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A131


Intermediate Club Player

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Wimbledon Ballot?
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You may well have had this debate many times but I am one of these people that just hates the ballot in its current form? Unlike Wimbledon I don't think it is a fair way of distributing the tickets at all as I believe that many who follow the sport all year round and not just two weeks of the year, lose out. Within the last week or two I have discovered that my sister in law, who does not play tennis, is not a member of any club, does nothing for the sport, takes no interest in the sport outside of Wimbledon, probably couldn't name any tennis players outside of your Federer's , Murray's, Nadal etc, probably has no idea who Dan Evans is, has been fortunate enough to secure Centre Court tickets for the second Tuesday. If she was a genuine fan of the game I might cut her some slack and be a bit more pleased for her but I know full well that a much more deserving fan will end up queuing for hours and even then might not get a show court ticket. That fan might well be prepared to queue and put up with a bit of discomfort and take that risk but why should they when the likes of my sister in law (who probably wouldn't be prepared to queue) and probably hundreds of others who are only part time fans don't have to. 

I did not enter the ballot so maybe I have no right to winge (as I am usually fortunate enough to get tickets through my club) but my argument still stands in that a large proportion of those who apply through the public ballot (maybe as many as 60%) don't give a toss about the sport for the other 50 weeks of the year and they reduce the chances of the genuine fan getting a ticket in advance.

Would Wimbledon ever consider rethinking the allocation of tickets so that the real fans who deserve tickets get them in advance without having to queue and the part-time fans can queue overnight?

Could there not be some sort of facility open only to BTM members - with conditions (only two tickets per person, one visit only, limited time to purchase, maybe with a record of supporting other events eg Nottingham, Birmingham - to stop people joining BTM solely for the purpose of getting Wimbledon tickets)? 

After that allocate the LTA affiliated clubs with a generous proportion.

Then whatever is left can go on general sale or to a ballot.

But what do others think?

 



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Ratty


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I'm perfectly relaxed about the whole thing. I don't quite follow why the "genuine fan" should have any more right to buy a ticket than the casual follower.

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indiana


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Hmm, maybe a case if you could disttinguish true followers of British tennis as distinct to "merely" club members / members of BTM ( of course, folk could be both ).

Can I ask how do folk obtain tickets through their club ? "Merely" by being members of that club, balloted within their club from a specified ticket allocation or sone specific contributions to the game ?

Maybe these that have a record of such as folliwing GB abroad to such as Davis Cup and Fed Cup ties should be given a priority chance to purchase Wimbledon tickets. I'd say such folk on the whole would be deserving cases.

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Shhh


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I wish their was some way as a genuine supporter I could get a ground pass but, I guess Wimbledon is what it is. I could not believe the people I kept having sat next to, or near me last year (how little interest or knowledge they had of what they were watching) but, if it was anything different it wouldn't have developed as the occassion it is, something far beyond the matches on offer.

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chavkev


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I 'won' the ballot for Centre Court for Queen's Club. I have been assigned the Monday for £98. To be honest I cannot justify the expense. I am not that keen on the ballot myself and would be intrigued to hear if other GS nations do things differently.

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A131


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indiana wrote:

Hmm, maybe a case if you could disttinguish true followers of British tennis as distinct to "merely" club members / members of BTM ( of course, folk could be both ).

Can I ask how do folk obtain tickets through their club ? "Merely" by being members of that club, balloted within their club from a specified ticket allocation or sone specific contributions to the game ?

Maybe these that have a record of such as folliwing GB abroad to such as Davis Cup and Fed Cup ties should be given a priority chance to purchase Wimbledon tickets. I'd say such folk on the whole would be deserving cases.

 In answer to your first question Indy folk have to join the club and become members of BTM (if they are not already) to be eligible for the club draw and as far as I understand it allocation of tickets is based on how many BTM's a club has. Let's just say that this  makes them eligible rather than deserving, as unfortunately, so few of them make any worthwhile contribution to the overall running of the club, make excuses for not doing so, and only seem to want to be part of the club when it suits their agenda, and only come out of the woodwork when the Wimbledon tickets are up for grabs. I know it's suppose to be a benefit of being a member and I don't wish to appear mean-spirited or exclude them from going, but I think they should at least make some reasonable effort to help the good of the club as opposed to the constant selfish attitude so many of them display now. Rant over!

