Post by Melsy on Mar 2, 2006 7:51:36 GMT 10
$305 for a ticket
By JOSH MASSOUD
March 02, 2006
TICKETS to Sunday's A-League grand final are being sold for astronomical prices as demand rockets.
But buyer beware: you might not even get into the match.
Football Federation Australia says tickets on-sold at inflated prices are in breach of sale conditions.
And officials have vowed to cancel any tickets they identify as having been hocked over the internet.
The FFA has been monitoring transactions on popular bid site eBay, where tickets were yesterday trading at a considerable mark-up.
One pair of premium seats was bought for $305 – more than a 150 per cent hike on the combined $120 face value. Bidding for a diminishing pool of seats is expected to heighten – forcing up prices even more – as the sold-out Sydney-Central Coast decider draws closer.
With the FFA moving to cancel tickets identified as having been on-sold at a profit, hundreds of fans who have purchased on eBay face the danger of being denied entry to Sunday's decider.
"There's a possibility for that to occur if we believe they are holding tickets sold over the internet," an FFA spokesman said.
"If we've got enough evidence to suggest that the ticket was sold on eBay there's a risk the person will find their ticket won't work."
FFA's crackdown echoes that of rival football codes in recent seasons. Tickets sold via cyberspace to last year's NRL grand final were cancelled and re-distributed to charity.
The Australian Rugby Union sniffed out a batch of illegitimate sales prior to last year's Bledisloe Cup game, while scores of State of Origin league fans were barred from trying to enter Suncorp Stadium with tickets bought on eBay in 2004.
"We don't condone people buying tickets on eBay – it's against our terms and conditions for tickets to be sold above face value," the spokesman said.
"It's a case of buyer beware – we do investigate these tickets and we are monitoring the site."
FFA would not confirm whether any tickets had been cancelled.
The organising body did, however, confirm it would review its processes for next year's decider after thousands of Mariners fans missed out.
Visiting supporters were only allocated 5000 seats – far from enough according to Michael Kmet, a lead member of Central Coast cheer squad "The Marinators".
"It's an FFA event, not a Sydney FC event. All tickets should have gone on sale at the same time," he said.
Central Coast fans are also fuming about Sydney supporters driving north to buy extra tickets from the Mariners' allocation.
"They had every chance to buy tickets last week – to take them away from Central Coast fans is a disgrace," Mr Kmet said.
More than 5000 Mariners fans are expected to travel to Aussie Stadium for the final, with Central Coast Stadium officials also announcing yesterday the match will be shown on the big screen at the Gosford ground.
By JOSH MASSOUD
March 02, 2006
TICKETS to Sunday's A-League grand final are being sold for astronomical prices as demand rockets.
But buyer beware: you might not even get into the match.
Football Federation Australia says tickets on-sold at inflated prices are in breach of sale conditions.
And officials have vowed to cancel any tickets they identify as having been hocked over the internet.
The FFA has been monitoring transactions on popular bid site eBay, where tickets were yesterday trading at a considerable mark-up.
One pair of premium seats was bought for $305 – more than a 150 per cent hike on the combined $120 face value. Bidding for a diminishing pool of seats is expected to heighten – forcing up prices even more – as the sold-out Sydney-Central Coast decider draws closer.
With the FFA moving to cancel tickets identified as having been on-sold at a profit, hundreds of fans who have purchased on eBay face the danger of being denied entry to Sunday's decider.
"There's a possibility for that to occur if we believe they are holding tickets sold over the internet," an FFA spokesman said.
"If we've got enough evidence to suggest that the ticket was sold on eBay there's a risk the person will find their ticket won't work."
FFA's crackdown echoes that of rival football codes in recent seasons. Tickets sold via cyberspace to last year's NRL grand final were cancelled and re-distributed to charity.
The Australian Rugby Union sniffed out a batch of illegitimate sales prior to last year's Bledisloe Cup game, while scores of State of Origin league fans were barred from trying to enter Suncorp Stadium with tickets bought on eBay in 2004.
"We don't condone people buying tickets on eBay – it's against our terms and conditions for tickets to be sold above face value," the spokesman said.
"It's a case of buyer beware – we do investigate these tickets and we are monitoring the site."
FFA would not confirm whether any tickets had been cancelled.
The organising body did, however, confirm it would review its processes for next year's decider after thousands of Mariners fans missed out.
Visiting supporters were only allocated 5000 seats – far from enough according to Michael Kmet, a lead member of Central Coast cheer squad "The Marinators".
"It's an FFA event, not a Sydney FC event. All tickets should have gone on sale at the same time," he said.
Central Coast fans are also fuming about Sydney supporters driving north to buy extra tickets from the Mariners' allocation.
"They had every chance to buy tickets last week – to take them away from Central Coast fans is a disgrace," Mr Kmet said.
More than 5000 Mariners fans are expected to travel to Aussie Stadium for the final, with Central Coast Stadium officials also announcing yesterday the match will be shown on the big screen at the Gosford ground.
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