In August 2005, Alan Esparza, a long time loyal Arsenal fan who has missed three matches home and away in 37 years, travelled to watch the Middlesbrough v Arsenal match. He had on him a spare ticket which he had agreed to sell at face value on behalf of someone who could not make the match as the kick-off time had been pushed back to 5.15 to allow for live TV coverage.

The recipient of the spare was already known before Alan made his journey. It had been arranged to meet outside the stadium. When Alan took the cash for the ticket, he was spotted by the police and arrested under the ticket touting law. Recently, the case was resolved with Alan fined £1,000 by a judge who accepted that Alan was not a tout. He also stated that this was not a matter for which a football banning order was felt necessary.

Technically, anyone that sells a spare ticket to another fan at face value, without the authorisation of the original seller (in this case, presumably Arsenal or Middlesbrough) is guilty under the ticket touting law. However, many of you reading this – I am sure the majority of people that attend Arsenal matches, have at some time helped out a mate or even a complete stranger with a spare, in exchange for the price on the ticket – meaning no profit made, one fan not out of pocket, the other happy to get into a game.

Arsenal would be playing to some pretty small crowds if everyone who had sold a spare before was banned from matches, but this is what has happened to Alan Esparza. He was informed by the Club that his season ticket would no longer be valid for the remainder of the season and that even though he was on the away season ticket scheme, he would be receiving no further tickets for Arsenal games. The reasoning given by the Arsenal for the ban – that he had been found guilty of selling a spare – should concern us all. It seems a very over the top reaction and sets a dangerous precedent.

Alan’s friends have began lobbying for him to be re-instated by the Club. At www.onlinegooner.com, we believe that it is possible there may be other reasons for Arsenal’s actions, and that this being the case, they should be more transparent and actually reveal exactly why it is that Alan has been banned, especially as no football banning order was imposed by the judge in his case. As such an explanation is not forthcoming, we consider that, given the facts as we understand them, the Club’s actions are seriously flawed and that Alan and his supporters are due either a full and detailed explanation or that Arsenal should simply re-instate him. It is difficult to believe that a grudge is still held against the man because of the Arsenal Action Group (of which he was a founder) that campaigned against under-achieving managers more than two decades ago.

So for this reason, www.onlinegooner.com is backing the fight of Alan’s supporters to get him returned to Arsenal matches and publicising details of how you can help his case.

For those that have met him – and most Arsenal fans that travel away with any regularity (especially abroad) will know him – you may like him, you may not, but this is a matter about principles rather than an individual – at least until the Club state otherwise. And for this reason we ask you to send an email supporting his re-instatement. As it stands, for all you know, the next time it could be you who gets banned for helping out another fan by letting him have a spare at face value.

If you wish to register your support for Alan’ case, then an email address has been set up for messages. All received will be printed out and presented to the Club. Click here to create an email expressing your support for Alan, or if you wish to send an email in the standard way, the address is [email protected]

The more support Alan receives, the less likely the Club are to use his case as a dangerous precedent for banning other supporters, and the more chance there is that an unquestionably diehard fan will be allowed to attend Arsenal matches once again.

Stop Press: From the minutes of the Arsenal Supporters Consultative Forum meeting, held on 9th September 2006: “On average, about 5-700 hundred season ticket holders don’t turn up for each match and we (Arsenal FC) want to set up a system where other people can use these seats. We understand that people may pass on their seats to friends and family, but if they do it at inflated prices, we will cancel their membership.” So presumably, if selling the tickets on to friends at face value does not mean membership will be cancelled, why has Alan Esparza been banned?