God Save The Touts
Today I bring you a piece I found on the internet written by Duncan Campbell, of the Guardian Newspapers in the UK.
Save This Great National Tradition
Ticket touts are both entrepreneurs and part of the welfare state, so all politicians should oppose a ban.
Duncan Campbell By Guardian Newspapers, 6/21/2005
It is one of the great romantic street cries of London, the words delivered out of the corner of the mouth with a gentle and familiar lilt: "Tickets? Tickets? Anybody want tickets?" Or alternatively: "Tickets, tickets, anybody got tickets?"
For years, one of the outstanding traditions of Wimbledon, along with the rain, the strawberries and British failure by the end of the first week, has been the presence outside the grounds of the ticket tout, with that wonderful combination of bonhomie and a range of centre-court seats at three-figure prices. Alas now the ticket tout, like other ancient and revered figures of British life, such as the blacksmith and the bus conductor, is under threat.
There have already been attempts to drive him - if there are female ticket touts I have yet to meet one - out of business. Under the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, amended by the 1999 Football (Offences and Disorder) Act, a tout outside a football ground can be fined £5,000. You can still find them outside football grounds, although their friendly cries must now be delivered sotto voce. This week they are being hounded away from Wimbledon too, whether they come from the old-fashioned street-corner team or are of the new online persuasion. Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, is under pressure from major sporting and entertainment bodies to introduce even tougher measures to ban them for ever.
It would be sad if the ticket tout was to disappear. A campaign to keep him should be a cross-party affair. For the Tories, the ticket tout can be seen as an old-fashioned small businessman (or, in the case of the late, great Stan Flashman, an old-fashioned large businessman). Teresa Gorman, the former Conservative MP for Billericay, recognised that the touts represented the spirit of free enterprise and championed them. Surely one of the 43 current Tory leadership candidates might have the vision to take the same stance now that touts are in their hour of need?
For the left, the ticket tout represents a very necessary part of the welfare state, providing care for those too disorganised to buy their tickets well in advance despite having told their family or friends that it was all sorted out and not to worry. For the libertarian left, anyone who, like the tout, can annoy so many leaders of our major sports and so many corporate purveyors of overpriced tickets must deserve support.
For football fans, ticket touts are needed now more than ever. In the old days it was possible to go to what was then a first-division football match without having to either own a season ticket or be part of a cartel (or membership scheme, as they are officially called). The introduction of all-seater football stadiums ended this happy state of affairs and, as a result, tickets to Premiership games are now mainly in the hands of barristers, senior media executives and merchant bankers. The average fans who might not want to go to a game every week but still want to see their team live have been cut out. Almost their only way back into the ground now is through the ticket tout. (And sometimes, if you wait until the very last minute and it's wet, you can even get the tickets at cost price.)
The arrival of the Australian cricketers this summer has caused inflation on the ticket front, with £102 seats for the Lord's Test now fetching £700. The English Cricket Board last month condemned "touts and their vile practice" as though they were selling small boys rather than tickets to the Compton Stand.
Wimbledon has, to its credit, traditionally catered for the ordinary fans who cannot get their tickets through the masonic corporate route by allowing them to sleep in the street for a few weeks prior to the tournament. This is fine for some, but many people don't have access to the necessary all-weather camping equipment or don't want to be interviewed on local radio about their experience. For them the ticket tout provides a swift way out - or rather in.
And there is the aspect of tradition. After all, the word "tout", according to Eric Partridge's Dictionary of the Underworld, first appeared in 1718, more than two and half centuries before such terms as "executive box". Sadly, we no longer hear other old street cries such as "any old iron", "who will buy my wonderful roses?" and "bring out your dead"; but wouldn't London be a poorer place without the occasional "tickets, tickets"?
Finally, and most importantly, does any one have two seats, preferably in the first two rows of the Edrich Stand, for the Friday of the Ashes test at Lord's and, if possible, two for the West Stand at Highbury for Arsenal v Chelsea? Contact the address below. No time-wasters.© Guardian Newspapers Limited
Save This Great National Tradition
Ticket touts are both entrepreneurs and part of the welfare state, so all politicians should oppose a ban.
