So once again West Ham has found itself at the centre of a media storm. This is getting a bit too bloody embarrassing now, David and David!
West Ham fans were filmed verbally abusing Muslim supporters who were praying in the stadium at the match against Manchester City last week. And the press have taken, rightly or wrongly, quite a one sided view of things, with the club and fans coming across very negatively indeed.
There are a few points I want to discuss here. Firstly, did you know before this weekend that £5 tickets were offered to community groups to get the local community involved with the club? I personally was unaware of this and think that the club should have made it a much more clear that this was happening. I know that players often go and visit groups in the local area, but what I didn’t know was that they actually get offered cheaper tickets to matches. Now, normally I’d be all in favour of this and happy that the club are reaching out to locals but I don’t think it should have been offered for the Man City game.
Of course our fans who had paid full price for the match would be fuming that other people had been let in to this game for a fiver. It’s a Category A match, meaning that tickets would be at their most expensive – £52 in this case. I’m all for letting people who wouldn’t normally go to matches attend at a discount, but surely this would work better against teams like Norwich City, for example, who wouldn’t necessarily be in as much demand – or as expensive for regular attendees. If anything, I would have hoped the club would recognise that an expensive match being shown on TV would probably fail to sell out, and lower ticket prices accordingly. But that would probably be too much common sense for West Ham!
Our ‘spokesperson’ Jack Sullivan has said that tickets were only given out to fill the stadium for Sky, tweeting: ‘The 5 pound ticket were a one off offer to the local community to fill empty seats for a TV game. Go to KUMB or WHU website for more detail.’ When I look at the official statement from West Ham, I don’t get the impression that this was a one off at all. And if it genuinely was, I don’t understand why the club couldn’t randomly select members who hadn’t yet bought tickets and may have been priced out of going to the game to get the discount.
I don’t blame the people that were chosen for going to the match – I personally feel that if I was offered £5 tickets to go and see Premier League football, I’d definitely take advantage of that. However, there were reports of them cheering on Man City which was bound to wind up Hammers fans. And I must admit I’m really not sure a packed out football stadium was an ideal place for a prayer session.
I’m not saying West Ham fans are innocent by any means, and it must be said that some have behaved appallingly. There have been some disgusting tweets from Hammers fans over the last few days. One of the tamer ones to David Gold said: “why are you giving out free tickets to asians. absolute disgrace.”
To me, the anger falls into two categories – the fact that football fans who were not necessarily even West Ham fans were given cut price tickets to an expensive game, and the fact that they were Muslims. The latter is unacceptable and just makes our fans look fickle and racist. I do think fans have a right to be angry about this match being the one chosen for the community project, as thousands of them had paid 10 times more than the £5 offer to watch it.
There should have been a lot more transparency about this and the club should probably have issued a statement as soon as their position was questioned, rather than 2 days after. Has the lesson been learnt? With our club, who knows?! I think that’s the bigger problem here – there have been a few issues recently that have made West Ham embarrassing, and it needs to get sorted out as soon as possible.
What are your thoughts on last weekend’s events? Leave me a comment or tweet me at @alwaysintune.
really pissed me off i phoned whu to buy tickets for trevor brooking lower to take my german whu fan for the atmosphere and was told it was sold out so had to sit else where then found out what the reason was and no we are not racist what do you expect would they like it if we sang football song in a mosque do they really think that you can mix together they dont drink they dont sing and they dont know fuckall about the way we feel about our club its just another way to say that non muslims are racist you cant even walk in whitechaple theses days without being attack gold sullivan done brillant for whu put they has took the piss this time it would av been sold out but they made whu fans look stupid would millwall do it would any outher london club do it i dont think so
I am fuming at the pure disregards to all loyal hammer fans as for me I have been a hammer fan for 40 years not 5 minutes let alone not ever going , selling reduced price tickets to encourage new fans is good but when you kick the true fans in the head I think you need to adjust you thinking as how to attract new fans not be under handed and say its for the community , bull
As seemingly always with your (quite brilliant) articles, I agree with all of it!!
The Daves have messed up big time doing this out of no where and thinking people won’t mind… We really need a new PR person! Ha.
Also think the fans moaning that it was just Muslims offered tickets are a disgrace. Some of the tweets I’ve seen this week have been disgusting.
In the 70’s my dad took me to my first game and I was smitten. Why not target schools and get the kids involved? Much better to help out families as it’s not cheap as when I was young. Instead they invited in a load of people who were seen cheering against west ham apparently.
The club I grew up loving is in a mess yet again, not helped by the fact the press hate us too.
good idea!
I think it’s a waste of time to give tickets to adults if they dont go already they will only go if they get free tickets . A more sensible target market would be kids free and a discount for their parents as the children are the future fan base. As for praying this should have been a bit more organised as at any club you go to in the country will have a section of morons who only mouth off when there are strength in numbers .
Upton Park (Boleyn Ground) is a football stadium, not a church, mosque, temple or any other religious establishment. If these people wanted to carry out a religous charade they should have been made to leave the stadium. A football arena should be neutral and exempt from any religious acts. There are enough buildings and areas specifically built for prayer in this country. I think this act was carried out to wind up the fans. Free or reduced price tickets should be for kids, troops or people with a disability and not for some kind of politically correct publicity stunt to pacify minority groups who are already pampered to.
