It’s been brought to my attention that the NSC Ticket Exchange is operating illegally. Although I was aware that the sale of football tickets was against the law, I had hoped that NSC would be in the clear as NSC itself was neither selling the tickets, nor conducting any financial transactions around the sale of those tickets.
Since being alerted that NSC could be operating illegally, I’ve checked the relevant law - section 166 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 – which, sadly, has confirmed this to be true. The specific area of the Act relating to this is produced below.
As any action taken under the Act would be against me, and that action could include a very significant fine and/or a ban from football grounds, I hope you will understand that I feel I can no longer support the operation of the Ticket Exchange that we’ve run since the early Withdean days. The Albion is a very different club today than it was back then and, as such, comes under far greater scrutiny. Unfortunately that scrutiny does, from time to time, extend to NSC, and it seems we can no longer fly under the radar as we’ve been able to do for so many years.
Sorry - I know it's been very beneficial to many.
(1) It is an offence for an unauthorised person to -
a) sell a ticket for a designated football match, or
b) otherwise to dispose of such a ticket to another person
(2) For this purpose—
(a) a person is “unauthorised” unless he is authorised in writing to sell or otherwise dispose of tickets for the match by the organisers of the match;
(aa) a reference to selling a ticket includes a reference to-
i) offering to sell a ticket;
ii) exposing a ticket for sale;
iii) making a ticket available for sale by another;
iv) advertising that a ticket is available for purchase; and
v) giving a ticket to a person who agrees to pay for some other goods or services or offering to do so.
(b) a “ticket” means anything which purports to be a ticket; and
(c) a “designated football match” means a football match of a description, or a particular football match, for the time being designated for the purposes of this section by order made by the Secretary of State.”
Since being alerted that NSC could be operating illegally, I’ve checked the relevant law - section 166 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 – which, sadly, has confirmed this to be true. The specific area of the Act relating to this is produced below.
As any action taken under the Act would be against me, and that action could include a very significant fine and/or a ban from football grounds, I hope you will understand that I feel I can no longer support the operation of the Ticket Exchange that we’ve run since the early Withdean days. The Albion is a very different club today than it was back then and, as such, comes under far greater scrutiny. Unfortunately that scrutiny does, from time to time, extend to NSC, and it seems we can no longer fly under the radar as we’ve been able to do for so many years.
Sorry - I know it's been very beneficial to many.
(1) It is an offence for an unauthorised person to -
a) sell a ticket for a designated football match, or
b) otherwise to dispose of such a ticket to another person
(2) For this purpose—
(a) a person is “unauthorised” unless he is authorised in writing to sell or otherwise dispose of tickets for the match by the organisers of the match;
(aa) a reference to selling a ticket includes a reference to-
i) offering to sell a ticket;
ii) exposing a ticket for sale;
iii) making a ticket available for sale by another;
iv) advertising that a ticket is available for purchase; and
v) giving a ticket to a person who agrees to pay for some other goods or services or offering to do so.
(b) a “ticket” means anything which purports to be a ticket; and
(c) a “designated football match” means a football match of a description, or a particular football match, for the time being designated for the purposes of this section by order made by the Secretary of State.”