by Adriana Hamacher

OP/ED - Last week, UEFA released results of their public ballot with 11,000 general sale tickets to be issued to the public. A substantial number of these will be resold, most often on the internet, making some people a great deal of money. In the UK, this practice is supposed to be illegal. So, how and why does it happen? Does anyone really care that it happens?

Companies such as Seatwave, Viagogo and the Telegraph have been able to strike deals with clubs, in order to resell tickets. There are also a number of online sellers who are not based in the UK and therefore exempt from the law. But under current legislation, members of the public are not allowed to resell tickets. It is, however, widespread practice. Just take a look at eBay.

Apparently, eBay has plans in place to counteract touting. Website Back Page Football (BFP) contacted eBay and was told the following:

“We have changed our policy on major events such as sport or concerts. While we don’t make it public knowledge, anybody selling tickets for events such as the Champions League Final will do so under several restrictions and they will be informed of this upon placing the advert. All such applications will be subject to approval and we hope to that will make a huge difference in the over pricing of these events”

However, what exactly these restrictions are is a mystery, as eBay declined to return EUTN calls when we tried to find out. There are of course, eBay's terms and conditions. But these aren’t particularly enlightening either:

“All listings for football tickets to association football matches occurring in England or Wales, or involving an English or Welsh national or club team playing outside England or Wales, are prohibited. In addition, all listings for tickets to association football matches occurring anywhere in the world that are part of a competition or tournament organised by FIFA or UEFA and that an English or Welsh national or club team has participated in, or is eligible to participate in, are also prohibited...eBay may allow authorised sellers to list football tickets to these matches, but only through prior written agreement with eBay”.

And even the legislation dealing with the resale of tickets on the internet, is far from clear: Section 53 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act incudes, in its definition of illegal touting, trading tickets on the internet. But the Act only applies if any part of the transaction occurs within England and Wales and doesn’t include the actual buying of the ticket.

Which all helps to explain why so few cases actually come to trial. One of the few to do so was the case against Terry Shepherd, director of TOTE and Ticketmate, found guilty on various counts linked to the reselling of football tickets. But Shepherd was also linked to the fraudulent Xclusive website. Those behind Xclusive were found guilty of scamming thousands out of tickets for the Beijing Olympics. Would Shepherd have been prosecuted if he had stuck to reselling football tickets? It’s likely that it would depend on the scale of the activity. According to lawyer Laura Acreman of Bird & Bird:

“Due to the evidential burden of proof and the need for a conviction on indictment in order to use the full force of legislation, touting activity may need to be sufficiently serious for prosecutors to be willing to invest in prosecuting it”.

This begs the question: why are there any resell restrictions at all? Many point to Hillsborough as being the reason for the ban on reselling tickets but safety in stadiums has come a long way since then. It’s obvious that public safety at football matches requires that fans of opposing teams are kept apart and that those banned from football matches cannot attend but there are other methods of achieving this. Such as cards that can be scanned. And surely this is the remit of the clubs and organisations such as UEFA? Rugby has taken steps to clean up its ticketing act, imposing fines and restrictions on those found to be reselling tickets - particularly season ticket holders. Some feel that it's immoral and even illegal, but the fact is, people will continue to resell football tickets as long as there is no one to stop them and someone to buy them. And as long is there is a demand for a limited supply, and tickets sold in the primary market don't actually reflect true market value, there will always be trading in the secondary ticketing market.