[Football] Oh Dear!

[DavidinSouthampton]

For those of you who have criticised the club over their procedures on entering the Amex just think of those poor Saints fans down at St. Mary’s.

Firstly, many fans who applied for season tickets still have not received them. To allow them to go to the Man Utd game they had to queue up for paper tickets on Saturday to gain entry for yesterday’s match. These season tickets were being sent out by first class post to be delivered - when?

Secondly, there were huge queues to get into St.Mary’s for the game as the readers/scanners checking the tickets did not work. Big arguments then ensued as some stewards allowed fans in after a visual check of their tickets, other stewards refused and those fans then had to go to the ticket office to sort the problem out.

Thirdly, this gigantic cock-up meant that many supporters didn’t get into the ground until well into the first half.

Fourthly, any Covid checks were abandoned for the reasons above.

Finally, all those those who bought tickets for yesterday’s debacle will be refunded and Southampton will be investigating how this enormous shitfest occurred. Their fans are not happy.

Mrs DiS was involved in all this. She had already had problems recently because an inability to get through to their ticket office on the phone had meant she had to pay all in one for her ST rather than instalments.

Then for yesterday, she had ordered a ticket for a friend which arrived in the post at the beginning of the week. her own ST, however, had not arrived by saturday Morning, and so we drove down to St Mary's on our way to the AMEX on Saturday (she is coming over to the bright side!), saw the queue snaking round the stadium, she asked the girl on the car park barrier how long people were waiting, to which the answer was 45 minutes (some apparently queued for about 90 minutes.) We didn't have time, so left it. In the meantime, she was in touch for an online chat with supporter services - If I turn up with a print-out which shows I am a STH and I have paid, will you let me in. No meaningful answer - apologies - circumstances beyond our control. etc etc.

She was furious, to say the least, and the amount of stress it has caused over the last few days is ridiculous - we had a lot else going on this weekend apart from two football matches. A profuse apology and a full refund is the least they can do.

Barber IN - except we wouldn't want to lose him.

I have seen one joker on Facebook who is after suing the club (BHAFC) for discrimination because of the draconian measures about getting in to a match which are "against his beliefs". Good luck with that, mate. Or rather I hope and expect he will get nowhere. I think our club has done OK. There seemed to be plenty of people in suitts buzzing around on saturday keeping an ete on things, and plenty of people on the turnstiles to help people with the new stuff.

She ended going down on Sunday Morning about 9.30 and queueing for about 30 minutes

 

[tigertim68]

My only concern. On Saturday was the P&R BUS they stilled crammed as many people on the bus as they could , I would of thought that no standing should of been the policy , if not what is the point of wearing mask in the concourse, or other areas of the ground ,

 

[dazzer6666]

Yes, it was all very smooth and there were no noticeable problems. But that’s the same as Burnley. My point is the Covid safety assurances given by the club turned out to be spin rather than substance. If they weren’t going to staff it sufficiently to follow through on these assurances then they were better off going the same way as Burnley and letting people know in advance it was every man for himself. No dramas.

Not really - the fact that checking got suspended close to kick off makes no measurable difference at all to safety, because virtually everyone attending would have complied anyway.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Not really - the fact that checking got suspended close to kick off makes no measurable difference at all to safety, because virtually everyone attending would have complied anyway.

I agree. But what message does it send out for future matches ?
BTW it wasn’t that close to kick off either. We arrived at 4.30 and there were already no Covid checks to get into WSL.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

They can reduce the numbers with covid. This will then reduce the chance of onwards transmission. That's what the club owe it's staff and it's customers.

I also wonder if there is an insurance / litigation requirement here (ie, in order to be insured for this event you have to show us, the insurance company that you are taking measures to reduce the chances of being successfully sued by someone who goes on to catch serious covid which is traceable to your event).

