Colonial Queues

[Pessimistic]

Before I start let me state that I haven't been to Colonial yet.

There is much hand-wringing about the queues to be allocated a seat at colonial stadium, especially the other night when 'only' 21,000 needed to be processed

You will hear some bullshit from the AFL but let me say know that a few weeks ago I think Collo said "people will have to get used to it, Once they've had to queue a few times they'll start pre-booking their tickets, which is what we want"

But, Mr Collo, remember that on the same day AFL and Hawthorn members just walked in when there was a similar size crowd at the MCG.

St Kilda fans are saying why should they incur a $3.75 booking fee each time to get what they got for nothing before.

I urge all members to keep turning up and demanding to be let in at no extra cost. They will soon get the message.

'They' say that it compares well with other forms of entertainment but if you buy a season ticket at the Opera, or Cinema etc, you get into the performance with a minimum of fuss

 

[sainter]

Pessimistic, I have attended both of our home matches at Colonial Stadium and for the record I think the ground is sensational. And no, I am certainly not a puppet or disciple of the AFL.

Fortunately, as it turns out, we decided to purchase an annual reserved seat along with our social club membership and consequently have seats on the bottom level on the wing. All reserved seat holders are able to walk straight in and are in there seats minutes after arriving at the ground.

However, as you would well know, St Kilda fans were never going to readily accept this move and have tried to offer our supporters as many incentives as possible. The main one is offering 12,000 free seats for members. Combined with the thousands of members lining up, people wanting to purchase a reserved seat and those wanting general admission tickets, these people are all being forced to line up together. Ticketmaster in their wisdom did not open all ticket boxes and of course that equals waits of over an hour. All the St Kilda Football Club and supporters want are members only ticket boxes where members are not forced to line up with paying customers. Obviously this would reduce both lines and the waiting time.

You are exactly right in saying that those members wanting to get their free ticket in advance should not have to play the $3.75 booking fee. In the meantime, it would save a heck of a lot of mucking around by purchasing an annual reserved seat but I realise that this is not possible for a lot of people and also doesn't allow people to go with other friends and family. (I couldn't really afford it either but decided to spend my money on something like a saints membership and seat because I am an obsessive fanatic) I agree with you that this fee is totally unfair and I hope the matter is dealt with.

My advice is that people give the stadium a chance. I suppose my hidden agenda is that I am concerned that our supporters will be influenced by all of the negative publicity and the events of the first two home matches and not turn up or renew their memberships.

I am hoping with all of the media coverage that this issue has received over the past few days, NVM, ticketmaster and the AFL get their acts together because this could have disasterous consequences for our club.

By the way, the atmosphere and noise level on Saturday night was as loud as I can remember and the media have been right in reporting that the closeness to the play is like nothing that we have ever seen.

 

[Dan26]

Pessimistic,

Sainter is right. Colonial is an absolutely sensational ground. I've been there the once for the Bombers game and it really is a sight to behold. I could sort of pick up the noise level at the end of the St.Kilda-West Coast game, and it sounded like the noisiest I have ever heard a game.

It is 1000 times better than Waverley.

Having said that, I still like Waverley, and I see no reason why BOTH can't exist.

A lot of Hawthorn supporters (i am not necessarily saying this is you) have become very disenchanted with the AFL. Probably for good reason. Some of them will even say crap like : "I'm not going to go to Colonial. It'll ruin suburban football" You know, crap like that.

These ticketing problems will just be a memory. Imagine the AFL in 2005. Colonial is 5 years old, and teething problems were sorted out way back in the year 2000 in the opening few rounds, and like always, nearly everyone can get in to see their team at the general admission price.

However it will be interesting to see what happens for the Bulldogs-Collingwood game in a few weeks, and the Bulldogs-Essendon game.

Last year in a MASSIVE game in the middle of the year on a Friday night, Essendon and the Bulldogs, (both in the top 4 at the time)played the match of the round at the MCG. The crowd was 55,000, a figure which encompassess MCC members, and various others who would not have atended Colonial. This would fit in perfectly at Colonial.

I just hope the ticketing problems are sorted out by then.

The Magpie-Bulldogs game could be interesting. I don't think there is much doubt that in the last 10 years the Bombers have overtaken the Magpies as the most populatr team BUT, with the Maggies back in town, their army is going to swarm to as many games as they can. A bit like Richmond in 1995. Their strong following was accentuated even further by the fact that the team was acheving something against the odds, and the fans came from everywhere.

 

[Pessimistic]

Sainter.

You are right. Obsessives like us will always turn up but a significant number of fans is 'on strike' for walk up, find a seat at the same prices as last year. My point is the AFL have DELIBERATELY made people line up to 'educate' them to pre-book at extra cost. The struggle could go on for a while and I hope the Strikers win out because the AFL has tried to go too far, too quickly.

I just hope the AFL doesn't try to use this to undermine our great clubs or there could be a real riot on their hands.

I think an integral part of adult membership is to be able to arrive and walk in (subject to capacity). In effect, at colonial, this means buying a reserved seat (some people don't sit in the same place each week) so in fact the Adult membership price is now meaningless, as to get the same thing you pay some $30 more.

I think the fans will win out because while the atmosphere seems to be great with 'only' 20,000 fans if you are there, there are rows of empty seats on the TV, and channel 7 (who owns part of the stadium)will want the areas shown on TV to be full of people. Expect ordinary $14 punters to be allowed behind the goals before the season is out.

 

[Bluey]

From The Age today (29/3)

"Hanly described the 40 entry points to Colonial as 'a clear oversight and obviously inadequate' when the MCG offered 120 and Waverley Park 70. The fact that most of those are located on the city side of the new venue, he said, created a lopsided situation that was always going to lead to congestion."


How on earth could they blame the clubs for their error in having around half the entry points as Waverley to a ground that everyone will want to get a look at? Now Colonial/AFL are opening up another 10 entry points. I believe they will then point to this effort to show that they tried to alleviate traffic and failed, and lets all just go back to the the original idea of having everyone pre-book tickets like good little kiddies, shall we?

 

[sainter]

Pessimistic

I couldn't agree with you more that it is outrageous for club members to have to pay a booking fee to secure seats which potentially adds an extra $30-$40 in price. The cheapest annual reserved seats start at about $70 I think. And like Bluey has pointed out, why on earth would they add so few entry points unless their agenda was to have everyone pre-book tickets.

I can only hope that the disenchantment amongst supporters does not affect attendances and that there will be no repeat of the dramas. (Somehow I don't think we have heard the end of it)

As for the empty seats, there have been many behind the goals as well as probably 70-80% of seats on Level 2. It is disappointing to see many of the dedicated supporters sitting on level 4 while there are so many seats available.

My advice, if you don't have a reserved seat, purchase your ticket as per normal and then wait until the game starts and take one of the seats behind the goals or on the AFL members wing. The staff will more than likely not know and the worst that can happen is to be told to sit in your allocated seat. (I don't mind advocating this if it means real supporters being able to watch their team)

Having said all that, I am still a huge fan of the ground and hope that once this mess is sorted out, it is found to be accessible to everyone. On a lighter and immature note, much of the noise that you hear at the ground is made by the majority of people on level 1 stamping their feet on the ground. Because of the retractable seating, the floor on the bottom level is hollow and is ideal for banging on. I can't wait for the roof to be shut!