London Football Match
 

I'm trying to get to a london match (charlton) in august, but supposedly non-members (or non- season ticket holders)cannot purchase tickets online and by the time I get there it'll probably be sold out (it's the home opener.) I don't know if this is true for all of the london teams, if so how hard is it to get tickets to a match? I would like to see a match, if not premiership than something lower...any advice would be helpful.

You are aware that Charlton are no longer in the premiership. The first home match is against the newly promoted Scunthorpe United. I would doubt that this would be a sellout, but should be an interesting game with both sides new to the Championship and out to prove something. I have had a quick look at Charlton's website and can't see where tickets are restricted to members. It was showing open for general sale. Good Luck

If you go to http://tinyurl.com/2zp3hp you can buy them now online - no need to be a member.

I'd be amazed if the game was a sell out. Charlton were relegated at the end of last season and have just sold their best player to Spurs (where else?).

Charlton's a bit of a pig to get to as well. Is this a game you have your heart set on?

vervid and hetismij - when I go to the website to buy I get a form where I fill out my information there's a box titled verification - when I click on it it takes me to a message that says

"Only Season Ticket Holders and Members can buy Tickets On-Line
To ensure that away fans do not purchase tickets in the home stands during matches at The Valley, we only sell tickets to fans who are either Season Ticket holders or Club Members.

If you do not provide a valid/current Season Ticket number or Membership number we will not process your ticket order. If the number proves to be false we will not process your order, even if your order appears to be accepted by the club web site.

Any Season Ticket holder or Member who purchases tickets for others who later are deemed to be away fans will have their ticket purchasing rights revoked."

Which I think is kind of odd, but anyways, I hope It's not sold out...I guess i'll take my chances

Audere - This really isn't the game I had my heart set on - since I don't follow football much and have seen previous charlton games in the tele, I kind of picked em as "my team." of course I would have no problem seeing another team's match around the same time (aug 11th), any suggestions?

Oh i thought your post was talking about real football like the one to be played this fall at Wembley - a real NFL season opening game, to which tickets supposedly were snapped up before they were put on sale.

Bob; only a fool would watch those jessies.

Back in the real world your fixtures for that time are:

Aston Villa v Liverpool, 17:15
Bolton v Newcastle, 15:00
Derby v Portsmouth, 15:00
Everton v Wigan, 15:00
Middlesbro' v Blackburn, 15:00
Sunderland v Tottenham, 12:45
West Ham v Man City, 15:00

You might just get tickets for the West Ham game - which would be beter than Charlton (although there would be a high possibility of trouble for WHUFC v MCFC).

Charlton are a bit of a family club - rather than a hot bed of fanaticism.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday, 12 August 2007
Arsenal v Fulham, 12:00
Chelsea v Birmingham, 13:30
Man Utd v Reading, 16:00

You could always try telephoning them to explain the situation and ask for their advice?

Once they realise you're not a ticket tout or a potential troublemaker from Scunthorpe they might be quite helpful.

That's good advice. Another possibility would be to log onto the various CAFC message boards and ask the fans for help.

The THFC boards I read often have this sort of thing on them and the fans are helpful.

Echoing - write or Email direct to the club (CAFC) and see if they can help. I know other clubs can keep tickets for overseas fans.

I have met up with several members of the Scandanavian branch of the Portsmouth supporters club, and they have always said that the club were very understanding in relation to foreign travelling fans. Many other clubs are equally accomodating.

The reason that you are not allowed to sell tickets to away fans is due to UK legislation which applies only to football.

There are laws on segregation of fans due to the minority of "supporters" that have, over the years, tarnished the reputation of the rest of the supporters. This was highlighted when English teams were banned from European competitions in the 1980s after serious trouble in Brussels when Liverpool met Juventus in the European Cup Final.

Many of the laws don't apply to other sports such as Rugby (Union and League), Cricket etc. All top division football stadia have to be all-seater and no alcohol is allowed to be consumed within view of the pitch. To be fair, football in England has mostly cleaned up its act (wish I could say the same for us in Wales with Cardiff City), but then again - many fans can't afford to watch Premier league games week in week out. Prawn sandwich anyone?

