Scotland upset at Belgium ticket allocation
By Andrew Southwick:Thousands of ticketless Scotland fans are set to miss out on the clash with Belgium next month after the Scottish FA received just 3293 tickets.
Three times that amount are expected to make the trip to Brussels for the World Cup qualifying match on October 16th, with many having already booked travel and accomodation.
The Scotland Supporters Club revealed they asked for a minimum of 5000 tickets, but were refused with the Belgians receiving huge interest from their own support.
The SSC told fans by e-mail: "Following the pre-match site visit to Brussels we will be receiving 3293 tickets which will guarantee all members on 3 – 10 points (inc.) initially.
"This is the minimum 8% of the stadium’s operational capacity we are guaranteed as part of the protocol agreement between Group A nations.
"It is lower than we’d hoped for and asked for because we know so many of you will be travelling to Brussels so please accept our apology that we’ve been unable to secure any more tickets on your behalf on this occasion.
"We’d tried to negotiate for as many tickets as possible and at least a minimum of 5000 – 6000 tickets however, sales of tickets to Belgium’s own fans has exceeded their expectations and they were unable to commit to more at the moment.
"The Belgians did suggest they could advise of possible, additional Scottish tickets on 10 October however, we informed them in strong terms this was too late due to the fact you would be travelling to Cardiff and impossible to manage in terms of allocation and/or dispatch.
"We insisted they must inform us by 1 October as the final deadline if we are to receive any additional tickets.
"We felt this was a fair and reasonable period that our team could still sell, allocate and dispatch the tickets and sufficient time for you to receive them."
The news provoked a furious reaction from members of the Tartan Army on Twitter and messageboards.
One fan said on Twitter: "Real shame as at least three times that number will be travelling."
Another fan posted on The Tartan Army Forum: "A country only announcing the away allocation a month before an international game is a shocker and it is a royal boot in the balls to football fans."
On pieandbovril.com, one punter said: "What was the point in me joining the SSC? 0 pointer and I'm not going to get to the 1st two away games that I have saved up for."
Scotland also announced they have sold out their allocation of tickets for Cardiff. Wales had initially given Scotland 3600, and when they were sold an extra 1500 came north but they have also now gone.
Add comment