Agree with what you say about those who follow the Davis/Fed Cup teams - though you might get the argument that some simply can't afford the time or money to travel abroad - but in the main I get whe



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A131


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Shhh wrote:

I wish their was some way as a genuine supporter I could get a ground pass but, I guess Wimbledon is what it is. I could not believe the people I kept having sat next to, or near me last year (how little interest or knowledge they had of what they were watching) but, if it was anything different it wouldn't have developed as the occassion it is, something far beyond the matches on offer.

 That's another thing that frustrates me - not even the opportunity to get a ground pass but this is where Wimbledon is just stuck in its ways and run by a few dinosaurs. Being unique does not mean good or better.

And yes some of the people you come across - you can tell they are there just for show - and if we could find a way to severely reduce those it might be a bit easier to get round the grounds particularly during the first week. I think Wimbledon allow far too many in at times - so crowded!



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imoen


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Ratty wrote:

I'm perfectly relaxed about the whole thing. I don't quite follow why the "genuine fan" should have any more right to buy a ticket than the casual follower.

 I'm with Ratty on this one, especially as I became a "genuine fan" by attending wimbledon as a "casual follower" through ballot tickets.

 

Tennis in Britain already has an elitist reputation adding conditions to the sale of Wimbledon tickets doesn't seem to me to be a good way to negate that.



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Madeline


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It no longer applies to me, as I am unable to go now because of committments: but the only thing I would have liked to see in the past is that I would have loved to be able to get ground pass tickets in advance. As I live nearly 300 miles away, I needed to book transport and hotels in advance. I did queue several times, but only when I had got ballot tickets - when I would queue the day before or the day after (once both) wanting only ground passes. The last time I queued I just could not keep up with the speed of the queue when they first got it moving - they had people running (in a line) towards the grounds. I had already decided not to go again without tickets.

Otherwise I had no problem with the ballot system, and agree with Ratty and Imoen on this.

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The Optimist


ATP qualifying

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It would be like saying you could only attend the Grand National if you'd attended 5 rain soaked meetings in small race courses around the country in the previous year, or only go to Lords if you'd sat through a number of county matches, or attend Twickenham if you could name all the players in the 6 Nations - giving an allocation to clubs for members is probably all that they can realistically do to give home enthusiasts a head start on places (even though the most enthusiastic club members don't always win the ballot!).  A few years ago, regularly competing juniors got put into a separate small ballot and were offered tickets to purchase for themselves and a guest on No 1 court.  Don't know if this still happens but I thought it a cracking idea.

 

Edited for a horrible typo



-- Edited by The Optimist on Wednesday 12th of March 2014 06:04:17 PM

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Spectator


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That does sound like a good idea.

Like others above, I'd love to see some way of getting grounds passes in advance ... perhaps a separate "grounds pass" ballot?

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Jan


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Spectator wrote:


Like others above, I'd love to see some way of getting grounds passes in advance ... perhaps a separate "grounds pass" ballot?

 Hear hear



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A131


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imoen wrote:
Ratty wrote:

I'm perfectly relaxed about the whole thing. I don't quite follow why the "genuine fan" should have any more right to buy a ticket than the casual follower.

 I'm with Ratty on this one, especially as I became a "genuine fan" by attending wimbledon as a "casual follower" through ballot tickets.

 

Tennis in Britain already has an elitist reputation adding conditions to the sale of Wimbledon tickets doesn't seem to me to be a good way to negate that.

 Like Ratty I wish I could be more relaxed about it and good on you for now being a regular follower rather than a two week follower. But they are few and far between - you are the exception rather than the rule and I don't think that trying to find ways to enable genuine fans a greater opportunity to get tickets in advance without having to queue is necessarily adding to the elitist reputation as I believe a lot of genuine fans and from what I have witnessed at Davis Cup matches seem like ordinary people or don't seem to give off that air of snobery which I agree with you does still exist in some quarters, perhaps many, within the sport in this country.

I still haven't really read anything that would change my mind but I respect your view.



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A131


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Spectator wrote:

That does sound like a good idea.

Like others above, I'd love to see some way of getting grounds passes in advance ... perhaps a separate "grounds pass" ballot?

 Well that would certainly be a step forward even if they chaged an extra £10 for the privilege - but then again this is Wimbledon we're talking about and as I said earlier they are stuck in their ways - or seem to be.



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seagull


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I got Court 1 tickets on Day 1 in my club ballot

biggrin

 

Anyone else heard yet?



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