Young fan gets boot as AFL reneges on ticket offer
Kelly Ryan
July 18, 2008
A FIVE-year-old footy fanatic is heartbroken the AFL has reneged on what had promised to be the biggest night of his short football life.
Cats supporter Ethan Munro was ecstatic when he joined Auskick this year and received, among a backpack of AFL goodies, tickets to the Hawthorn-Geelong clash at the MCG next Friday.
With the match now shaping up as a blockbuster, the AFL has told the Munro family they can't attend unless they pay for their tickets.
About 1000 tickets offered earlier this year to Auskick participants have been withdrawn because of demand from paying customers.
The Munro family have been invited to the Geelong-Melbourne clash the following week - but they're not happy.
"The AFL has just proved they are mercenary Indian givers to have so disappointed a five-year-old child," angry mum Nadia Munro said.
"Ethan has been beside himself with excitement about this game, counting down the weeks and days and constantly checking the tickets are still safe on the fridge.
"He's learned all the players' names and numbers and performance stats for the year.
"And with a normal bed-time deadline of 8pm, this was going to be the first time he was allowed to stay up late to attend an MCG evening match."
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said it was an unfortunate situation and he sympathised with Ethan and other children and families who had missed out.
But he said the tickets had always been subject to availability.
"What we didn't want is a situation where we have children showing up on the night and being turned away ... that would have been a terrible situation," he said on 3AW.
"We haven't taken anything back and they still have the opportunity to go to another game.
Mr Demetriou said the AFL tried to allocate tickets to Auskick kids where there would be sufficient capacity at the games to accommodate them.
"It's not often there's a game at the MCG (in the home and away season) that's sold out," he said.
"This has turned out to be the blockbuster of the year, save for tomorrow's game."
Ethan, who is in prep at Fairfield Primary, said: 'I am very sad."
His mother said it was impossible to explain the situation to a young boy who had looked forward to the match for months.
"It's just 'Why? Why? Why?' all the time," Ms Munro said.
"As far as he is concerned it was simple: he was invited and provided with tickets to a match he is now being told he can't attend."
The family were told by email on Wednesday night that NAB AFL Auskick Geelong supporters couldn't use their Club Connect tickets because of demand for tickets to the Round 17 clash.
"We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and encourage you to use your tickets instead at the Round 19 Melbourne v Geelong match on Friday, 8 August," the AFL advised.
AFL media relations manager Patrick Keane said yesterday the ticket offer was made subject to availability. He said the AFL understood people would be disappointed, and had provided as much warning as possible.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24037209-2862,00.html
