Members of Australian Football League clubs Hawthorn and Geelong "have slammed the AFL’s new ticketing system after a policy change on the run in the hours before Monday’s MCG blockbuster," according to Daryl Timms of the HERALD SUN.
Under the classification system introduced this year, members of both clubs "had to pay extra for a reserved seat, despite it being a home game for the Cats and a replacement game for Hawk members to compensate for matches in Tasmania."
Tickets were still being advertised on radio as extra fees for members ranged from A$8.50 ($7.90) to A$29 for adults, and A$2-A$11 for juniors.
But at 11am the AFL announced that Hawthorn and Geelong members "could simply scan their membership cards and enter the AFL Reserve for free."
Angry members bombarded talkback radio, but AFL Manager of Commercial Operations Darren Birch "defended the league’s decision." Birch said that "the thinking behind the decision to encourage fans to purchase a reserved seat was to avoid having people locked out" (HERALD SUN, 4/21).
