South End Core reacts to launch of Goal Card

The South End Core issued a statement to declare its official position with regards to the issue of the Goal Card – a block ticket for the five home 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

The statement, signed by SEC leader Louis Agius, agrees in principle with the launch of this card but questions why there is no Goal Card for children for the South Stand and why there was an increase in the price for match-day tickets for the games against Armenia, Bulgaria, Denmark and Czech Republic.

“The South End Core is totally in favour of the introduction of the Goal Card at the price of €30 for the South Stand for five matches including the Italy match, and from here we encourage all the SEC fans to purchase the card as soon as possible to guarantee a seat for all the matches and obviously for the “big match”, please note that the Goal Card is only available till the 31st July!”

“What we are against is the issue of the kids that no Goal Card is available for the South Stand but one is available for the North Stand at €15! This means that, at the moment, our regular SEC fans that follow the national team and always bring kids with them, will either have to pay for a full adult price Goal Card for their kids or will have to pay match day ticket prices (€20 for the Italy match (if available), €10 for the Czech Republic and Denmark matches and €7 for the Armenia and Bulgaria matches), or else leave the South Stand and go to the North Stand!”

“This is totally unfair and we have already started some discussions with the association to adjust this situation and issue a kids Goal Card for the South Stand. The MFA website states that the North Stand will be closed for all the matches except for the Italy game, and people including kids in possession of a Goal Card will then be relocated to the South Stand for the other 4 matches.”

“Our question is: what happens if the amount of Goal Cards sold for the SEC stand is high enough that the North Stand needs to be opened? How can the MFA say that the North Stand will be kept closed? This means that families who usually attend the South Stand and have been “exiled” to the North Stand for the Italy match, will have to remain there for all the matches!”

“We do not agree on the match day ticket prices, the tickets saw a sharp increase in cost. We do understand that the Italy match deserves an increase but why the other matches too? And why has the South Stand only seen that type of increase whereas the Millennium Stand ticket prices remained virtually unchanged (except for the Italy match) as stated by Mr. Norman Darmanin Demajo himself during the press conference? A person that is not in possession of a Goal Card will have to pay a 100% increase for the Czech Republic and Denmark match and a 50% increase for the Bulgaria and Armenia match. I left out the Italy match on purpose as the probability is that no match day tickets will be available as only 13,000 seats are available to the Maltese general public due to commitments such as sponsors, away fans, etc . This goes completely against what we have been working for in the last 5 years , as with these prices people who decide at the last minute to watch a Malta match, and may I stress that I am not referring to the Italy match, will surely think twice or not at all and simply does not attend. ”

“In virtue of all this, the South End Core will forward a proposal to the MFA to try and find a compromise on match day tickets in order to make the South Stand financially accessible once again. ”