Locked out!

[pedro]

GMR yesterday said 400

[sudokuwarrior]

Flash posted:

robjoenz posted:

Flash posted:
Sorry Geoff I didn't make that clear. The point is they sent people (juniors) to the Halliwell Jones to get their vouchers redeemed on the understanding that tickets were still available. When they got there they weren't. By then families/kids had already made the journey. Don't forget that not everyone can commit to a match a month (or even a week) in advance. I think unless tickets are reserved, then they shouldn't be asking kids to travel.

Some people went down to the JJB though to exchange their junior vouchers for a ticket, isn't it just a case of being organised and not leaving it until the last minute?

I'm sure you'll agree that for health and safety reasons you can't allow kids that turn up at the last minute to gain entry just because they have a voucher. Is it not their parents responsibility to exchange their voucher when they purchase their own ticket or to get there good and early if they are travelling alone? As far as I am concerned it's common sense, that's why I purchased tickets well in advance and a friend of mine went to buy her tickets at midday yesterday.

The point I am making is very simple Rob. The club has no business sending kids to another town/city/ground unless it can guarentee that the tickets will be available when they get there. It's all fine and dandy saying they could have done this or done that, but the fact is that the juniors were acting on the advice of the club. It wasn't a case of them just turning up unannounced on the spur of the moment. I am a parent and would have been livid if my kids had been sent to stand outside a sports stadium in what had the potential to turn into an ugly situation. The safety of kids should not be put at risk under any circumstances and especially not for money. Just imagine if a those locked outside had included boozed up groups of Wigan and Wire fans each blaming the other for their predicament. Doesn't take much to see how that would have turned out!

Well said Flash.

[robjoenz]

Flash posted:
The point I am making is very simple Rob. The club has no business sending kids to another town/city/ground unless it can guarentee that the tickets will be available when they get there. It's all fine and dandy saying they could have done this or done that, but the fact is that the juniors were acting on the advice of the club. It wasn't a case of them just turning up unannounced on the spur of the moment. I am a parent and would have been livid if my kids had been sent to stand outside a sports stadium in what had the potential to turn into an ugly situation. The safety of kids should not be put at risk under any circumstances and especially not for money. Just imagine if a those locked outside had included boozed up groups of Wigan and Wire fans each blaming the other for their predicament. Doesn't take much to see how that would have turned out!

I understand the point you are making Flash... what I don't understand is where it came from that kids were told by JJB Stadium staff to goto the Haliwell Jones Stadium to exchange their vouchers. GeoffN and another poster said they had exchanged vouchers at the JJB so why didn't everyone else?

[- psycho -]

it said the day beofre that if you were entering by using a voucher or paying on the gate, you need to exchange your voucher at the stadium.

[robjoenz]

- psycho - posted:
it said the day beofre that if you were entering by using a voucher or paying on the gate, you need to exchange your voucher at the stadium.

Well I can't see the problem in that. I assume that this notice was made on the same day that it was announced only 250 tickets remained for the Wigan end. Common sense would tell me that 250 left out 3,000 means you're in for a potential sell-out.

We live in too much of a nanny state as it is without them having to put disclaimers on the end saying that children should seek advice from their parents before travelling to the ground.

[GeoffN]

robjoenz posted:

- psycho - posted:
it said the day beofre that if you were entering by using a voucher or paying on the gate, you need to exchange your voucher at the stadium.

Well I can't see the problem in that. I assume that this notice was made on the same day that it was announced only 250 tickets remained for the Wigan end. Common sense would tell me that 250 left out 3,000 means you're in for a potential sell-out.

We live in too much of a nanny state as it is without them having to put disclaimers on the end saying that children should seek advice from their parents before travelling to the ground.

Most people on here were predicting the attendance to be 13k+...(I was way out with 13,003!) - I did see somewhere a prediction of 15k, which would have been fun!

I'm with Rob; it was pretty obvious that it would be at least close to capacity. Irrespective of the way it was publicised, it's up to people to make their own decisions.

[cpwigan]

Why I do not know but I was under the impression the capacity was much greater, 17000+ On the other hand I would never travel to away matches unless I was fairly certain I would gain access either due to an appropriately sized stadia or by pre purchasing a ticket.

[Champions]

Flash posted:
The point I am making is very simple Rob. The club has no business sending kids to another town/city/ground unless it can guarentee that the tickets will be available when they get there. It's all fine and dandy saying they could have done this or done that, but the fact is that the juniors were acting on the advice of the club. It wasn't a case of them just turning up unannounced on the spur of the moment. I am a parent and would have been livid if my kids had been sent to stand outside a sports stadium in what had the potential to turn into an ugly situation. The safety of kids should not be put at risk under any circumstances and especially not for money. Just imagine if a those locked outside had included boozed up groups of Wigan and Wire fans each blaming the other for their predicament. Doesn't take much to see how that would have turned out!

Understand what your saying here, as a junior myself I wouldn't like to have been locked out, especially travelling on a coach and therefore not being able to go home until the game was over. However, if I was travelling without an adult, which I always do, I make sure I can get in. If I think it will sell out (Saints/Warrington/Leeds) then I will change my voucher, if I don't (Quins/Salford/Bradford) I don't bother. This usually follows the club, as if the club don't think it will sell out, they don't usually change tickets (like I was going to at London but they told me not to bother), but say Leeds, I changed this voucher weeks ago, as there is a risk of sell out.
Having been to the game yesterday, and seeing how crowded it was, I understand why no others were allowed in.
This poses the problem...as you say, causing a risk to juniors by not letting them in...or dis-obeying orders and letting them in, causing over-crowding, and causing a risk to everyone(including juniors) already in the ground.

[robjoenz]

Flash posted:
The simple answer to me was for the club to have a system in place where junior vouchers can be reserved and picked up on the day at the away ground, just as they can if you pay for them. Oh, silly me, the second involves money wheras the first only concerns the safety of children. What am I thinking about, I should get my priorities right etc.

Or... collect them from the JJB Stadium in the week running up to the game to be on the safe side.

What you're saying makes sense Flash but money is the incentive for both parties. Juniors could reserve tickets and then change their mind about going because it's no loss to them. (e.g. I once purchased a child ticket because it was only a pound extra on the off chance my sister wanted to go). Then you end up with left over tickets that can't be sold to adult fans incase the child turns up a little late, when instead they've gone to play down the park with their friend instead.

[robjoenz]

Lets go back to the beginning Flash so we can argue about the same thing hehe...

What 'exactly' did the club say/issue?