All-Ireland final proves fertile ground for ticket touts

Photo by Dan Heap via WikiCommons

On the 1^st of September when Dublin beat Kerry and reached their second All-Ireland final in three years, the scramble began for tickets to the “Big Dance”.

Huge controversy surrounded the All-Ireland football final as tickets appeared online being exchanged for large sums of money.

Tickets on eBay were selling for as much as €1,200 as fans flashed the cash to try get their hands on the precious tickets for the 22 September match. Two premium tickets had a starting price of €2,000.

Unfortunately some fans were not so lucky, with many scams taking place to try con supporters out of their money.  Many were tricked into wiring hundreds of euros to a “Kerryman” in exchange for tickets which never transpired. One Dublin fan, although not financially conned, was convinced to drive to Kerry for tickets that never materialised.

The Dublin man was told to meet the ticket owner in person at a Kerry pub, as he did not feel comfortable transferring money into a bank account. When he arrived in the pub he rang the ticket seller, who laughed down the phone at the unfortunate man.

The Liberty contacted the GAA to get their comment on ticket touting, Alan Milton, Head of Media Relations in the GAA, said, “The GAA strongly discourages the practice of our tickets being sold for prices above face value and to that end we advise patrons to purchase match day tickets from official sources only.

“When instances of touting are brought to our attention and it is possible for us to identify the tickets involved, it is our stated policy to cancel these tickets meaning those in possession are not guaranteed entry to our games,”  says Milton.

“We also recommend to regular attendees of our games to look at the GAA’s season ticket, which offers both excellent value and a guaranteed ticket should your county reach the All-Ireland final. Alternatively special one year Davin Príomh tickets are also on sale which represent excellent value.”

But, with the big match come and gone this will offer little consolation for many of the Dublin and Mayo fans who missed the All-Ireland or handed over large sums of money to snag a ticket.

Photo courtesy of Dan Heap via WikiCommons