***YBIG STATEMENT R/E MEETING YESTERDAY***

AidoM wrote: Lads and lassies,   I have been away from YBIG, except for some (very) odd posting for the last year or so; I have been lurking and keeping an eye on things but I feel the situation in the last few days has risen the blood pressure considerably.   First let me say that Kev and the lads who met the FAi deserve huge credit for the way in which they mobilised themselves and other fans.   I was, with others from YBIG, involved in discussions with the FAI in relation to a ticketing system a few years ago when I was a Fans Liaison Officer (FLO) in 2010/2011. As has been well documented here and elsewhere a system for allocationg away tickets based on season tickets, away match attendance was proposed to the FAI. The system, as proposed, would have been open and transparent.   At that time, the (infamous) "Ticket Office" was still in place in the FAI. Because the FAI's "business" was not ticketing they outsourced their ticketing arrangements to Ticketmaster. At that time the FAI began to comply with the FIFA/UEFA requirement that all travelling fans had to submit their details to the FAI. These details have been available to the FAI since that time. However, a fundamental flaw in that system was that the details of those travelling with the FAI's official travel agent, Abbey Travel, were not submitted to the FAI and I understand that it was a similar situation for people who got tickets through a (then smaller number of) supporters clubs.   YBIG at that time, and it has always been acknowledged by the FAI, was considered as being representative of fans' views; it was to YBIG that the FAI came when trying to get an atmosphere going in Croke Park and Landsowne ....... or more correctly YBIG approached them ........... and it has been through the efforts of YBIG and not the FAI that the Singing Section and other fan initiatives have taken off.   The FAI have known for a considerable time that the allocation for Scotland was going to be the minimum 5%. As with so much from them they failed to communicate this to anybody, fans or media, until very late in the day. The relatively long knowledge of the low allocation should have and could have enabled them to devise a fair system for allocating the tickets, but more importantly communicate to fans how it was going to be done. It has taken a week, in no small measure due to the efforts of Kev and the lads here, to extract from the FAI, with the same seeming degree of pain associated with dental extraction, to find out how they did it.   I have to agree with everything Kev has said in relation to them moving the goalposts for allocating away tickets. It had always been indicated by the FAI that priority would be given to season ticket holders followed by those who had travelled to away matches. JD made such statements prior to Euro 2012 and games before that; at no stage was it ever indicated that supporters clubs would get preference in the allocation of such tickets (and as has been stated here YBIG is not a supporters club - despite it's high level of involvement)   What has been very obvious in the last few days is that the FAI does not have any system for the allocation of tickets for away games ......... it seems to change depending on what way the wind is blowing ......they can (and apparently do) make it up on a match by match basis. The words such as "understand" and "indicate" that I have used above underline this, because it has never been possible to get a definitive position on it.   The FAI have been very quick to take advantage of YBIG but I have to say that at this stage I feel that YBIG has been let down big time by the FAI

Excellent post Aido

well written and thought out , no waffle just facts......very concise


Why can't you be like that in real life??








Edited by Sligo Hornet - 30 Oct 2014 at 11:36am

WindBag wrote: Brilliantly concise summary Aido.....good to see ya back.   Cuts out all the bullsh1t and excellent conclusion.     anyone external reading it will understand the issue

Still thinking where do we go from here ?

daithi wrote: dunloybhoy wrote: whilst I got a ticket for the Scotland game through the supporters club im a member of in Belfast I still share the disgust of the fans here who didn't get a ticket. to me, I don't feel I warrant a ticket over most of the people on here. yes I was in Germany the other week and last year as well but that wouldn't warrant me getting one over you guys. I am happy im going but not happy that a lot of people in a SC will get yet not having been to an away game in their lives. the lads in our SC have been to the euros, Estonia, Austria, Macedonia, wales etc. etc. but that's as individuals at different times. there's probably a handful who have a decent away record and deserve a ticket and yes they all go to the home games but its still not right to get as many. the FAI need a points scoring system in place against each person who travels to an away game, their record should be taken into account when requesting a ticket. the points should be against the individual and when it comes to tickets being divvied out those with the most points should get. just a query, I've seen some say they requested 3 tickets for example. is this based on the other 2 people they are asking for having a good away record to match theirs? because if they haven't a good away record how can they get a ticket? should tickets not be requested as an individual? god so many permutations! but seriously I do support the implementation of a away ticketing scheme. this should not happen again. Just in my case there will be 13 of us travelling of which i have been looking for 3 tickets 3 of us are on the 1 booking number in the FAI, 2 of us would fall under the all aways catergory with ST and the other lad would be under 50% with ST (he knew and understood that he would probably not get a ticket)  the rest are just 1 game here and 1 game there but had no illusions of getting away tickets anyway

yeah I was wondering what people were requested say 3 or 4 for and were they expecting to get them.

the CSC I was in when it came to getting away tickets for games it was based on the SC's requests during the season. due to not requesting as many as the Scottish based clubs when it came to smaller stadiums or high demands we got very few e.g. Hearts away 2/3, rangers away 10 but where they was no big demand like Kilmarnock away we could get 20 if need be. the SC's record was taken into account the allocation deemed fair IMO and then it was up to the individual SC to allocated based on their own policy's and rules.

its the way it should be for our Ireland SC's if that's the FAI's policy to give tickets to them now as a priority.