Richmond Hall of Famer Jim Jess has urged the AFL to overhaul its system for allocating grand final tickets to its former stars as a wave of past players are shut-out on the AFL\u2019s biggest day of football.<\/p>\n
The AFL has for many seasons given Hall of Fame players and life members (300-gamers) first choice to two complimentary tickets to all games including the grand final, with 200-club members able to access one ticket subject to availability.<\/p>\n
The AFL refuses to disclose how many grand final tickets it has for a group it considers \u2018award winners\u2019 but says those numbers have increased in recent years.<\/p>\n
But so has demand for tickets, with 280 Football Hall of Fame inductees and 114 300-gamers, as well as around 700 200-gamers.<\/p>\n
It is not known how many living members are in that group but the AFL is aware more of its award winners are keen to secure tickets.<\/p>\n
Jess, a 223-game Richmond cult hero who went by the nickname \u201cThe Ghost\u201d, said the AFL once used to mail out a grand final ticket to all 200-gamers. <\/p>\n
Now they must apply through an online system considered unwieldy by many participants, with grand final tickets exhausted within 21 minutes this year.<\/p>\n
Several of the game\u2019s legends who are in the Hall of Fame told the Herald Sun they also missed out on September tickets despite being in a higher category than 200-games.<\/p>\n
The AFL has worked hard to put more grand final tickets into the hands of competing members but also has a vast allocation of corporate tickets on offer for the day.<\/p>\n
1980 premiership player Jess said the league should overhaul its system to ensure ex-players of the competing clubs were guaranteed tickets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe never used to apply. The AFL used to send out a grand final ticket in the mail. Now you have to get onto this website and the allocation was exhausted in 21 minutes,\u201d he told this masthead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is so much more pressure to give tickets to corporates. I did a function when Richmond was one of the grand finals and I said to one guy, \u2018Who do you follow?\u2019 and he said, \u2018I don\u2019t even go to the footy, Visy has just given me this ticket\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are the AFL\u2019s priorities? Making money or looking after players who used to put on the show? We got smacked in the head a few times, we did the hard yards and we played the game. But the AFL is interested in making money.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurely ex-players from the participating clubs should get first dibs if they want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ex-players who receive grand final tickets from the AFL are allowed to hand them on to family or friends, so there is no gatekeeping about whether they actually use them to attend the game.<\/p>\n
Jess called on the AFL to find a better system that was less reliant on technology for ageing past players, and one which distributed tickets on a fairer basis.<\/p>\n
The AFL website states that 16,000-40,000 grand final tickets go to competing members, 7000 go to AFL clubs, up to 26,000 to the MCC, up to 18,000 to the AFL Members, up to 5000 to AFL Medallion Club members, up to 30,000 to AFL entitlements and contractual obligations.<\/p>\n
Many of those ticket categories flow on to corporates who attend the game at ramped-up prices. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richmond Hall of Famer Jim Jess has urged the AFL to overhaul its system for allocating grand final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":893028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[426772,462386,462448,462447,391226,72756,462412,462411,462410,114423,39187,462390,462427,462450,166114,462387,146155,462398,462417,462440,462400,392402,462388,462451,462407,462439,401692,172855,638,462408,462397,462406,462389,392704,462441,462420,64,63,55,639,462394,107828,462395,462414,462444,462455,410702,10167,462428,21814,462432,462431,430471,462392,462402,167587,408054,596,462449,462413,16487,462405,462393,462446,462422,26431,462409,462443,462418,187,462399,408502,445376,21920,462433,462435,425700,7820,462419,462434,6858,462416,462437,85,105,462453,379302,462424,462429,462421,462425,462396,400086,74713,462403,448141,420644,462442,421925,382511,462436,167550,386615,280721,379437,462404,462391,462438,60939,397700,462423,462415,462430,462426,462452,30461,462454,462401,462445,135470],"class_list":["post-893027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-s-biggest-day","tag-s-grand-final-ticket-priorities","tag-s-legends","tag-s-priorities","tag-391226","tag-72756","tag-000-grand-final-tickets","tag-000-40","tag-114-300-gamers","tag-114423","tag-39187","tag-200-club-members","tag-200-games-the-afl","tag-21-minutes","tag-166114","tag-280-football-hall","tag-146155","tag-300-gamers","tag-a-223-game-richmond-cult-hero","tag-a-better-system","tag-a-fairer-basis-the-afl-website","tag-a-few-times","tag-a-function","tag-a-grand-final-ticket","tag-a-higher-category","tag-a-vast-allocation","tag-a-wave","tag-a-group","tag-afl","tag-afl-clubs","tag-afl-entitlements","tag-afl-medallion-club-members","tag-all-200-gamers","tag-all-games","tag-an-online-system","tag-around-700-200-gamers-who","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-availability-the","tag-award-winners","tag-competing-members","tag-contractual-obligations-many","tag-corporate-partners","tag-corporate-tickets","tag-corporates","tag-demand","tag-ex-players","tag-fame","tag-fame-inductees","tag-fame-players-and-life-members","tag-famer","tag-famer-jim-jess","tag-family-or-friends","tag-first-choice","tag-first-dibs","tag-football","tag-grand-final-ticketing-system-overhaul","tag-grand-final-tickets","tag-hall","tag-how-many-grand-final-tickets","tag-its-award-winners","tag-its-former-stars","tag-its-system","tag-legends","tag-living-members","tag-many-participants","tag-many-seasons","tag-money","tag-more-grand-final-tickets","tag-more-pressure","tag-more-tickets","tag-offer","tag-one-guy","tag-one-ticket","tag-past-players","tag-players","tag-ramped-up-prices","tag-recent-years-but","tag-richmond","tag-richmond-hall","tag-september-tickets","tag-sports","tag-technology","tag-that-group","tag-the-afl","tag-the-afl-members","tag-the-afl-prioritise","tag-the-allocation","tag-the-competing-clubs","tag-the-day-1980-premiership-player-jess","tag-the-footy","tag-the-game","tag-the-game-jess","tag-the-ghost","tag-the-grand-final","tag-the-grand-finals","tag-the-hall","tag-the-hands","tag-the-hard-yards","tag-the-head","tag-the-herald-sun","tag-the-league","tag-the-mail","tag-the-mcc","tag-the-nickname","tag-the-participating-clubs","tag-the-show","tag-this-masthead","tag-this-ticket","tag-this-website","tag-this-year-several","tag-those-numbers","tag-those-ticket-categories","tag-tickets","tag-tickets-jess","tag-two-complimentary-tickets","tag-up-to-5000","tag-visy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=893027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}