It has been done to death on other threads but nobody has ever asked for a Covid free environment. The aim is a Covid reduced environment and that can be achieved through ensuring those entering the ground are all double jabbed.You just have to think probability. We reduce risk with our actions and venues do their bit as well. We could still catch Covid but it’s less likely. That’s it really.

I wasn't there Saturday, so i don't know your precise complaint or the precise rules, but I think in any large-crowd situation, the promise of checks is more important than the checks themselves, as checking everyone is a very difficult and time-consuming exercise. All tickets were pre-sold on the assumption that the person buying the ticket will have been double-jabbed and will be checked on entry - with that in mind the numbers of people who would have bought tickets and NOT been double-jabbed (or had exemption) is presumably very close to, if not exactly, zero. Spot checks are then made on entry. I expect checks will be stepped up in future weeks as (a) they learn of the impact on these on queue times and the failure rate of checks and (b) as people become aware that not everyone is checked, there is more likelihood of people trying to get past them. It all seems sensible to me really.

As for a covid-reduced environment, yes, and I'm sure they succeeded in that simply through creating the double-vacc / entry checks policy. But last week I went to a 50,000 person outdoor event, where conditions of entry were double-vaccination or proof of negative test, and my double-vacced self caught covid, in common with basically every single other person I know or have heard of who went to the event. My daughter has since caught it off me, double-vacced cousins of mine have caught it off friends of their's who went to the event.

I've had a lot of time in isolation to consider all of this, and its just made me realise that a covid-reduced environment is a pointless aim really because whether its this week or next, or the month after that, we are ALL going to come into contact with this virus, and Delta is so good at spreading that you will catch it, unless the the vaccine excludes it. If so, then great, but 30-40% or perhaps more of double-vacced people will catch it, get reduced symptoms because of the vaccination which is good, but many of these will be able to enter large crowd situations and continue to spread it. Therefore showing proof of vaccination is largely pointless, as it isn't proof that the person is free of the virus at all, just that that person has less likelihood of carrying the virus. As we know that most adults are fully-vacced anyway, the checks become largely pointless.

The differences in probability of the virus getting in, by comparing a group of 100% double-jabbed people with a representative sample of adults, and the differences in covid rates between the groups, becomes pretty small at this point in time.

Herd immunity cannot happen whilst vaccinated people are catching it at high rates, so get vaccinated, and then either fight it off, or get the shitty head cold and aching fever that I did for a few days, or if you're extremely unlucky get very sick - but avoiding it just ain't going to happen if you want to go to big events like football matches, or to pubs, or to shopping centres, or travel on crowded public transport.

 

[BNthree]

Curious thing is that Palace and Saints had trouble with their mobile tickets for the first home matches but they both use the same ticketing solution company that we do: FortressGB.

https://fortressgb.com

Obviously we did something right that they didn't do.

 

[Munkfish]

Im not being funny but if you went to the game at the weekend, you have to be acceptant that there is a chance you will contract it. Its not on the club to stop it from happening. If you didnt feel comfortable you simply shouldnt have been there.

 

[dazzer6666]

I agree. But what message does it send out for future matches ?
BTW it wasn’t that close to kick off either. We arrived at 4.30 and there were already no Covid checks to get into WSL.

Odd....they were checking WSL at 4.15. Waited a couple of mins max

 

[el punal]

I agree. But what message does it send out for future matches ?
BTW it wasn’t that close to kick off either. We arrived at 4.30 and there were already no Covid checks to get into WSL.

Just read the statement of thanks from the club to the fans on the official site. You might then take on board what the Albion are trying to achieve in this matter. Rome was not built in a day and all that, so just give the club a bit of slack for at least trying to do the right thing in difficult circumstances.

 

[NigelL]

I viewed Saturday as an opportunity for the club to test the expected process before it becomes mandated.

As long as the club have been able to learn from it and are in a position to amend processes and/or provide feedback I suggest it was worthwhile.

