Most casual observers of the draw for the qualifying rounds which takes place in Rio this Saturday will be hoping that England avoid the big guns and the slippery banana skins of some odd ball East European nation. Not much chance of that happening though as England are seeded in Pot One along with the other key nations of Spain, Holland, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Norway and Greece.
English fans who travel the planet following the team are eagerly awaiting the draw but for totally different reasons. What they wish for is the footballing Mecca of places they haven't been to before, including Iceland, the Faro Isles, Malta or Cyprus. The last two in the hope that we can wallow in a bit of sun for a change! The trouble with so much International football these days is that you visit the same places over and over, and to be frank we don't always go for for footballing reasons. No, what we want is somewhere new, somewhere warm, somewhere the beer and food is cheap and within a few hours travel time. The results don't matter too much but the travel does. Here's a bunch of crossed fingers, bring it on!
Thursday 28 July 2011
Tuesday 12 July 2011
The mad scramble for England tickets
England away! It's why we all do it of course, the travel, meeting your mates, having a few days away, seeing folk who you know very well but surprisingly you don't talk to between England games. The flights and hotels are booked well in advance, sneaky phone calls and e-mails ensure we are well prepared, and the less your 'other half' knows the better. But the match tickets are a different matter, and sometimes they are in very short supply.
A case in point. Montenegro v England, Friday October the 7th 2011, kick off TBC but the venue will be the City Stadium, (great name!) in Podgorica. The flights and hotels were booked many weeks ago, time off from work was all arranged and the ticket application submitted to the FA. The bad bit though, we were only allocated 1,182 tickets and the mad scramble meant that 3,500 England fans applied. No matter how you look at that there will be some very disappointed people. 3,500 applications for the few tickets available means that the ballot system that the FA use has to be enforced again.
And it works like this. 70% of the tickets, i.e. 826 will go to the England fans who are at the top of the 'Caps' table, that is those who have attended most games home or away over the qualifying period. The other 356 tickets would be balloted to the remaining 2,318 fans who wanted to travel to Montenegro. Not very good odds eh?
So the result for me is what? I got mine, fortunately I just sneak into the top 826 but my 3 travelling companions didn't get one. Flights and hotels are still booked but no match ticket available. So the options are very limited, there will be a chance of obtaining a ticket from any of the 1,182 who don't wish to travel now, very unlikely, or travel and cross your fingers that we can purchase tickets from some kind hearted Montenegrin who doesn't want to attend the biggest match in the short history of the Montenegro national football team. Again, very unlikely!
Sometimes it does make you consider if all of this is worth the trouble. But believe me, when we hear the roar of the crowd and see the massed ranks of the England fans, that is all 1,182 plus the unofficial travellers too, it does seem worthwhile. Roll on October!
A case in point. Montenegro v England, Friday October the 7th 2011, kick off TBC but the venue will be the City Stadium, (great name!) in Podgorica. The flights and hotels were booked many weeks ago, time off from work was all arranged and the ticket application submitted to the FA. The bad bit though, we were only allocated 1,182 tickets and the mad scramble meant that 3,500 England fans applied. No matter how you look at that there will be some very disappointed people. 3,500 applications for the few tickets available means that the ballot system that the FA use has to be enforced again.
And it works like this. 70% of the tickets, i.e. 826 will go to the England fans who are at the top of the 'Caps' table, that is those who have attended most games home or away over the qualifying period. The other 356 tickets would be balloted to the remaining 2,318 fans who wanted to travel to Montenegro. Not very good odds eh?
So the result for me is what? I got mine, fortunately I just sneak into the top 826 but my 3 travelling companions didn't get one. Flights and hotels are still booked but no match ticket available. So the options are very limited, there will be a chance of obtaining a ticket from any of the 1,182 who don't wish to travel now, very unlikely, or travel and cross your fingers that we can purchase tickets from some kind hearted Montenegrin who doesn't want to attend the biggest match in the short history of the Montenegro national football team. Again, very unlikely!
Sometimes it does make you consider if all of this is worth the trouble. But believe me, when we hear the roar of the crowd and see the massed ranks of the England fans, that is all 1,182 plus the unofficial travellers too, it does seem worthwhile. Roll on October!
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