Can't say I was impressed with the stewarding of today's game. Landed outside Thomond Park before 5pm and it was after half 5, 15 minutes into the game, that I got into the ground.
Hope they get that sorted ahead of the next games.
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Can't say I was impressed with the stewarding of today's game. Landed outside Thomond Park before 5pm and it was after half 5, 15 minutes into the game, that I got into the ground.
Hope they get that sorted ahead of the next games.
Agree totally. Long queue for tickets, long queue at the turnstiles and a lot of "What's going on?"s being bandied about. Needed more people selling tickets, more turnstiles open. Not sure if you blame Thomond staff or the club. Missed the first five minutes, saw school groups coming in and finding their seats only have 20 minutes had gone. Real shame, worry it will effect neutral/potential followers opinions of the team.
Ya a shame the queues where the way they were but the only thing I will say though is tickets have been on sale for about a week and the ticket booth at Thomond park was open all day but thousands waited till around quarter to 5 to come up to buy tickets. I was there at 4:30 and there wasn't anyone around Thomond park but 15 minutes later the crowd started flooding in and queing to buy ticket. It doesn't happen at Munster games because people pre buy the tickets. I suppose it's a case of trial and error for both limerick FC and the fans. I've seen it happen in Jackman too were the club would ask people to arrive early but there would still be queues 5 minutes into the game.
It's fair enough to say that people should have pre-bought tickets, maybe they just didn't expect that much trouble to get them. I'm unaware if Thomond even has other ticket booths on hand if needed. It was the wait at the turnstiles that annoyed me more, there were hundred of people at T2 queuing to get frisked (unused to that) and go through one at a time.
If there is an online option (I think you could get tickets online for this game, not sure) I'll take advantage of that in future.
Edit: Oh, and I know they only opened one section in the stand to try and keep all the fans together, but it would have helped a lot of people coming in during the first 20 minutes if they could have moved into the vacant seats in the corner instead of huffing it to the top of the steps and having to maneuver through everyone already seated. I'm guessing there's a financial reason why that part isn't open, but a lot of people would have been seated quicker and easier if it was.
It's a problem that tickets were sold at the gate. They should be sold at a point away from the gate, or else leave people through the gate in the first place. Also, 300 away tickets?? What were your club expecting? The vast majority of our fans paid in cash (no ticket), without being head-counted.
It might be a very simple way to look at things and its unfortunate that people were inconvienienced by it but the way i see it is the lads working for the club have gone from running things in Jackman with crowds in the 100s to running it in Thomond with id say near enough if not over 4000 there. Its a learning curve for them and ive no doubt they will sort it out.
Ever since the club moved to the Ticketmaster system in 2008, you have been able to buy match tickets online (there may have been some matches that didn't have this option enabled, but in general this option has always been available).Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
Tickets were available from the Club Shop on Patrick St, and presumably also from Ticketmaster outlets (e.g. Euro Empire on O'Connell St).
I arrived at Thomond Park at 5:15 and it took just a little over 15 minutes to get seated. Having been delayed earlier, before I arrived at the ground I expected that I would miss about 10mins of the match. Considering the length of the queue that was there when I arrived, I thought it got dealt with reasonably well.
However, once the decision had been made to frisk everyone, they really should have had more security assigned to this duty.
Given the decent performance from the team, let's hope that we will have more crowds of similar size (I agree that the true attendance must have been more than the ~3500 announced).
So apart from some issues that the club has to get to grips with or tackle Thomond Park management on, the lesson fans need to learn from this experience is that you either buy your ticket in advance or you get there earlier. Or buy a season ticket.
I've never even thought to look up an online option in the last few years, never had cause to really.
This is a great opportunity for fans to volunteer to help out with queues/tickets sales/matchday programme sales/stewarding/etc. ... all of it will make it easier on the club each game.
got my ticket in advance,had no trouble getting in,but do know of several season ticket holders who were delayed entry as people did not seem to know how to deal with things.Quote:
Originally Posted by redron
got mine in advance too thank god cos i wasnt going to.. im sure limerick will sort it out and be better prepared when a big away support is expected.. didnt get to get a match programme ridiculous and i asked countless stewards where i could get one and not one could tell meQuote:
Originally Posted by da bishop
I saw people selling them outside around half an hour before KO, but they were down to the last few. Just sold out I guess.
