Doncaster to give away 7,500 tickets

[TBM]

Doncaster will give away 7,500 free tickets for Friday's match against fellow Championship strugglers Crystal Palace, available on a first-come first-served basis.

Sad that they have to give away so many for what could well be their season saver.

[Row Z Royal]

Isn't that 3/4 of the ground?

[roadrunner]

Isn't that 3/4 of the ground?

A little under half.

[Elmer Park]

What is fundamentally wrong about this is that visiting fans still have to pay full whack. The rule about away fans not being charged more than the home fans isn't worth the paper it's written on. I wrote to the Football League once when I heard on one occasion the home fans behind the goal at the opposite end to us were paying ten pounds less than we were for otherwise identical seats. The Football League wrote back and said tough luck.

At least when RFC offer a special cut price deal we offer the same deal to visiting fans.

[Tails]

Fair play to the club, that is all.

[biscuitman]

What is fundamentally wrong about this is that visiting fans still have to pay full whack. The rule about away fans not being charged more than the home fans isn't worth the paper it's written on. I wrote to the Football League once when I heard on one occasion the home fans behind the goal at the opposite end to us were paying ten pounds less than we were for otherwise identical seats. The Football League wrote back and said tough luck.

At least when RFC offer a special cut price deal we offer the same deal to visiting fans.

Because it's not illegal. Perhaps next time write to the Football Supporters Fed instead of the Football League who don't give a toss in issues like this.

[roadrunner]

I'm sure Dirk has said that clubs can do promos a few times a season without having to offer the same prices to the away support. Doncaster have done nothing wrong. They want extra bums on seats. Fair play to 'em.

[Svlad Cjelli]

They're called local promotions - each club is allowed to do them 4 times a year.

The Football League rules (31.2.11) state:

“Discounts or special promotions (in each case for one match only) made available to supporters of the Home Club must also be made available on a similar basis to visiting supporters provided always that each Club shall be permitted to designate four (4) matches per season as 'local promotion' Matches where this regulation shall be deemed not to apply.”

FSF Policy is :

The FSF oppose the rule on local promotions but a number of clubs like this rule and unfortunately the turkeys aren’t voting for Christmas (yet). The aim of these promotions is to build up long term support – therefore clubs argue they shouldn’t have to pass on to away fans who’ll only return when their own team play.

We do not feel this is an acceptable excuse. Away fans spend more than anyone to follow their team and almost inevitably buy a few extra pints and pies in the ground too so it seems pretty unfair to penalise them in our eyes. They also increase an atmosphere immeasurably which in turn encourages home supporters to attend and home clubs to financially benefit. Would you go week in, week out if there were no away fans to banter with?