SCOTLAND'S TWO national stadiums could be replete with empty seats in the next few weeks as fans vote with their thinning wallets and stay away from "glamour" football friendlies.
Reports circulating in Edinburgh of poor ticket sales for Hibs' pr
e-season friendly against Barcelona at Murrayfield next Thursday evening were not denied yesterday by the SPL club or the match organisers, Platinum One group.
The SFA, meanwhile, is anticipating only an "average" crowd for the match against Northern Ireland at Hampden Park on August 20.
Coming just days after SFA chief executive Gordon Smith revealed that the proposed international friendly against Argentina in November would not go ahead due to lack of interest from fans, the news of dipping sales must raise the spectre of falling income for football generally at a time when recession is looming.
Season ticket sales are reported to be holding up at most clubs, but "walk-up" business could be badly affected and there is definitely a loss of appetite for friendlies.
Tickets for the Northern Ireland game do not go on sale until July 30, but the SFA had already slashed the price of a family ticket – an adult and child can attend together for just £15 – and indications of demand from supporters groups mean a likely crowd of between 20,000 to 25,000, or less than half the sell-out crowds which viewed most of Scotland's Euro 2008 qualifying matches.
An SFA spokesman said: "That is the figure for the average crowd for a friendly international and that is what we are anticipating. We have dropped the prices especially to try and attract younger spectators, and it would be good if we could get more family tickets sold. We are also expecting a healthy number of supporters from Northern Ireland."
When making his announcement, Smith said: "Despite the support for the idea of playing Argentina, most of the people who spoke to us also told us that there were issues around paying a premium price for a midweek match at that time of year."
Association of Tartan Army Clubs' spokesman Tam Ferry agreed: "People were not prepared to pay over the odds, even for Argentina. There is a lot less money around, but it wasn't just that – the problems of attending midweek matches in November would have meant fewer people being able to take their kids."
Scotland begin their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign in September with a double-header away to Macedonia and then Iceland – "It's going to be difficult to get to both of them and will be very hard on the pockets," said Ferry.
"I also think they'll be lucky to get 20,000 for Northern Ireland. Here in Dundee we have only had bookings for one-and-a-half buses when normally we take five."
The top-price ticket for the Hibs v Barcelona match is £35, and while sales for the Catalan giants' match against Dundee United are said to be healthy – concession tickets are sold out – there is every chance that Murrayfield could see less than half of the 55,000 crowd figure recorded at last year's Hearts v Barcelona match.
The apparent lack of ticket sales could be embarrassing for more than the organisers – when the match was announced in May, national tourist agency VisitScotland said the event "allows us to showcase to the Spanish market and beyond the attractiveness of Scotland as both a leisure and business tourism destination".
But with Ronaldinho having departed for AC Milan, Deco off to Chelsea, Lilian Thuram retired on medical grounds and Lionel Messi set to go to the Olympics with Argentina, the visitors' squad does not contain the stars of yesteryear – though Thierry Henry, Xavi, Carlos Puyol and Alexander Hleb are still names to conjure up excitement.
Any Hibs fans or neutral wanting to attend should be aware that there will be no "walk up" sales on the day. All tickets must be bought before 5pm on Thursday.
As to the numbers actually sold so far, Hibs' official spokesman referred enquiries on sales to Platinum One, whose spokesman in turn said he had no information about the ticket sales.
The Hibs players, however, were happy to talk about the visit of Barcelona, who will again be based at St Andrews for training.
"Hearts played them last year and there was a good buzz throughout Edinburgh, not just for Hearts fans," said Ian Murray. "It's good that they've come back and that shows they must have been treated well by their hosts last year.
"I didn't see the Hearts game last year but I did see them play Dundee United. United got a draw but that just goes to show you – I don't think they would have drawn in a competitive game!
"We're disappointed Ronaldinho won't be there – we were hoping he would hang in a few weeks. There was no guarantee he'd have played anyway because of the impending transfer. They still have some great players like Henry and Puyol and I'm sure they'll take it seriously."
The full article contains 862 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