Wow - the ACLU would have that law declared un-Constitution in minutes in the Land of the Free.

Ok, it seems Arsenal and Charlton have a members only policy for online ticket sales, and Arsenal have a members only policy for certain matches - you can see which on their website.
Chelsea also only sell to members online. Tickets go on sale to nonmembers in person the day before the match if there are any left.
So i think you will have to try to get to the stadium the day before your chosen match to have any chance of a ticket. It will not be a good one though.
I suspect this rule applies to all English premiership and Championship clubs.

I'm fairly sure I've read on this board about some clubs reserving a few tickets specifically for overseas tourists, so I think, as others have said, talking directly to the clubs would be a good starting point.

heh, its probably the most effort anyone's ever gone to to see a Charlton match :)

>.heh, its probably the most effort anyone's ever gone to to see a Charlton match<<

I should play that card. You might get all sorts of concessions from them, or something!

Thanks for all of the help everyone. If i'm going through this much trouble, I might as well try and see if I can see a quality match (since everyone is dissing Charlton)I'll ask some of my more knowledable friends to see which matches they think are the best and then proceed to email the club.

However, I'm pretty shocked and dissapointed to hear there is no beer sold in the stadiums, But I guess you can't have everything (quality sport and english ale)

Beer is sold in stadiums, lager usually. You just can't take it to your seat.

In london you can pretty much forget about getting tickets for Spurs, The plumsted pikeys or chlescum. The other teams are easy enough if you plan ahead.

West Ham have a good atmosphere, Fulham are another charlton. Outside the premiership Palace (palace, who the *&£! are Palace?) are worth a trip.

Yes, quite right - you can't take a beer to your seat. As I said earlier, you can't consume alcohol within view of the pitch. You can drink in your executive box as long as you close the curtains - and the "freebie hangers-on" certainly do that at the Millennium Stadium (don't know about elsewhere!).

Just to give an example of the difference between the football supporter and those of other sports - When I went to see the Rugby Union European Cup final at the City Ground in Nottingham in 2001, it was the first rugby game at this famous football stadium. The stewards couldn't believe that we Llanelli fans were mixing and drinking with the Leicester Tiger fans (the same happened in Leicester earlier this year). They just wouldn't allow both sets of fans to mix in football, sad though it is.

Sorry, that should be European semi-final. We're not that good!

If all else fails, touts will be selling tickets in front of the stadium on the day of the match. I never, ever had a problem getting a ticket to any match, including but not limited to ManU, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, etc.

In fact I bought a GREAT ticket to a ManU home match sitting right next to ManU bench for ~10BPs over face value. Had the match program signed by Sir Alex, Beckham and Giggs.

every imaginable ticket here is for sale on e-bay - english soccer too?

No. The resale of UK football tickets is illegal under section 166 of the Criminal Order and Justice Act 1994 unless the resale is authortised by the organisor of the match.

Ebay is "policed".

As I've tried to allude to in previous posts, there are good reasons why tickets cannot be resold so that crowds of opposing supporters aren't mixed.

<b>AR</b>,

not that I would buy from these guys because they are way over priced but here is a list of London based websites/touts re selling tickets for just about any game:

http://www.theticketbay.net/sub_cat....FRf5gAodjUszsg

http://www.ticketteam.co.uk/browse.aspx?type=football

and if you want more, just Google.....

Yes, there is a huge problem with touting.
You can see the touts in full view of the police at any sporting event and they seem unwilling to do anything about it.
These websites are just as brazen. I suppose Ebay is policed more heavily because of the criticism it evokes.

See the following:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ticket_resale

If you google &quot;X supporters club america&quot; where X is the team you're interested in, you'll probably find a website for the American supporters club, who can usually procure tickets to matches for visiting Americans. You'll have to join the club, but you'll get the tickets. Trying to deal with an English soccer club directly from across the ocean seems to be a pointless and frustrating enterprise.

I can only really speak for Spurs. At the Lane the touts usually try to get twice face value (ie &pound;60-120). However for the Arse game that goes up to around &pound;250.

