Kevin Whitcher
I’d love to write about Arsenal’s stirring performance and almost comeback against Milan last night in the Champions League. But I can’t, because in spite of my plans, I did not make the game.
I was asked by a friend (I don’t want to compromise anyone so let’s call him Charlie) at the Spurs game if I could find a buyer for his season ticket for Milan at home as he could not make the game. He sits next to a pal of mine (let’s call him George), so – as I knew another friend who was looking for one (let’s call him Graham) – I arranged to sell Graham a ticket (mine) at face value, and then go and sit in Charlie’s seat and watch the game with George, giving Charlie the money Graham had given me for my seat when I saw him.
However, when Graham turned up to collect the ticket from me before the Milan game, he gave me the cash for it, and from nowhere, the police swooped. Before I had even given him the ticket. I was arrested for ticket touting.
I was carted off to Holloway Station at 7.30, where I was queuing up outside the station in the cold waiting to be processed while the first half was in progress. The arresting officer was an Arsenal fan himself and relayed the scores he was getting on his mobile phone. I will admit, my enthusiasm was not as great as it would have been had I not been wearing tight handcuffs and freezing my bollocks off a few hundred yards north of the stadium, but nevertheless, I hoped the Gunners would do it, even if I refused to believe they could score enough goals and keep a clean sheet.
I was finally booked in at the station from 9pm – the process took an hour, so by the time I was taken to a holding cell, the game was over and Arsenal had their pride but no quarter final place. I was finally interviewed at 4.20am. I didn’t get more than about three five minute spells of sleep in the six hours plus in the cell – a process which was broken by a transfer to Islington station at 1.30am as Holloway was closing. Both cells were pretty identical. A toilet and a hard raised slab that acted as a seat/bed with a thin hard vinyl covered crash mat style mattress. It wasn’t comfortable and my mind could not relax enough to sleep.
I received some advice from a duty solicitor over the phone before the interview. She told me honesty would be the best policy as there was no profit involved and that I might get a more lenient outcome further down the line if I did not attempt to play legal games. She even advised me that having a solicitor in attendance at the interview could possibly make things worse. So I told the truth, which was fortunate, as Graham had also been detained – albeit for a much shorter time – and sang like a bird. I was read his statement after I had answered mine in the interview and they dovetailed perfectly. Sometimes honesty is the best policy, although my instincts were screaming against me to admit I had committed a crime given the moral aspects of what I was doing – helping out someone who couldn’t attend to the match and someone who wanted to.
It’s a similar principle to the club’s own ticket exchange scheme, except for some key differences…
You know the person who will be using the otherwise unused seat
If the ticket is not sold for some reason, you have the option to still attend or give the ticket away (with the club’s ticket exchange you only get any payback if someone actually buys the seat)
There is no fee charged, as there is on the ticket exchange
The seller gets their money at the next home game, unlike ticket exchange where you have to wait until your renewal at the season’s end when the money is taken off what is due.
A physical transaction takes place involving the handover of a season ticket card.
You can get arrested.
But what makes the way of doing it through the club more moral than doing it informally? – which on March 5th was viewed as a criminal activity by yours truly. Why, when you actually have someone you know who wants to buy the ticket, should you have to sell it to a complete stranger for less than face value and not get back the money you have paid last May until the season’s end? Because the same method of exchanging tickets for cash is used by bona fide touts, and there is no distinction in the law.
Let’s face it, there is a huge informal ticket exchange going on at every match where thousands of seats are not sat in by the person whose name is on the membership card. Technically, it’s against the rules, and the act of handing any money to the seller, even if the price is face value or below – is illegal. It’s not immoral, just illegal, and that is what annoys the most, because the law is supposedly based on a moral code.
I understand the police don’t have any desire to differentiate. The law is the law, but what worries me is the club’s (presumably automatic) response. My season ticket may be returned to the club in time, maybe immediately. But will they return it to me and let me attend matches? I am very much in doubt. Is there any sense of discretion used in these cases? You’d like to think so, but optimism is difficult at the moment. I am bailed until April when I return to the police station to be told – I assume – the date I will appear in court. And there, mitigation will be all that can save me from a lengthy ban attending home matches.
So the moral of this story is – if you try doing someone a good turn, be prepared to suffer the consequences.
Two final points – if anyone wants to submit a write-up of the game itself, I will gladly post it, and my apologies I cannot do it myself on this occasion. And secondly, normally we are quite liberal with the comments we allow to be posted. But I am honestly not in the mood today for the p*ss-taking keyboard warriors, so have requested the comments moderator only puts through comments that are constructive today. So type as much abuse as you like, but no-one except the moderator will read it.
The current issue of the Gooner will remain on sale at the game v Newcastle. It can also be bought online here. There is also an e-version of the issue available to read on your ipad/tablet/iphone/android. The app is free and you can download the first few pages of each issue to decide whether or not to purchase the whole thing