was that outside the away entrance though? i was there half an hour before kick off and saw nothing.. ah wellQuote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
Yeah, out and to the right, on the path up from LIT.
ah right, guess il know for next time
Ya I actually bought mine while passing the away entrance. There was 4 lads there and they had about 30 programs each so I take it they just sold out.Quote:
Originally Posted by patrickccfc
yeah most likely.. shame cos i love collecting them and also passes the 15mins at half time
If your as in to it as some lads then keep an eye on our website. They usually throw whatever they have left up for sale on that but I can't see them having any to be honest with the crowd that was there.Quote:
Originally Posted by patrickccfc
yeah seems unlikely alright by the sounds of it.. yeah im fairly into it alright been collecting since 2008
Quote:
Originally Posted by patrickccfc
I think i have one there if i do you can have it.
ah wouldnt want to impose but if ya could that would be great.. ha i emailed the club asking was there any left over earlier
Yep have one there so ill send it to ya if you want it.Quote:
Originally Posted by patrickccfc
Just wondering, do the club appeal to fans to volunteer? Is it something thats been ongoing, encouraging people to get involved and pitch in?
Ya the club have always looked for volunteers. Most the people involved in the club are volunteers.Quote:
Originally Posted by A face
yeah that would be great...Quote:
Originally Posted by bluewhitearmy
I arrived at the ground at 4.40 with my daughter. Was a bit surprised that there was only one guy in the ticket box and when we moved on there was one guy sitting in the middle of 2 turnstiles operating them both. Thought it was a bit weird but obviously this got really worse afterwards. I suppose this is all new to Limerick and they got caught on the hop by the amount of people that traveled up from Cork. I was surprised myself even though I was predicting about 500. I suppose for a lot it was the draw of actually being at Thomond, the first Premier derby in 19 years and the first game of the season. I have to say it is a huge venue and it was like Siberia in the West Stand but I enjoyed the occasion and the atmosphere. I can see many more big games here and big crowds to match as I feel Limerick will be a force to be reckoned with and for me its great to have them back in the top league. No doubt they will be rectify the delays by increasing the amount of people looking after access at the away end. Good luck with your brave venture in Thomond Park and I hope it works out for you. I hope you travel in big numbers to Turners Cross for the next "big derby".
Many of the supporters the club will likely want to attract back are most likely to turn up 15-30 minutes before the game for the first few games to see what they think. Last Sunday was not a good experience on that score. Quarter to 5 was a reasonable time to arrive ahead of the game.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jofspring
I've no time for ticketmaster. Their handling charges are ridiculous. A better option should be available. It's not the cost that bothers me just the principle of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by redron
I don't agree there about lessons for fans. They should be able to deal with people arriving 15 to 20 minutes before kick-off.
For fans based in or near Limerick City, you can buy match tickets at the Club Shop without incurring any Ticketmaster handling fee.Quote:
Originally Posted by legendz
In fairness to those working/volunteering for the club on the day, they seemed to get the queue moving reasonably well by the time I arrived.
I arrived at the ground late - at 5:15pm. There was a huge queue at the ticket box. But 16-17 minutes later I was sitting at the back of the stand (while this was a good bit longer than what I expected before I arrived at the ground, taking into consideration the length of the queue ahead of me, it's not all that much longer than I could have expected under the circumstances). There was room to improve on that time, in that the security checks could have been more efficient and, having asked a steward for directions, I was sent all the way down to the other end of the concourse to enter into the stand only to have to make my way all the way up to the back and back halfway across.
If there was a crisis during the 30 minutes before I arrived at the ground, the club (who appeared to be responsible for the ticket box) seemed to have more or less got on top of it by the time I arrived.
But the problems regarding turnstiles, security checks and entry points to the stand are the responsibility of Thomond Park Stadium.
I hope the club has learnt the correct lessons so that it can deal with queue crises more efficiently in the future. But I also hope they are robust in their next meeting with Thomond Park Stadium regarding the other issues which added to fans' frustrations.
I am curious though, what is the designated capacity for Limerick FC's matches and how is that broken down between the stand and terrace on the home side and what is open on the away side (is it stand only on the away side?)?
Also, how do most rugby fans buy their tickets?
It appears to be away fans only in the West Stand. Home fans then in both the East Stand and East Terrace. I doubt there's a designated capacity. The maximum crowd is unlikely to go above 10,000.
