Column: FA Cup final ticket debate opens up wider issues
There has been a lot of talk about clubs only being allocated 7,500 tickets for next month's FA Cup final, despite teams failing to sell out their allocations in the past. What next?
The topic of ticket allocations has become a big talking point in the past few days after Chelsea and Manchester United were both given just 7,500 tickets to sell for the upcoming FA Cup final at Wembley next month.
The outcry may seem fair to some, while others have been bemused by the reaction, especially given the allocation offered is the largest of any cup final at Wembley yet since the showpiece occasion moved there in 2015.
Which side of the fence you sit on perhaps opens up a wider debate about where the women's game is at right now. Still a fun day out for families with young children to see their idols and enjoy a day in the sun at the national stadium, while top clubs especially are now building a more partisan support who wish to sit together in their masses, create an atmosphere and push their team to victory.
The reality is these two things can co-exist, and right now they have to, but with 65,000 tickets 'issued' to neutral supporters since the game went on sale, the 7,500, in retrospect, offered to fans of the actual clubs involved in the game feels unbalanced to the naked eye.
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That figure in itself shows the level the women's game has peaked to in England since last summer's Euro 2022 success, with the last four finals open to supporters somewhere in the 40,000s, nowhere near the 65,000+ the FA is expecting to attend next month.
Allocations are set well in advance and with no prior knowledge of which teams will be in the final. By the semi-final stage, the final could conceivably ended up being Brighton & Hove Albion vs Aston Villa, who would unlikely have sold their allocations, while there's every chance clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea could, and arguably should.
The FA appears to have been taken aback by the reaction to the allocation figures since the final two sides were confirmed at the weekend, and reiterated in a statement sent to WFC this morning that it is more than double previous allocations, which WFC believes have not sold out.
In the statement, an FA Spokesperson said "The Vitality Women’s FA Cup Final is the showpiece event of the women’s domestic season, and to date we have issued over 65,000 tickets.
"Finalists Chelsea and Manchester United have each been issued with an additional 7,500 tickets for their fans. This is to help meet the likely demand for each club and is almost double the amount of tickets that the finalists received last year. We look forward to hosting another memorable Final at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 14 May, and we are anticipating a new record attendance for the match."
Initially, the statement appeared to suggest clubs were being allocated an extra 7,500 on top of what had already been issued in response to the reaction, but it appears this refers only to the initial allocation confirmed this week, and as yet no further tickets have been allocated to either club.
The FA may also point to the fact neither club reaches 7,500 supporters in their domestic league games. Albeit, Chelsea's Kingsmeadow ground holds less than 5,000, while Man United's attendances have rarely stretched to the number of tickets given for Wembley, even if their attendances are regularly strong.
Both clubs have of course blitzed those figures for games held at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge respectively, but any supporter who attends regular games supporting either club should theoretically be able to obtain a ticket in their respective allocations offered.
It raises wider questions, as mentioned, around where women's football is being marketed and indeed how it is marketed, but the FA's remit is to fill their national stadium for the biggest occasions, and right now that means offering a large chunk out to neutrals for the event.
While there is potential to offer larger allocations, if these don't sell out it potentially reduces the attendance and the amount of tickets being snapped up by neutrals wanting to attend the match.
One personal suggestion would be to expand the allocations and any tickets not taken up by club supporters get offered on general sale in the final days and weeks building up to the game, but the FA has not confirmed future plans for finals behind 2023.
Chelsea and Liverpool for example were allocated 30,500 tickets each for last year's men's FA Cup final, but both clubs also exceed that figure regularly in the Stamford Bridge, with less demand from neutral supporters in the men's game where partisan support is more common than it is at the moment in the women's game, even if it's growing and shifting that way more and more.
United head coach Marc Skinner described his side's allocation as "crazy" in his pre-match press conference this morning for tomorrow's WSL game against Arsenal, and the best thing fans of United and Chelsea can do is to ensure those 7,500 are solid in full in order to not just perhaps force the FA's hand to up that allocation before the 14th May comes around, but to show allocations should be larger in the future.
If they fail to, as clubs have done in the past, allocations are likely to remain similar for future events.