PalenQ

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

AR

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.

AAFrequentFlyer

<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.....

AR

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

fnarf999

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.

audere_est_facere

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.

sashh

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.

PatrickLondon

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.

PalenQ

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.

willit

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.

PalenQ

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

AR

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.

audere_est_facere

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.

willit

&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.

audere_est_facere

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.

thereyet

Have to leave the jesters hat at home? Damn.

thereyet