I agree entirely with previous comments. I have been going to Upton Park for over 60 years, and have never thought that a Saturday Match would be used insuch a way.The Hammers need to look carefully at their Marketing , otherwise they will find enough room on the terraces for a full blown Religious Event!
I hope the davids listen to the above 3 posts,if upton park is to be a place of worship,it should be to those who wear the claret and blue,not islam,judaism christianity ect.But if this is the way you intend to go then sell the club.I agree with kicking racisim out of football,and extend this to religion.before you realise whats going,fans wont be able to enjoy a pint or certain foods in case it upsets of certain faiths.
Interesting debate:
Is a Premier League football ground the appropriate place for prayer?
Is is respectful to Pray in a place that is likely to stir up emotions in others?
Is it an act of provocation?
To what end?
Giving (selling for £5) away top tier tickets to locals, is that appropriate?
I have spent £thousands over the past 40+ years supporting the club, would it have been appropriate to reward years of loyalty by giving me a ticket now that I’m unemployed?
This has opened a can of worms that the the Davids should quickly shut the lid on and bury as deep as possible. That fact that the PR morons that dreamt this up along with the ‘man city superstars’ advert havent got the foresight to realise the reaction shows how out of touch they are with the supporters. Any of the ideas on the previous posts could have been utilized rather than give tickets to non whu supporters. Whilst some people may have voiced their displeasure in a way thats inappropriate it is incredulous that a large group of people should hold an impromptu prayer meeting at a football match irrespective of their faith. I think Sean should demand an emergency Supporters Advisory board meeting be held to sort out these debacles.
Religion and politics should be kept out of a football stadium if you want to pray do it at a church or mosque or do it at home. If you want to give free ticket give them to seasons ticket holders so they can bring one of there family. A couple of my friend paid £60 each for that game.
I know someone who was given a £5 ticket, there not even local.
Bad press because the owner didn’t think.
I think the issue of free tickets should be exclusively to children and teenagers on the basis of catching them young. Surely there are enough youth club and local schools willing to take these tickets. And I am appalled that a genuine issue with the club has been hijacked by the racist element of our support.
sounds like a bit of worship at upton park is your kind of thing-but do not call whu fans that do not want religion at UP racists.
annoyed maybe it should have stated “a” not “the” racist element of our support? but every club has an element of bias unfortunately, I have nothing against people praying whatever their religion or where they choose to pray but the reaction of a few seemed rather obtuse bearing in mind that Upton Park is situated in an area populated with many ethnic groups.
I travelled form Hamilton in Lanarkshire and this was my third Hammers game of the season,(previously went to Newcastle and Hull) I am Forest Gate born and was brought up in Plaistow less than a mile walking distance from The Boleyn, I am attending the home game v Chelsea and away at Anfiled and am a lifelong West Ham fan of nearly 50 years. I do not earn a fortune but try and watch West Ham 6 or so times a season home and away and I have been an Academy member for several years. As I understand several community groups were offered tickets but I am saddened that at more than £100 travel and £60+ for a ticket (not including other expenses) that fans not unlike myself are not open to more supporter offers. But I agree with Terry Weldon about the issue being hijacked by a racist element of our support and also this is indeed media mischief making at it’s worse. I feel the club is right to engage with community groups and hope that once in the Olympic Stadium facilities are made where upon access for pensioner, disabled and children from less well off backgrounds are made available .
prayers are for the church , the synagogue , the temple , the mosque , not for west ham fc in the middle of a premiership game .
It got the reaction they wanted .
WE SHOULD TAKE NO NOTICE AND THEY WILL GO AWAY
ANYONE who has a problem with the race and or religion of the people who were offered these cheaper tickets…..pleas, do the world a favor, and kill yourself. That mentality amounts to NOTHING MORE than racism/ignorance. Personally, I’m glad that such a game (vs Man city) was chosen, after all, it’s been recognized that this outreach that the club decided to do was done so to have people come to a game who maybe otherwise would not be able to attend for whatever reason(s). If this was going to be something that was going to happen for EVERY SINGLE MATCH, sure, I’d be angry. But that’s NOT the case…so why don’t you all take a inhale…..exhale…..and go worry about something that actually affects your day to day life.
Thank you for this article. The whole reaction from this £5 ticket has been something of which I have been simply appalled at. The “local community” for one in East Ham is made up of Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs and it is very multi racial.
I understand the anger from people who have spent over £100 for a day out at Upton Park, but the racial slur and targeting of Muslims because of recent events that the media has brainwashed people to believe in, is just a disgrace. Saying this, those muslims who prayed should have had some thought and waited until they got home to pray (I am muslim myself) so as not to provoke more aggravation.
I hope this situation soon ends but for now, unfortunately I am subjected to having to read the most disgusting tweets I have ever read and blocking 13 people through sheer ignorance. Cheers Gold and Sullivan.
If you’re a Muslim as you say then you will know that the timing of prayers are determined by the sun, to say they should wait until they get home is both crass and stupid.
My point was they did not have to pray there an then at that particular time, if you miss a prayer time you can make up for it later on. You are suppose to pray in a peaceful, quiet environment, not down the tunnel of football stand. So no, what I said was not crass or stupid.
They have a database of emails, consisting of fans that have attended for years as season ticket holders…..but because of the present financial climate cannot possibly afford to go of late, so why not email them, asking if they’d like a cheap ticket.
At least they would be rewarding the real supporters!