.

We are paying for it all now with low crowds and low season ticke sales, a sad fact.

Prices are cheap now, but a bit to late.

Agree with you Annis, City have lost a hardcore of supporters who have become fed up with being treated badly.

Hopefully Welsh FA can see who have been members for past few tournaments or what was the point in forking out for it?

Karl, many on here will disagree with us, but I know for a fact it's not money with some it's how bad the club treated them during the red so Glory years and they won't return under Tan.

As to Wales they've been getting it right for the last 5-10 years

wales tickets have been cheap for quite a few years now, i've stopped going now all the glory fans have moved in, but i used to pay about £20 for an adult ticket, child tickets were around £5 or less as far as i remember.

under toshack our crowds were poor, even under speed they were poor. people only started attending in good numbers when we started getting results. what does that tell you? as quickly as they moved in, glory fans desert, same as with cardiff city.

The FAW site is now listing the Moldova, Georgia and Serbia home games as at the City stadium, previously only the Georgia game was listed at CCS, so maybe they have come to a decision at last.

http://www.faw.cymru/en/wales/fixtures/

I bought tournament tickets on my FAW membership for myself and 4 other family members as gold members could have bought up to 6 if I remember correctly, we wasn't as popular back then. They have all now joined up as it looks like 1 ticket per member, does that mean they should go to the back of the queue as glory hunters ?

Prior to the Euro qualifiers me and the family went to every welsh home game, friendly or otherwise.

We were not members of the FAW as we had been in previous years as felt there was no need as plenty of tickets available for all games.

That changed when Wales started to do well in the qualifiers and the a great many Glory hunters suddenly became fans

We still managed to get tickets for most of the games but please do not call all these "reborn" welsh fans loyal supporters - where were they when we played Norway, Costa Rica etc.

The FAW should make a decision quickly as otherwise there will not be enough tickets for all new members and that would be a disappointing situtaion

i think people who have been going for yrs should be looked after but i dont think it should be ppl who went to france cos i know ppl who have never been to a wales game and they went to france but if the welsh fa look after people who had bought tickets to previous qualifiers then i dont think ppl will moan