Regards rugby tickets. I'd imagine a lot of tickets come though the clubs. Munster use the dreaded ticketmaster as well. Ye can go up to the stadium or the club shop on O'Connell street as well. There's also my preferred option of arriving outside the ground around 15-20 minutes before a game, get my ticket and be seated in good time before the start of a game.
On designated capacity, there were certainly sections of the West Stand fans were not allowed use.
It's incredible more clubs haven't thought of this...Quote:
Originally Posted by A face
Limerick should look into using Tickets.ie instead of ticketmaster as they have no booking fees and its already a big hit with gaa fans in the country, I think Shels are the only LOI team that currently use tickets.ie.Quote:
Originally Posted by legendz
Actually, the tickets.ie site states that the booking fee is included in the price quoted. So this implies that Shelbourne have made a decision to absorb the booking fee themselves. Fair play to them, but that probably wouldn't suit most clubs. And the €1 postage charge means the difference in price between ticketmaster.ie and tickets.ie is only €1. There do not appear to be any 'bricks and mortar' outlets selling tickets for this company.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fr. Joe
But something very interesting I noticed on the Shelbourne matches on tickets.ie is the fact that they have a "Non Attendance" ticket. This is a great idea, and must be something that has developed from their consistently very successful season ticket sales (they have regularly sold quite a lot of season tickets to supporters who only occasionally go to games, especially when they were in the First Division). The single match "Non Attendance" ticket must be a way for them to continue to receive some of that financial support, taking the recession into account.
When we were up in Drogheda last week, they use ticketgroup.ie. And I see from the website that Bray, Dundalk and UCD are also with them. Their charges vary from being slightly less than ticketmaster to being slightly more, depending on the total value of the tickets you are purchasing and if you want them posted out to you. They seem to have a link-up with Xtravision as 'bricks and mortar' outlets.
Anyway, the ticket prices for Limerick matches are very reasonable. Some clubs charge more for much inferior facilities.
The ticket box at Hunky Dorys Park is much smaller than that at Thomond Park. But the crowd last friday was smaller than what was in Thomond on tuesday, and they probably have more season ticket holders than Limerick.
Although the queue on tuesday night seemed to be better organised than previously, it did seem to move very slowly. I don't know why that was, but perhaps the club had less volunteers available.
But again I ask, what happens at rugby matches? Do they ever have the types of queues that have been at the Limerick matches? How do they cope with it if they do?
The queu at rugby matches doesn't move too quickly either, but its never a problem because the vast majority buy tickets in advance.
Also more turnstiles open, and less frisking.
But are there really more turnstiles open, proportionately?Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
(Crowd of <5000 as opposed to >25000)
As for the frisking, if the security company insist on doing this as thoroughly as at the first match, they're going to have to allocate enough staff for this duty.
I wasn't frisked as thoroughly on tuesday as I was at the first match, but there may have been a more relaxed attitude given the smaller crowd and the nature of the opposition. The match against St Pat's may be more like the Cork match.
I would hope that this situation would become more generally relaxed as the season goes on.
Talking to a fella today, said he couldnt get tickets on the ticketmaster website for the Pats game sat night, the page kept crashing on him on a number of different computers and 5mins later met another bloke complaining that you can't buy terrace tickets online, is this true? Both are country folk who attended the Cork game and would like to have tickets in hand for their next visits to TP. Needs to be sorted asap.
A good way of selling tickets would be a stand in the crescent SC on a fri and sat before games maybe, just an idea...
I'll just second the above, can't seem to get it working either. Strange.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fr. Joe
Just had a look at it there myself, and I see there is a problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
There has obviously been a mistake made in setting up these two matches (Pat's and Rovers). Even when I choose East Terrace from the Section menu, I am given the Stand prices.
Has anyone who has tried to buy Terrace tickets online contacted the Club to make them aware of the situation. I'm sure they'd appreciate being informed. If they aren't aware of the problem then it might happen again when tickets for the next match go on sale.
Of course, it could be a deliberate ploy to prevent away fans from entering the home terrace section. This might be a particular security measure for these matches.
These are two big matches, so it would seem wise to allow extra time for queuing to get in.
I sent a message to the club and ticketmaster Twitter accounts, the club one said they'd look into it.