Wembley FA Cup final tickets!

[Dave Deacon]

Just a memory from the past, in fact from 1978 - wow, 45 years ago - when I made my first visit to Wembley (the old one of course) to watch a FA Cup final.

This was back in the day when each affiliated to the FA club were allocated tickets.

I was with Liskeard at the time and I think the club got 4. I was drawn out 24th in the original list of club members who initially said yes to the chance to go, but on the Thursday before the Saturday final I got offered a ticket because of drop-outs along the way!

I went of course for my first Wembley experience.

Do the clubs still get the chance to have tickets?

[St Darren]

I think they now have to go into a ballot. 
 

it’s a joke the Cup Final for tickets. 80k stadium and the clubs that get there get allocated about 18k each. The rest go to sponsors and the FA family as such.  A lot of these tickets then end up on the black market selling for more than the original price.  

[Dave Deacon]

1 hour ago, St Darren said:

I think they now have to go into a ballot. 

A ballot? How do you mean?

[Dave Deacon]

2 hours ago, St Darren said:

it’s a joke the Cup Final for tickets. 80k stadium and the clubs that get there get allocated about 18k each. The rest go to sponsors and the FA family as such.  A lot of these tickets then end up on the black market selling for more than the original price.  

I'm not so sure it's a complete joke really Darren! For a lot of us back when clubs were distributed with a handful of tickets, it was the one and only chance to get to a FA Cup Final. I still recall my first visit even though it was so long ago now and between two teams I had no allegiance whatsoever. For once with the FA giving tickets out to the clubs, it was the FA sharing their day with the true football follower.

Unfortunately, like everything though, you get people abusing the system and its generosity and see it as a way of making money and hence the black market!

 

[David Bray]

Each Affiliated club had untill the 31st December to claim their FA Cup Final ticket, CCFA Councillors and Referee's could also put their names into the hat.

If you were successful you had to complete various forms giving your name and home address  this ticket was strictly for you and you only.

If you could not honour your ticket application then the ticket had to returned to the County Treasurer !!!, who would redistribute the ticket.

 

 

[Dave Deacon]

1 hour ago, David Bray said:

had

Presumably this stopped a few years back did it?

[hedgerow]

Each county is allocated a small number of ticket for the fa and league cup finals 

Each county is allocated a small number of ticket for the fa and league cup finals 

[St Darren]

On 03/06/2023 at 08:51, David Bray said:

 

If you were successful you had to complete various forms giving your name and home address  this ticket was strictly for you and you only.

 

 

 

There’s numerous ways around that.  I presume you download the ticket to a phone for scanning.  Burner phones solve that problem. 

[fenman]

A true story that  might amuse you . Some seasons ago , 1990's I think , our club was lucky to be selected from the rota  of clubs in the County  in the draw for the Cup Final tickets > Chelsea were one of the finalists , 2 tickets were available and were offered to one of the first team players  , he said that he would have them . BUT !!! being only marginally more intelligent than me , a couple of days before the final said he didn't realise he would have to pay for them and didn't want them . One of the reserve team players was a fanatical Chelsea fan , I offered them to him and he almost took my hand off . I saw him the following week and asked him if he enjoyed the game . To my surprise he said he didn,t enjoy the game  until it was over . He said that he could'nt believe that the tickets were genuine and that no one else wanted them and I was playing an elaborate trick on him . He didn't know that the F.A.  offered an allocation to grass roots clubs . He got to his seat and sweated every time another fan or steward came near the row he was sitting in , expecting them to say that he was sitting in their seat and his ticket was fake . I rarely see him now but when I  do he often says " if Chelsea get to the final you know where i live " and gives a broad smile .

I did relate  another cup final ticket story on the Daily laugh page which still amuses me but I won't bore you with it again .

[Dave Deacon]

10 hours ago, fenman said:

He got to his seat and sweated every time another fan or steward came near the row he was sitting in , expecting them to say that he was sitting in their seat and his ticket was fake . 

Oh dear! 

[Ian Pethick]

On 05/06/2023 at 21:41, fenman said:

A true story that  might amuse you . Some seasons ago , 1990's I think , our club was lucky to be selected from the rota  of clubs in the County  in the draw for the Cup Final tickets > Chelsea were one of the finalists , 2 tickets were available and were offered to one of the first team players  , he said that he would have them . BUT !!! being only marginally more intelligent than me , a couple of days before the final said he didn't realise he would have to pay for them and didn't want them . One of the reserve team players was a fanatical Chelsea fan , I offered them to him and he almost took my hand off . I saw him the following week and asked him if he enjoyed the game . To my surprise he said he didn,t enjoy the game  until it was over . He said that he could'nt believe that the tickets were genuine and that no one else wanted them and I was playing an elaborate trick on him . He didn't know that the F.A.  offered an allocation to grass roots clubs . He got to his seat and sweated every time another fan or steward came near the row he was sitting in , expecting them to say that he was sitting in their seat and his ticket was fake . I rarely see him now but when I  do he often says " if Chelsea get to the final you know where i live " and gives a broad smile .

I did relate  another cup final ticket story on the Daily laugh page which still amuses me but I won't bore you with it again .

A mate of mine's Dad, a massive Sheffied Wednesday fan went, along with a couple of mates, to the 1966 FA Cup Final against Everton (the Mike Tebilcock final). Only problem was, he was the only one who had a ticket. When they got to the turnstile, he wrapped a pound note around the ticket, passed it to the attendant and said "three please."

The attendant duly trousered the money, and let them all through. He reckoned there were more like 120,000 in the ground, with many leaving because of the overcrowding.