FA needs to reform ticket allocation for FA Cup Finals
Today will hopefully be a day of celebration for Everton fans like myself.
But the sense of achievement in our club reaching it's first final in 14 years is bitter sweet for some because of the lack of tickets for the showpiece event.
I, like many fans, would have loved to have been at Wembley today.
I was lucky enough to be there for the semi-final and I am really gutted I will not be there today.
I don't have a season ticket and so my chances of getting a ticket for the final were always going to be slim.
There is an excellent piece in the Telegraph today about the way tickets are allocated.
Imagine my shock when I read this section:
The FA does not publish a detailed breakdown of ticket allocation but inquiries by the Telegraph Sport have established that the largest single beneficiaries are the Counties and the 115 members of the FA Council, known as "football's parliament".
Between them they control some 9,500 tickets, with 8,500 going to the counties and councillors themselves receiving up to eight tickets each, four of them complimentary. The entire system is overseen by the Council itself, whose members include the chairs of all 51 County Associations.
The County allocation is intended to provide an incentive and a reward for those who have provided voluntary service to the game, ensuring that it flourishes in local communities.
Bill Kenwright is right to feel angry on behalf of the club's fans:
"I get the emails every day," he said. "I shouldn't read them but I respond to them and they're hideous.
"How fans have supported the club longer than me but can't afford a season ticket. We live in a world where week after week, season after season, we say come and see us, come and sing your heart out and then we get to a Cup final and we've only got 25,000 tickets. It's not on."
He's right, it's not on. But even worse now we know that some FA councilors get up to eight tickets! How can that be fair? The system desperately need reform.
But despite the rights and wrongs of the ticket allocation today will be a superb occasion for Everton and our fans. Please join me in wishing the team well. Come on you Blues.
Dale Street Associates
David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
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