Ticket frenzy starts
TICKETS for Richmond’s first Grand Final appearance in 35 years were last night fetching up to $3500 amid a last-minute panic for a seat.
With more than 50,000 Tigers members to miss out on the big day, scalpers were looking to take advantage of demand for tickets.
One seller on Craigs List was asking $14,000 for four Grand Final tickets.
The State Government, which bans reselling of tickets to declared events such as the AFL Grand Final above face value, said it would investigate.
It says it monitors websites, including eBay, Gumtree, Locanto and the Trading Post — and requests they remove ticket listings that contravene the Major Sporting Events Act.
This year the AFL increased the competing club Grand Final ticket allocation from 15,000 each to 17,000, taking the total to 34,000.
More than 95,000 Adelaide and Richmond members — almost enough to fill the MCG — face Grand Final heartache as they miss out. Richmond has almost 73,000 members and Adelaide almost 57,000.
Tigers fan Julie Eyre, from Torquay, was last night nervously waiting to find out whether she would receive a ticket this morning.
“My mum and daughter are gold members and my other daughter and I are silver, so we’re unsure how many tickets we will receive,” Ms Eyre said.
“My mum, who is in her 70s, has been following Richmond since Tommy Hafey.
“She said to me if we only get two tickets, you should go with one of the girls, but I said we’ll try to find a way to get her there.”
Long-suffering Tigers fan Lee Nichols, from Ballarat, was also waiting to find out whether he had secured a coveted ticket.
“I’ll see how I go, and I should find out by this afternoon,” Mr Nichols said.
“Hopefully, I’ll be lucky otherwise I will be forced to watch the game on television.”
The AFL Fans Association is calling for competing club members to share 50,000 tickets with the increase taken from the corporate allocation of about 17,000 and other AFL clubs, who share about 7000.
AFLFA vice-president and Tigers tragic Cheryl Critchley appealed for suits to give up their seats.
“Part of the problem is the corporates and neutrals who go to the Grand Final when their team is not competing,” Ms Critchley said.
“I would appeal to them to let a long-suffering Richmond or Adelaide fan have their ticket, as they should not be there ahead of them.
“I’ve refused two Grand Final invitations in the past because I didn’t feel I should be there when my team wasn’t competing.”
The MCG has a total capacity of 100,024, consisting of 95,000 seats and about 5000 standing room spaces.
In recent years, competing club members have shared 30,000 tickets, MCC members 25,000, AFL members/Medallion Club 21,000, corporates/ stakeholders about 17,000 and all 18 AFL clubs about 7000 tickets.