SHOULD LOYAL FANS GET FIRST CALL ON TICKETS?

WALES’ heroics in France during Euro 2016 have captured the imagination of a whole nation.

But now there are fears that fans who have been behind the team even before the glory of the last two years will miss out on being able to watch future games because of a surge in interest in the national team.

The national side play their first qualifier for the 2018 World Cup in Russia in just seven weeks, a home tie against Moldova.

However, some supporters are concerned that because tournament tickets are not yet on sale, those who have given their backing to the side in the long term could struggle to do so again, with thousands of new fans set to join the queue.

There are now calls to give those who bought tournament tickets for Euro 2016 qualification priority for the 2018 campaign.

But, because the Moldova game is so close, some supporters worry there may not be enough time for such a loyalty scheme to be implemented.

Paul Corkrey, from the Football Supporters’ Federation Cymru (FSF), said: “The sooner the tickets come on sale, the better.

“When you have got a demand for tickets there are two things you have got to do.

“You can’t upset the people who have always had tickets, but you also can’t discourage new people. So it is a fine line.

“Our view at the FSF is the current tournament ticket holders bought their previous tickets before Wales had this success, so they should have a week or so to buy new ones before they go on general sale.

“We should be looking after those who were on board for the last two years.

“There are 14,000 of those so if, say, 13,000 renewed, that would still leave 17,000 for general sale, plus 1,000 corporate and 2,000 or so for away fans.”

As well as not being able to get tickets, Mr Corkrey said he hoped those who regularly went to Euro 2016 qualifiers would not be forced to purchase seats away from friends and family because of the high demand.

Asked why the FSF was so keen to reward those who had been to the last set of qualifying matches, he explained: “Success isn’t always there, and if you upset the ones who stuck by Wales through thick and thin then if it all goes down the chute then they may not come back again.

“We have to make sure they are not alienated.”

There have been some calls to host Wales games at Principality Stadium, the capacity of which – at 74,500 – is more than double that of Cardiff City Stadium. But the players are said to prefer the atmosphere at the smaller, 33,000-seater stadium.

And Mr Corkrey said any apparent advantage of being able to sell a few more tickets were firmly outweighed.

“You could get 50,000 there regularly, which would satisfy the appetite for a larger crowd, but it could still leave thousands of empty seats,” he said.

He also pointed out that Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey et al have a preference for the more intimate setting of the Bluebirds’ home ground.

And he said the dividend Wales receive for qualifying for a tournament massively overshadowed the added revenue brought in by selling a few more tickets to games – and qualifying could be in jeopardy if Wales’ players were forced to play where they did not want to.

Nobody at the FAW could be reached for comment.