I arrived in plenty of time and Covid pass (downloaded the night before) & ID check, security check and access to WSU using an iPhone all worked smoothly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NigelL]

Curious thing is that Palace and Saints had trouble with their mobile tickets for the first home matches but they both use the same ticketing solution company that we do: FortressGB.

https://fortressgb.com

Obviously we did something right that they didn't do.

Anyone else noticed the amount of ‘your ticket has been updated’ messages being received for tickets in Apple Wallets? I’m not sure what the updates are but I’ve had 6 or 7 updates since the ticket swapped over to Everton


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[Neville's Breakfast]

Im not being funny but if you went to the game at the weekend, you have to be acceptant that there is a chance you will contract it. Its not on the club to stop it from happening. If you didnt feel comfortable you simply shouldnt have been there.

You are missing the point. I was and am prepared to shoulder my own risk and will catch it if I am unlucky. I was at Burnley, a town that is of the opinion that Covid has been eradicated. It is just that the club announced measures that seemingly would further reduce the possibility of spread. Adequate staffing and perimeter checking would have enabled them to follow through on the fine words. Has anybody actually said they expect the club to stop them catching Covid ?

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Just read the statement of thanks from the club to the fans on the official site. You might then take on board what the Albion are trying to achieve in this matter. Rome was not built in a day and all that, so just give the club a bit of slack for at least trying to do the right thing in difficult circumstances.

If they had released that statement before the game then I and everybody else would have realized what they were trying to achieve in this matter. I just expect a little more honesty. We now know.

 

[Reagulls]

Im not being funny but if you went to the game at the weekend, you have to be acceptant that there is a chance you will contract it. Its not on the club to stop it from happening. If you didnt feel comfortable you simply shouldnt have been there.

I do understand your point but why did so many thousands of people ignore the messages from the club, on the train station, the train and at the stadium about wearing a mask?
...all they had to do was simply wear one as requested. we've all been doing it for months, why should going to football be any different?

 

[Guinness Boy]

Anyone else noticed the amount of ‘your ticket has been updated’ messages being received for tickets in Apple Wallets? I’m not sure what the updates are but I’ve had 6 or 7 updates since the ticket swapped over to Everton


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes. Had exactly the same


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

On the Saints thing, refunds to everyone including STHs. How much has that cost them??

30,000 crowd at £20 a ticket would be £600,000, let alone all the admin and staff costs.

 

[Bry Nylon]

On the Saints thing, refunds to everyone including STHs. How much has that cost them??

30,000 crowd at £20 a ticket would be £600,000, let alone all the admin and staff costs.

I should imagine the company that sold and installed the ticketing system, doubtless based on a guarantee of performance, will be picking up most of that cost.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

I viewed Saturday as an opportunity for the club to test the expected process before it becomes mandated.

As long as the club have been able to learn from it and are in a position to amend processes and/or provide feedback I suggest it was worthwhile.

I arrived in plenty of time and Covid pass (downloaded the night before) & ID check, security check and access to WSU using an iPhone all worked smoothly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I arrived 1 1/2 hours before KO.

Joined the queue to go into the north stand east entrance

Two young ladies asked if had downloaded the app for tickets

I said yes

Moved on to young lad with wand thing, I opened my arms, he said..” don’t worry mate, you are good…”

Walked to the turnstile, waved phone into area, turnstile bit went green and I was let in.

Put on mask( as I did on the p&r bus )

At no time did anyone check my ID or COVID pass.

They need to tighten this up if they shout about it in the press and emails etc!

 

[Publius Ovidius]

Anyone else noticed the amount of ‘your ticket has been updated’ messages being received for tickets in Apple Wallets? I’m not sure what the updates are but I’ve had 6 or 7 updates since the ticket swapped over to Everton


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep

 

[Saladpack Seagull]

Curious thing is that Palace and Saints had trouble with their mobile tickets for the first home matches but they both use the same ticketing solution company that we do: FortressGB.

https://fortressgb.com

Obviously we did something right that they didn't do.

Did they try turning it off and turning it on again?