The more things change the more things stay the same; or so they say! During the week an irate caller - people only call when they are irate - phoned this desk to say that his attempts to get tickets for Sunday Leinster semi-final double bill at Croke Park had run into trouble.
On making inquiries at Croke Park he was told that the only way to go about his task was to travel to Portlaoise and collect the tickets personally from the Leinster Council offices there. Naturally enough, being a busy man making a crust, and a Dub at that, he didn't relish the idea of travelling all the way to Portlaoise and back to get tickets for a stadium which was not going to be, even in the most enthusiastic mind, a full house.
After the best advice at this column's disposal was given, the incident set in train a series of thoughts about the whole subject of tickets for matches, concerts and other forms of entertainment.
The writer of this column remembers coming to Dublin in the early 1960s from "culshieland" to find that "black market" tickets for cinemas in the middle of Dublin would be on sale on Friday and Saturday evenings. Long queues of people would form at the Savoy or the Metropole or the Adelphi or other smaller cinemas and the touts would trawl the queues, having bought the seats earlier in the week.
There was then, nearly 40 years ago, widespread annoyance about this but, as far as can be remembered, nobody was ever charged with an offence. Members of the Garda have assured this column that they are greatly annoyed and troubled by the activities of "ticket touts" at all sorts of events because it creates problems for them which could be avoided. The column has at least one personal experience of difficulty with touts.
Some years ago a young TD called Pat Rabbitte moved a Private Member's motion on the matter in the Dail proposing that the sale of tickets for entertainment functions (sport or otherwise) above face value become an offence. He didn't get very far, if memory serves me right. Later he took his eye off this particular ball and, even when he was in government he never referred publicly to the matter.
Methinks a more mature Deputy Rabbitte might beware the stealth with which Young Fine Gael has stolen his political clothes. Another Private Member's bill has been tabled in Dail Eireann with the backing of the young Fine Gaelers, and it has the aim of making ticket touting illegal.
What all sports supporters should now do is to lobby their local TDs and insist that they support the bill proposed by Alan Shatter and Denis Naughten when it comes before the Dail. It would make it illegal for anyone to offer for sale tickets for any sporting or other event while asking for more than the price printed on the ticket.
While they are at it, of course, they should take a close look at a system which allows so-called "genuine traders" to charge a fee for providing the ticket in the first place. This is just another form of exploitation, as unacceptable as open touting.
The bill backed by Young Fine Gael would allow for a fine of £1,000 and/or a six-month jail sentence for convicted offenders. Gardai would also be given powers of arrest, and of confiscation in regard to tickets, while at the same time allowing any genuine supporter to sell a spare ticket at face value. In recent days we have heard of serious problems about the sale or non-availability of tickets for the World Cup in France. It appears that "fly-by-night" companies in the United States promised tickets which they did not possess. FIFA has some questions to answer.
The question of "scalping" is a serious one and will continue to cause problems unless the international authorities who have the clout to do something about it actually take action. The first step here in Ireland would be for all parties to support the new bill.
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