No public sale for Scotland v Italy game

[PILTONSTANY]

The Daily Record - SPORT - SCOTTISH FOOTBALL - No Public Briefs For Italian Tie

THE public sale of tickets for Scotland's final Euro 2008 qualifier has been scrapped.

All tickets for the crucial Italy tie at Hampden have been allocated to members of the Scotland Supporters Club.

And they will get just one each - instead of the usual two.

The details were revealed yesterday in an email to the 27,000 supporters club members. It said: "If, after the closing date for SSC member applications (19 October) there are any tickets remaining, these will be allocated to SSC members on a ballot basis.

"Please note we are not anticipating a public sale for this match as we will endeavour to allocate all available tickets to our members."

With 52,000 seats at Hampden, it would have been impossible for the SFA to give two tickets to every supporters club member.

This is believed to be the first time no tickets have gone on public sale for a Scotland international fixture.

Earlier this month there was chaos at the sale of tickets for Scotland's next home fixture in the Euro qualifying campaign against the Ukraine.

Massive queues of Tartan Army foot soldiers turned up at Hampden hoping to snap up tickets only to find there were just 2500 available.

A further 10,000 were sold through the SECC ticket hotline which went into meltdown as the phones went crazy.

For that game the Scotland Supporters Club was allocated 30,000 and the rest went to corporate ticket holders and Ukrainian fans.

There was no one available at the SFA for comment last night. But Hamish Husband of the Tartan Army said: "We knew this was going to be a difficult situation with the increasing number of fans wanting tickets.

"I certainly can't remember a time when there was no public sale of international tickets for a Hampden match. Maybe back in the 1960s or 70s when they were playing England but in those days people wrote in to the clubs for tickets.

"The difficulty is that Hampden is too small. If the tickets are being allocated to supporters club members then it means that it is the regular fans who go repeatedly to support Scotland who are going to get them.

"This sort of thing happens regularly abroad."

As they used to say in the Tennents Lager advert, "I've got mine"

[SkyeHibs]

There might have been logic in moving this to Celtic park or even Hampden. We should get as many Scotland fans behind the team as we can making as much noise as possible.

[Stewart_HfC]

Originally Posted by LanarkHibs

There might have been logic in moving this to Celtic park or even Hampden. We should get as many Scotland fans behind the team as we can making as much noise as possible.

Is it not already at Hampden?

[dc_hibs]

There may be plenty up for grabs after the next two games!!

[Stewart_HfC]

Originally Posted by dc_hibs

There may be plenty up for grabs after the next two games!!

Try not to sound so confident!

[Tully]

got an e-mail about this the other day

EURO 2008 QUALIFYING MATCH SCOTLAND V ITALY SATURDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2007 Dear Member We are writing to inform you that due to the huge levels of ticket applications so far for the above match and the anticipated high levels of applications expected next week (by phone and web when the lines open on Monday 1 October), we will only be able to guarantee one ticket per adult member for this match. Kids and Youth members under the age of 16 years will be guaranteed their own ticket plus one accompanying adult ticket in the Family Section only. Although the SSC membership has always only guaranteed one ticket per member, we have always tried to accommodate additional ticket purchases by our members and up until now we have always managed to allow at least 2 per member. However as I am sure you are aware, with the incredible demand that accompanies this match, in order that we can guarantee all members have the opportunity to attend the game, we have had to initiate this system. If, after the closing date for SSC member applications (19 October) there are any tickets remaining, these will be allocated to SSC members on a ballot basis. Please note we are not anticipating a public sale for this match as we will endeavour to allocate all available tickets to our members. Many thanks for your continued support and your help in the above. For information if you are calling or applying on-line at the beginning of next week, please understand that in the first few days both the phone lines and website will be extremely busy. Remember that whether you call on Monday 1 October or Friday 19 October, you will be guaranteed your ticket. Regards. Scotland Supporters Club

[Bob1875]

Originally Posted by dc_hibs

There may be plenty up for grabs after the next two games!!

[SkyeHibs]

Originally Posted by stujay_saorsa

Is it not already at Hampden?

Oops, I meant Murrayfield.

[SG7nil]

I said at the time Hampden was redeveloped that it should not have been done.

It wasn't big enough, it's a terrible design, and it is in the wrong place in terms of transport links and car parking etc.

It was really only built to host Smeltic v Huns cup ties, but since it is smaller than either of these clubs stadia, why did they not just agree to play their matches at alternate stadiums?

If they had been serious about buildng a decent stadium, it should have had all 4 sides built to the same standard as the Main stand, they should have done away with the running track and squared the end stands nearer to the back of the goals. With no space constraints in the current site, a stadium of (say) 80,000 would have been possible (however, quite how they'd have managed transport links to handle these numbers is anyones guess!).

More sensible would have been, to have built it somewhere in the central belt (possibly near Stirling) with the M9 running near it and with rail links to all major populated parts of Scotland.. but that wouldn't have suited the SFA Weedge mafia!

[dc_hibs]

Hampden was a patch up job. They built one decent new stand and put seats in the other three ends with basic improvements made as well.

Some people must think its OK if they hold the final of european club competitions there mind!!