Collingwood have urged the AFL to release more tickets to club members for future grand finals after fans endured a frustrating weekend sealing their seats for Saturday’s MCG decider.
Social media sites were inundated on Sunday with Pies supporters unhappy to find their tickets had not matched up to their Priority 1 membership and significant outlay.
Other top-level members complained that they had received a standing room ticket while some shared their frustration that they had not received anything at all.
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Wearing all the frustration from fans, Ticketek issued a statement confirming its ballot process “ran as per instruction … without issue”.
The company encouraged disappointed members to contact Collingwood, who have in return called on Ticketek and the AFL to make changes.
“As a competing club, we receive 17,000 tickets which is far from enough for our most loyal members,” chief executive Craig Kelly said in a statement.
“We believe members who contribute their hard-earned should be rewarded with a fair opportunity to witness our team on the biggest stage.
“We call on Ticketek to improve their system so that the moment funds are taken out of bank accounts, tickets are released to members immediately.
“We have been informed that 700 members whose credit cards either failed or had insufficient funds are not at risk of losing their allocation. They will be contacted by Ticketek and the club this morning.
“We know grand finals are a case of high demand and limited availability, which is why we call on the AFL to increase competing club allocations from 17,000 to at least 20,000 tickets.
“We want to assure all members that we are actively engaging with the AFL, MCC, Ticketek, and other stakeholders to push for changes and improve this system and access for our most dedicated members.”
Kelly reiterated “every single Priority 1 member” who registered for the ballot will receive a ticket.
“There were 37 P1 members who did not select the standing room option and, as such, missed out on tickets through the automated ballot – we will sort each of those 37 members directly to ensure they have a seat,” he said.
“Anyone who is a P1 member and were given a standing room ticket – that will be changed from standing room to an allocated seat.
“I want to be clear, Priority Two (P2) and Priority Three (P3) members were not allocated tickets prior to P1, however, accessible requirement members were fulfilled yesterday.”
More to come…