When Away Is Home

With the prospect of Championship Football now a distinct possibility for next season, the prospect of away games being in more demand becomes higher whilst the ticket allocations may reduce on police advice and the like.

With this in mind, I was reminded of an article I put in "A Touch Far Vetched Issue 2" under my brief editorship. The article, by Clive Hughes, is entitled "When Away Is Home" and looks at the problems faced by away fans…..

"Well after many years in the planning it’s here. We finally start a league campaign in our new stadium.

There have been many discussions over the weeks since the ticketing announcements, with most in agreement, that the match day prices are about right, and do compare very favourably with other teams in our division, and in fact better than some of the prices we had to pay at away games in League 2.

What has been the bone of contention amongst many were the season ticket arrangements. The large majority commented on the fact there was no discount for early purchase, as there had been in previous years. What was welcomed was the continuation of the 12 game season tickets, which at first, seemed was not going to be the case. This allows many who for various reasons can’t attend all games to show their support for the club with their money up front. For many locals it gives the added benefit of having preference for any ‘all ticket’ home games whether in the league or cup.

This was also the reason many Exiles previously bought the 12 game packages, as it also gave the added benefit of putting them second in the pecking order for all ticket away games behind the full season ticket holders. Without this, many Exiles would have struggled to see the Swans at away games, which to some were local games. Some still struggled, and we know of cases that for the Bristol Rovers and Cheltenham games, fans in Bristol and the South West bought tickets for the home end due to the high demand for a small allocation.

Now that we now have a twenty thousand seater stadium, with close on 17,000 seats available for home fans, most regulars should be guaranteed a ticket for any sell out games.

This sadly cannot be said for away games. The fact that we have doubled our season ticket sales for this season, will now make it harder for Exiles to get tickets. No-one can argue that season ticket holders should be first in line for home games, but should it also be the case for away games?

Many away game last season saw good support, but in their hundreds, giving no problem for Exiles to turn up and pay on the day. For the higher profile games we had sell outs, giving very little chance of tickets to regular non season ticket away fans, who, due to the distances involved, can’t justify the purchase of a 12 game season ticket. So as stated before, fans either went into home areas, (not the best way to enjoy a game), or missed out completely.

Is this what further success will bring?

Although the further up the league we go, we will get larger allocation for away games, but, we will also see a larger amount of home fans travelling. This season we still have many clubs with grounds with capacities less than 12,000, so we could still see the scramble for tickets.

Depending on our league position and the timing of the games, Bristol and Swindon, being the nearest games next season, could well be all ticket games. The same could be said for Yeovil. The next nearest game to Swansea will be Walsall. Another game that could be all ticket, making it difficult for Midland based fans to get tickets for. Bournemouth and Brentford are other examples where London and Southern based fans could miss out on.

Many clubs mostly in the Premiership, like West Brom and Birmingham City, have tried to repay the loyalty of fans that travel away, but this again only benefits ‘home’ based fans. Their schemes are based on travel clubs, being members, much in the same way as our own Travel Club, and the more you travel on organised coaches, the better your chances of tickets for away games. Many others give priority through differing ‘loyalty points’ schemes, but these again are based on attendance at home games.

So still there is no answer to the hundreds of fans living away from Swansea that attend a large percentage of non all-ticket away games.

One option could of course be to have a scheme based on ticket stubs from away games, but that could well be for the future as many clubs in the lower divisions don’t give out tickets at the turnstiles.

A further option could be to ask the help of other clubs in issuing vouchers at their games but this, even with their agreement would come with an additional cost, which would have to be covered.

Would fans be prepared to pay maybe a nominal administration charge? A difficult question, as it would still not guarantee a match ticket, unless of course first priority was given to those with the required amount of vouchers. I doubt if such a scheme would go down too well, as it would again take away one of the benefits of buying a home season ticket.

It does seem strange that only a few years ago, this would not need discussing.

With the current stronger fan base and the greater amount of fans travelling to away games, this problem will get greater, not only for the Exiles, but also to an extent Swansea based fans.

There’s no easy answer, but in the name of fairness, does need one. Just as the club mustn’t forget the 3,500 to 4,000 hard core support of a few years ago, it also mustn’t forget it has a hard core of support that can’t get to home games but many away ones.

The support given at distant away games, too far for many to travel to from Swansea, should get some recognition. Maybe the money paid out doesn’t go into the Swansea bank account, but points earned do matter.

This is not a case of categorising one set of fans against another, as we all crave greater success for the club, but for every winner there is a loser.

Let’s hope the losers aren’t the ones who keep loyal to Swansea throughout Britain and beyond.

Let’s find an answer before it becomes more of a problem than it is today."

Back Issues Of A Touch Far Vetched Are Available from their website