The Long Irish Town Wait

The long wait turned to outrage and huge disappointment to many as the GFA’s new ticketing sales and prices became known to the majority of people wanting to buy more then two tickets after the GFA were only allowing the purchase of only two tickets person and not everyone it seemed were aware of the new sales rule.

The two ticket per person limit was particularly annoying to those who wanted to attend the match as a family or a regular group which has been the case until now. And similarly not everyone knew that tickets prices had rocketed a 100% double the price to £33 per ticket!

Another change by the GFA that also received heavy criticism was the removal of the much-used official online ticketing sales. This yesterday was much more to the annoyance of countless people who were unable to go down to the GFA sales store in Irish town because they were working and with the limited amount of tickets now sold to anyone one person did not help their cause in obtaining a ticket or two at the end of the working day!

However, one online site ‘Live Football Tickets’ was offering away fans tickets at £550 and £600 per ticket and £ 600.

It seems it was only on Saturday 2 February that the GFA posted on their official website details of the ticketing sales. The statement of information by the GFA said the following:

Tickets for the opening match of the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers at home versus the Republic of Ireland will go on sale on Monday 4th February exclusively from the GFA’s official store located at 62-64 Irish Town. The ticket desk will be open from Monday to Friday between 10am and 5pm.

No sales will be conducted online on this occasion. Tickets will be sold to home fans only and supporters will be required to show their Gibraltar ID cards at the point of sale.

Only the “red”, “blue” and “green” Gibraltar ID cards will be accepted as proof of residence.

Tickets will, for the time being, be limited to the Main (West) Stand only and will be priced at £30 (plus booking fees) each. A maximum of two tickets can be purchased by any one individual.

The match will take place on Saturday 23rd March and will kick off at 18:00h local time, with the stadium gates open as from 16:00h. For safety reasons, supporters are requested to make their way into the Victoria Stadium as early as possible on match day.

Team 54 Founder Supporter Annoyed and Feels Let Down By The GFA

Speaking to Panorama one of the founder ‘Team 54 supporters’ ‘Simy Herbert’ like many others has passionately followed the Gibraltar national team since 2013; She was incensed and genuinely upset. In fact, in Simy Herbert you could not find on the Rock not only a more ardent Gibraltar football supporter, but also patriotic person then the inimitable ‘Simy’ with an opinion that matches her patriotism, much valued by many in the context of what was occurring and the apparent handling by the GFA of the new ticketing sales.

Mrs Herbert could not understand why the GFA had made such drastic changes to their match day ticketing sales without appropriately explaining the details to supporters, which caused most of the mayhem yesterday morning outside the GFA official stores in Irish Town.

She said, “ they have always sold tickets in groups and this is how many of us have always attended the matches to create the astrosphere. I feel this set of fans have been discriminated against as they will now not be able to unfold the huge and popular Gibraltar flag that has travelled with this group of Gibraltar fans around Europe at great personal expense to loyal supporters”.

“The GFA have themselves destroyed the important football atmosphere we brought to matches, I will not be attending any more matches”.

MORE in Panorama paper edition

05-02-19 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR