With the FA Cup Final sneaking up on us this year and tucked into a weekend of League fixtures the Football Supporters Federation look at a touchy subject amongst football fans, where do those tickets go ?

FA Cup final day is almost upon us and the clamour for tickets is unsurprisingly huge from both Chelsea and Liverpool fans. While demand for such events will almost always outstrip supply, many fans feel that the distribution of Cup final tickets is unfair.

There is a common perception - rightly or wrongly - that significant numbers of “real” fans miss out on tickets which are pocketed by blazers, liggers, and sponsors - some of which end up on the black market. The FSF strongly believes that an open debate between the FA and fans is needed around the numbers of tickets going directly to fans of the competing clubs.

It’s an annual complaint, an understandable one, and a complaint which could be solved by increased transparency from the football authorities and clubs. At present each club is given around 25,000 tickets, another 17,000 go to Club Wembley (not in direct control of the FA), which leaves 23,000 to members of the “football family” minus the number set aside for sponsors.

However, past experience tells us that many of the 40,000 tickets not given directly to either club will end up in the hands of Chelsea or Liverpool. The balance between rewarding those in grassroots football, FA counties, and FA employees does need re-examining and a number of key points answering. We are not necessarily saying that the Football Supporters’ Federation has all the answers but discussions need to take place.

• How many tickets should go to the “football family”? Very few fans would argue that every single ticket in Wembley should go to supporters of one of the two clubs involved. Most would acknowledge that those who have given up much of their lives to grassroots football deserve some reward and occasional Cup final tickets might be appropriate. But that’s not to say that every pub team's manager deserves a ticket every year, of course! Perhaps there are other ways to reward service too? The number of tickets regurgitated via the black market every year shows that the right balance has not yet been found.

• The FA could implement stricter rules on tickets given to the football family. At present tickets dished out to local county FAs, clubs, and so on are subject to fairly loose controls. While a name must be given to the FA for the “end user” there are no controls in place to stop county FA’s giving them to whoever they like. This means that local volunteer Joe Bloggs who has spent 15 years managing a youth side might repeatedly miss out while someone who knows an important figure in their local county FA jumps the queue.

• There is a lack of transparency in the manner in which clubs can use their allocation. While each club is given 25,000 tickets there is no requirement that they share that allocation in a fair manner among their season ticket holders. The FSF would certainly argue that a minimum percentage should be set aside for season ticket holders and club members to prevent clubs giving disproportionate numbers to sponsors or executives.

Every ticket on the black market has, by one route or another, been issued by the FA to a person, organisation, or company that’s more interested in making money than going to the game. The reputational damage to the FA on this is real and we hope that they are willing to work with fans to refine the current system.

• Like to have your say on this story? Go to the FSF's Facebook page.

Photo: Action Images

CovSaint added 14:35 - May 4 I'm unable to comment on the FSF's facebook (fb) page, as I'm not on fb, so I'll just make a qucik point here instead. Slightly off topic I suppose, but I'm sure I'm not alone is mentioning the sadly diminished FA Cup competition these days. Just a real shame that tomorrows match will once again be the 3rd in the competition this year at Wembley - No longer the preserve of just the final making it the special 'one off' occasion. Also, a ridiculous kick-off time to suit TV schedules, particularly commercial TV interests. On top of the ticketing allocation thread above, an apparent, and very sad dismantling of a great football tradition in this country... All been said before, but worth repeating all the same... rant over!

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Whatsforpud added 11:14 - May 6 This is a subject that only raises itself near cup final time, and then is put on the back burner. In the days before televised finals, giving tickets to the the administrators of local FA leagues was a justifiable reward for all the hard work put in during the year. Since then, everyone can see it, and the excuse to give so many tickets away cannot be justified Perhaps 70,000 should be allocated to the 2 clubs, and you could argue that the split between the 2 clubs should be proportionate to their average gates

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