Duncan Campbell By Guardian Newspapers, 6/21/2005
It is one of the great romantic street cries of London, the words delivered out of the corner of the mouth with a gentle and familiar lilt: "Tickets? Tickets? Anybody want tickets?" Or alternatively: "Tickets, tickets, anybody got tickets?"
For years, one of the outstanding traditions of Wimbledon, along with the rain, the strawberries and British failure by the end of the first week, has been the presence outside the grounds of the ticket tout, with that wonderful combination of bonhomie and a range of centre-court seats at three-figure prices. Alas now the ticket tout, like other ancient and revered figures of British life, such as the blacksmith and the bus conductor, is under threat.
There have already been attempts to drive him - if there are female ticket touts I have yet to meet one - out of business. Under the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, amended by the 1999 Football (Offences and Disorder) Act, a tout outside a football ground can be fined £5,000. You can still find them outside football grounds, although their friendly cries must now be delivered sotto voce. This week they are being hounded away from Wimbledon too, whether they come from the old-fashioned street-corner team or are of the new online persuasion. Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, is under pressure from major sporting and entertainment bodies to introduce even tougher measures to ban them for ever.
It would be sad if the ticket tout was to disappear. A campaign to keep him should be a cross-party affair. For the Tories, the ticket tout can be seen as an old-fashioned small businessman (or, in the case of the late, great Stan Flashman, an old-fashioned large businessman). Teresa Gorman, the former Conservative MP for Billericay, recognised that the touts represented the spirit of free enterprise and championed them. Surely one of the 43 current Tory leadership candidates might have the vision to take the same stance now that touts are in their hour of need?
For the left, the ticket tout represents a very necessary part of the welfare state, providing care for those too disorganised to buy their tickets well in advance despite having told their family or friends that it was all sorted out and not to worry. For the libertarian left, anyone who, like the tout, can annoy so many leaders of our major sports and so many corporate purveyors of overpriced tickets must deserve support.
For football fans, ticket touts are needed now more than ever. In the old days it was possible to go to what was then a first-division football match without having to either own a season ticket or be part of a cartel (or membership scheme, as they are officially called). The introduction of all-seater football stadiums ended this happy state of affairs and, as a result, tickets to Premiership games are now mainly in the hands of barristers, senior media executives and merchant bankers. The average fans who might not want to go to a game every week but still want to see their team live have been cut out. Almost their only way back into the ground now is through the ticket tout. (And sometimes, if you wait until the very last minute and it's wet, you can even get the tickets at cost price.)
The arrival of the Australian cricketers this summer has caused inflation on the ticket front, with £102 seats for the Lord's Test now fetching £700. The English Cricket Board last month condemned "touts and their vile practice" as though they were selling small boys rather than tickets to the Compton Stand.
Wimbledon has, to its credit, traditionally catered for the ordinary fans who cannot get their tickets through the masonic corporate route by allowing them to sleep in the street for a few weeks prior to the tournament. This is fine for some, but many people don't have access to the necessary all-weather camping equipment or don't want to be interviewed on local radio about their experience. For them the ticket tout provides a swift way out - or rather in.
And there is the aspect of tradition. After all, the word "tout", according to Eric Partridge's Dictionary of the Underworld, first appeared in 1718, more than two and half centuries before such terms as "executive box". Sadly, we no longer hear other old street cries such as "any old iron", "who will buy my wonderful roses?" and "bring out your dead"; but wouldn't London be a poorer place without the occasional "tickets, tickets"?
Finally, and most importantly, does any one have two seats, preferably in the first two rows of the Edrich Stand, for the Friday of the Ashes test at Lord's and, if possible, two for the West Stand at Highbury for Arsenal v Chelsea? Contact the address below. No time-wasters.© Guardian Newspapers Limited
posted by www.alphatickets.com at 9:24 AM
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