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    FANS: FSF Cymru meeting with the FAW

    Wales t-shirt:
    Summary of Football supporters Federation Wales (FSF Cymru) meeting with FAW

    The meeting took place at the FAW offices in Cardiff at 4 pm Wednesday April 13th in attendance from the FSF were Paul Corkrey, Vince Alm and Neil Dymock and from the FAW. Mark Evans, Lynsey Owens (Ticketing), also present was Wayne Palmer from the south Wales police.

    This was a routine meeting with questions generally been asked that were sent in from members and people who expressed a view, the following is a summary of the meeting.

    Team GB has raised its head again and many Welsh fans are concerned about the possible consequences, once again Mark Evans emphasized the position of the FAW, They do not support this, they will not help with it and they will not insure players to play in it, that is an important point, insurance, many clubs will be very reluctant to release players for this, never mind the FA'S due to the insurance costs. On another point it was asked if someone like Bale or Ramsey chose to play would the FA take sanctions out against them in the future. A firm no was the answer but the players will be asked to consider seriously before agreeing taking part.

    Ticket issues surrounding the England game took up a lot of time and Lucy said that she had replied to all e mails that had been sent to her from both Welsh and English fans…there were issues with fans not getting tickets through the kickback scheme, including Porth and Newport who had been particularly unhappy about what had happened…Lucy said that all applications were dealt with in a pro rata basis and the huge take up for the scheme had caught everyone out, many thousands benefited but it was accepted that due to this huge demand some clubs missed out and the FAW regret this and apologise to those clubs but it was down in a non-malicious fashion.

    Anyone may e mail the ticketing department if they still feel that they have not had a satisfactory reply.

    The fact that fans missed out on tickets and there was a massive segregation area also riled fans and Wayne Palmer explained that this was decided well in advance of the game and the SAG(Safety advisory groups) were more concerned about fans safety and security than adding extra seats, there had been problems with away fans in the past near to the North stand. The other area that appeared empty was a middle section near the corner flag; this was due to 150 supporters not attending who had tickets.

    England away tickets were discussed and it is expected that we will get around 7,000 tickets which will ensure all Gold and Silver members will get a ticket (there are over 5,000 members) we mentioned the FA councillors tickets being returned at the Old Trafford game but Mark said this happens now and then and you are talking about only a few tickets and they are always put back on sale.

    In the unlikely event of there being spare tickets the FAW may consider offering Gold members the chance of another ticket on their name but that is only one possible option and this will be looked at closer to the time, but they will try to make it as fair as possible whatever is decided.

    On a security note for the England game, there is a huge coach park outside the stadium that can accommodate hundreds of coaches; there are good rail links too with a nearby tube station.

    Welsh fans were prevented from hanging flags whilst English fans were allowed, Mark Evans put his hands up to this and admitted it was their fault, the stewards were not briefed properly beforehand and this led to them trying to stop fans placing their flags, Mark has promised that this will not happen again and that he personally will be at future pre match meetings with stewards and police at all future home venues.

    Welsh Assembly government funding issues were raised and fans have asked why the WRU seem to get far more financial support than the national football team, Mark explained that this is not as big a difference as what it appears and Welsh football gets a lot of support in community initiatives and especially the Welsh football trust, but it was agreed that the FAW need to match the WRU in the work they put in to acquire grant funding. This is something that they are looking at and will be more proactive in the future.

    We asked them to explain the benefits of the new centre at Newport and why that City was chosen over other venues especially those in north or mid Wales? It was explained that tenders were put out and the Newport city council pulled all the stops out to get the centre located in the city, the advantages of the M4 corridor will obviously be a plus point and it is hoped the centre will benefit Welsh football for many years to come. It will be a joint venture and the Football Association of Wales, Welsh Football Trust and Newport City Council aim to build the venue. The centre would develop the under-21, women's and younger age-group squads.

    Membership issues and costs have been a constant irritation to the fans and we asked what the plans are for future membership schemes. Lucy suggested that they were looking at a lower price for renewals next year and fans can upgrade to Gold or Silver, the membership price will stay the same for new members and will always remain open until it reaches a level where the member benefits cannot be operated.

    The data gathered from the membership scheme and from ticket sales to new customers in the kickback scheme must be put to good use and the FSF have put forward an expert in that field to meet with the marketing department later this month, hopefully progress can be made and marketing opportunities for the FAW can be improved.

    One question asked by the fans is the terrible ranking position we find ourselves in and what is being done to improve this, it seems a silly question but Mark said that they were very concerned and plans were in place to get better quality friendly matches in the future, playing teams ranked below us was pointless and the other obvious answer was to help develop new Welsh talent and the Newport centre was part of that plan.

    Concerns were raised amongst fans of the club rivalries raising their head at the England match and the fact three coach loads of fans were absent from the game after some problems in the city centre pre match…the FSF had received a letter via the human rights organisation "Liberty" from one of those fans that said he was refused the opportunity to see the game. Wayne said that the police were well aware of possible risk supporters entering the city and were well on top of everything…the fans mentioned were allowed access to a pub and were told that if they split up in to small groups they could continue on to the game but they decided against this and left the city.

    Wayne also informed us that despite pre match concerns everyone was very pleased with the event day, over 100,000 fans had come into the capital and there were only 13 arrests in total and 8 of those was for ticket touting (part of an Olympic games police preparation initiative). There were minor scuffles in parts of the stadium but in general it was a good, safe event.

    Neil Dymock brought up the Gol initiatives and explained about the fans' teams and the success they had been in bringing fans together. We have another fans tournament in Dublin next month and once again Carling has been outstanding in sponsoring the event.

    Neil mentioned that the charity work had enabled them to arrange trips for 4 Montenegran Orphans to attend the Wales game against Montenegro and he also had plans for more orphans to attend the Welsh cup final, this is not a Gol initiative however but work done in conjunction with Llanelli FC. The FAW said that they would continue to support these ventures and supply signed shirts and raffle prizes to help fund raising.

    The Bulgaria match is almost definitely in Sofia but still not confirmed, the last two home games will be played at the Liberty stadium and Cardiff City stadium (details available soon) there are thousands of vouchers sent out to clubs in the kickback scheme offering half price tickets for one of these games. Dublin prices have been confirmed..

    The prices for the remaining Carling Nations Cup games have been confirmed today, 20 Euro each for our fans so we will sell at £18.00 each. We'd hoped there would be a concession for juniors for the May games but unfortunately there isn't. It's only for the ROI fans buying via general sale.

    The FAW will get application forms sent out to Gold and Silver members in the next week or so, may take longer with the bank holidays

    Road shows will continue with Jonathan Ford visiting many areas over the next few months.

    We handed in some correspondence to Lucy, some good and some bad regarding the England tickets and the feedback will be taken into consideration…we then ended the meeting in agreement that it would be a good idea if more fans attended these regular meetings maybe from the other areas of Wales, anyone is welcome to come along but please e mail Mark Evans in advance.

    information taken from Wales Away Yahoo group.

    updated: Mon, April 18, 2011 22:15 UK.

    Posted: Monday 18th April 2011
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