This is bad. Really, really bad.
A post on the Melbourne Victory forum over the weekend explained the FFA’s plans for seating arrangements during Season 4. It’s not pretty:
With all the debate over Home End Membership and posts that have appeared on Ultras Tifo, the Sydney FC forum and on this forum, I.T.A. wishes to clarify what the arrangements that are being put in place by the FFA are for Season 4. These changes will have significant implications for active and non-active support. It must also be stressed that the following directives are applicable for all active support areas across the A-League.
Following advice from a corporate risk management “business resilience” consultancy firm, the FFA have dictated that all active support areas and many non-active support areas will be reserved seating. To access these areas, a person is obliged to purchase a ticket in this particular area, as opposed to the dynamic General Admission system that is about to be phased out. Although not finalised, club members will be required to follow a similar system, where a seat is likely to be attached to their membership. These arrangements are still to be finalised completely, but from all reports, there is very little scope for flexibility on the key aspects of this directive. It must also be stressed that this was not a decision made by the clubs or the various stadia and we understand that significant resistance to the proposal did exist, but was to no avail.
Both the South and the North Ends will be fully ticketed and this clearly has massive implications for the growth and artistic quality of active support and the independence and freedom of every club supporter in the country. I.T.A. believe that these two things are absolutely fundamental to the on-going success of football in this country and in order for our football communities and culture to continue to flourish. We also believe that this move undermines the FFA’s own edict, duties and obligations towards “building a very inclusive, mutually valuable relationship between FFA and the Australian Football Community”
In time, the North Terrace as a whole will define their position on this, but it is fair to say that there is genuine concern about the implications of such a directive. Especially considering it appears to contravene a healthy and effective working agreement and system that the club and the North Terrace had in place.
This isn’t just bad for active supporters, although it’s as good as a nail in the coffin for them. It’s also bad news for the average member who won’t be able to sit with mates he or she invites along to games.
Very few things would make me consider not getting a membership, but if these plans are enacted, I will have to think long and hard before giving the club my support and money for another season.
Guido has more about the issue on his blog, The Accidental Australian.
6 responses so far ↓
1 chris // May 26, 2008 at 10:55 pm
in a stadium like telstra dome it will be hard to enforce this decision on level 3 as the stadium is never at capacity for home and away games…
on the other hand for platinum and gold class tickets i have no problem with them being arranged seating as it is quite alot of money… yet in regard to the northern and southern terraces ( i dont know the group names) but maybe they can be allocated a number of seats and it be the responsibility of those organisations (supporter groups) to organise their own seating arrangements for their members, and their members only (ie not kids who wanna cause a fuss and bring a flare or two).
This may work in advantage for these groups as they will be given power to govern their own memebers and the possibility to show how organised, civil… yet entertaining they can be… if these groups work with telstra dome i see no problem…
so how about this…
level 3- first in… better seats (like it should be, i dont turn up an hour before the game to get shitty seats)
level2- platinum and gold areas, arranged seating and reduced seating area, as these sections NEVER fill.
level 1 - Supporter ends being governed by each group, who have a designated pass and only members can enter ( again first in best seats)
what do u guys think?
2 Astri // May 27, 2008 at 4:53 am
Once again we have Australian officials who are not conversant with football culture. This is the main problem here. The powers that be are convinced that AFL crowds are the prototype because of minimal crowd problems and supposed self-policing of the crowd to keep each other in line. That’s AFL culture and its totally different to Football. The active support is terrific to watch and the atmosphere is fantastic, but there has been too much overkillfrom stadium officials to stiffle something that is growing fast. A move like this will set us back 10 years and people will stop attending, simple as that. I agree that there should be no jumping on level 3 for commonsense reasons but as far as I’m concerned leave level 1 as it is and don’t stop groups sitting together, for gods sake.
3 Rosco // May 27, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I being 1 of those people who like to drag my non member mates with me to the games and wander in and stand amonst the Sth or Nth ends depending on where i enter the ground will be thinking hard before i buy another membership. I love my team but I also love the spectacle and atmosphere that can be created when I go with my mates, sit on level 1 (anywhere I like) and sing to my hearts content. Thanks FFA. Looks like a lot more games at the pub for me.
4 Philip // May 27, 2008 at 9:09 pm
This is a shit move by the FFA and very dissapointing for football in general where the match and the crowd support doesnt need sterilising to AFL levels which are boring and lacking passion.
Having said that, the Nth End supporters have probably contributed greatly to this decision by external ‘agencies’ who want to clamp down on anything they dont understand or fear. You can bet your house that Nth End suporter behaviour was mentioned time and again as examples of unacceptable football crowd behaviour and crowd management issues that need to be resolved.
The stupidity of wanting to stand on Level 3, moan about Telstra Dome management and generally create disruption during V3 instead of acting like real supporters on Level 1 behind the goal makes it hard to give them any credibility and hard for them to defend their position. Clearly, they didnt want to be en-masse on L1 most of the year supporing the club so how can they complain now about new rules that will apply to a seat location that they specifically didnt want to occupy?
The most telling aspect of their ridiculous behaviour was during the last AFC match when the south end were chanting “We are South End over here” and responding to themselves “There is no-one over there.”
I hope that this decison gets overruled or the Nth End and Sth End active supporter groups work with the club to establish codes of behaviour so we can work aound the rules for the benefit of everyone who attends the games and the benefit of the game in general.
5 David // May 28, 2008 at 12:13 am
Yes, a bad decision which not only makes it difficult for the nth/sth end but losing the opportunity to invite friends and sit together is another way to inhibit the growth of the game.
Excellent way to control and market, but I’m not optimistic about the future, even the new rectangular stadiumTM which I thought might be more intimate than TD and have a good atmosphere with supporters closer to the pitch making noise.
I was hoping they would have standing areas like some of the stadia in Europe, but it seems corporate risk and “business resilience” will put paid to any progressive ways to promote the game and encourage the culture.
6 zokzek // May 28, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Just give us your money,be quiet and sit were we tell you. Unbelievable stupidity from FFA.But the fans are not stupid,they go to the games for many reasons.You can see the game on tv but go to the stadium for the atmosphere. And the FFA is about to kill it.When the profits fall this year, dont look at the clubs for reasons, look at what you did FFA.
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