One thing to be aware of is that touting football tickets (as mentioned above) is illegal - although rarely enforced. This means you have abswolutely no comeback if you buy a forgery or other dud.

Palen Q

It might be unconstitutional, but we don't have a written constitution.

We do however have a human rights act that enshrines the right to life in law. You may consider he law unconstitutional but people don't die at football matches any more (with the exception of the odd heart attack) and town centres are not smashed up on match days either.

And as I understand it, there are limitations even in US law to things like freedom of speech and trade. In effect, selling tickets on an unrestricted basis can be close to shouting &quot;fire&quot; in a crowded theatre, or worse.

I'm not necessarily against it - just that it seems unconstitutional and perhaps one reason Gordon Brown wants to, i hear, enshrine rights in a written constitution.

I really wonder how under EU law UK can restrict the movement abroad of alleged soccer hooligans - that boggles the mind - keeping out of stadiums in one thing, but not letting travel - that's gotta be against something Brusselscrats have created.

PalenQ - I have often wondered the same myself. In my normal life I am an educated professional who is generally treated reasonably. I have been fortunate enough never to have been in trouble with the police or authorities.

For some reason, if I purchase a ticket for a football match, wear a replica shirt, of am standing in the same vicinity of a railway station as football fans I become some sort of subhuman scum in the eyes of the police and general public.

I can be forced into caged areas and detained after games (several grounds). I can be herded along roads and prevented from making my own way to te ground - even though I know I am now going to be 20 minutes late for kick off . At one game the Thames Valley Police had even dressed up nicely in riot gear and strangely removed their identity numbers while pushing anybody they though might be football releated onto trains - even if they didn't want to go by train, and didn't have a ticket.

I understand that there is a stererotype of a loutish moron as soccer fan. I have met up with many who fit the profile well, but through football I have met up and correspond with a host of intelligent, articulate people including an Oscar winning director, a BAFTA winning scriptwriter, a respected journalist from the Times of London, and a lecturere is Astrophysics at a Major American university.

willit - well said. And i profess that before i started reading various Fodorites like you and others in this thread who i respect greatly and think, except perhaps for audere, are generally law abiding - i too though previously that most soccer fans were louts - how wrong i was.

On Coronation Street, nerdy Roy of Roy's Rolls in real life i guess is an avid soccer fan.

Thanks for helping dispell that notion. A few bad apples really can ruin the barrel some would think

PalenQ - The truth is that we don't have to bend to EU law when it comes to the movement of our own citizens. Passports are not given as a right but have to be applied for. What happens during away matches is that convicted (or unconvicted but known) troublemakers have to surrender their passports. This is how restriction of movement is achieved.

It is not restricted to fans only. During the European Championships in Holland and Belgium, there were sickening scenes of violence and the cameras picked out a professional football player (ironically, a Welshman playing at the time for Cardiff City).

As for the EU constitution - Brown can want what he likes, but it will not be delivered without a UK referendum - or he can forget the General Election after that (unless the French and Danish scupper it first!). I think the Poles have got Merkel's ambitions just about summed up in their outburst earlier this week.

The Poles know all about the Germans. We should listen to them.

THings are as bad as willit describes on occasion (but he has the misfortune to follow Pompey who do have a large moron support - especially away (as do Spurs - so I have the same experiences).

However they used to be much worse - pitchside fences, football specials, the abortive ID card scheme, and so on. Mind you it did keep the women and jonnie-come-latelies away so it wasn't all bad.

Audere - who will publicly approve of twatting any adult in a jester's hat at football.

&quot;Audere - who will publicly approve of twatting any adult in a jester's hat at football.&quot;

Gets my vote - especially if they carry a bell and are the world's worst bugle player (90 minutes at Selhurst park - two rows in front of said moron saw to this).

Sorry to the 99.995% of fodorites who has no idea what I am talking about.

Ditto anyone over 12 who has their face painted. And that wanker at fratton park with the bell.

Did you know that the self abusing pompey campanologist is actually an antique dealer? Says it all really.

Audere - pining for Harry the Dog.

Have to leave the jesters hat at home? Damn.

thereyet