They sold half their allocation for the semi final in Munich in 2006. I presume they sold out the final but demand was off the charts anyway. I now quite a few Irish didn't bother applying for that game as we couldn't have been in it. If England then support and interest will be huge. The majority (but by no means all) of the locals will be supporting Germany/France/Portugal.
Depends on how many gamble on getting tickets in advance of the tournament and how willing Irish supporters are to sell them on if we do play in Dublin. If a lot of England supporters get Dublin tickets and we end up not playing there then it might be cheap for whomever does play there.
It is completely perplexing that. I was in France for the early stages of the tournament and one of the highlights was watching them play in a French bar especially them singing La Marseillaise beforehand (Lille). Had a great time. I also know a rural part of France very well and a village of a few thousand had a few thousand watching the final on a big screen. People came from the smaller neighbouring villages. However, France is France and they do things their way. My point wasn't that France would suddenly have a huge support at Wembley, just that it might not be as abysmal as it usually is. I also remember a friendly match at Old Wembley where France completely outclassed England. They took us apart and should have won more than 2-0. More to the point they actually had good support that day with their "Allez les bleues" getting increasingly annoying as we got progressively worse. They had a good-size allocation and a few in the home areas who had outstayed their welcome following the 2nd goal.
I forgot about that. I remember realising I was going to the WC final when I saw the pending charge in 2017. Is a stupid way of doing it. Encourages you to apply for loads of tickets even if you don’t have the resource to pay of you get all of them.
Generally Irish fans don't go as neutrals. However with the game being in Dublin this is a different dynamic. I really struggled to offload a Croatia v Turkey FV ticket in 2016 for a game in Paris the day before we met Sweden. If we qualify then it should make the Rof16 tickets easier to get as most will focus on our games. I have already seen quite a few offload Poland v Sweden. Others are trying to swop for our potential games. If we don't qualify then the biggest game is obviously "The England game." .Anyone who applied at any stage knew we couldn't have been in the game and England were likely to be in it. So presumably they want to go. Unfortunately I suspect some applied to tout the tickets. I know loads of English fans have applied and indeed some have the Ryanair Dub-CPH Sunday flight as a backup. I booked that myself as we could meet in the Rof16 there however I didn't get a ticket in the ballot and probably won't go unless we are in the game in which case I will have a ticket. If England don't win the group then tickets for Dublin will be very easy. Any Croatian fan should just hold off.
There are different degrees of neutral or should that be different levels of support? In almost any match I would be able to choose a side to support. Generally the underdog. I would expect most Irish to support whoever England are playing. Not to the extent that some Scots do. I remember in USA 94 all my school mates, except a few Italians, supported Ireland seeing as our team gave that tournament a miss. However, there was that terrible behaviour by England fans at Lansdowne Road not long afterwards. Personally I like Ireland and like to see them do well but that certainly isn't a view held by all England supporters.
Most nations supporters aren't stupid enough in great numbers to pay the outrageously inflated prices for semi and final. Happily watching in the pub and saving themselves a potential grand in ticket cost. What you usually have is a great number of posers just their to say "I was there". I know this for a fact cos I Sirs am one of them I was at the semi in Russia and saw England go out. Quite a satisfying experience for a jelous Scotsman. We then tried like hell to get final tickets with no joy. We ended up sitting in a Moscow bar next to 2 beautiful women watching the final with a grand each in our pocket. 90 minutes later Iwasn't overly fussed I had missed it. Looking at it in reverse if someone had offered me a grand to miss it and sit in a bar watching it I woulda jumped at the chance.
You touch on an interesting point. Been to 4 World Cups and only watched one England match. The WC is THE premier event of any sport in the world. UEFA are charging near to WC prices. I think the group matches are very expensive and can think of no problem getting tickets for matches that do not include hosts. I would recommend that if you fancy a ticket for a match you did not get a ticket for, you will be able to pick them up on the resale process nearer the tournament ( as long as it does not include a host team). There is often an expectation of scarcity that makes people apply for matches they don’t really have an interest in. France 2016 was a real pain getting rid of tickets when people who planned to come cancelled late on.
Yes, I'm not that bothered about attending the final or semis. Largely because of the cost. However, there are a lot of people who have a lot more money than me! The prices reflect that. For me that earlier rounds is where the fun is. That is where the supporters who are just happy to be there are around. For those in the semis it is all very serious because there is the chance of national celebration for those involved that might never happen again. England weren't one of the top four sides in 2018. We played much better football to reach semi finals in 1990 and 96. Although even then it was only in patches. In either of those tournaments we could have justified being finalists. 2018 we just had the luck of the draw to get to the semis. You'd have enjoyed the final more if we were there because we'd have been thumped! Look at the way France beat Croatia. Or the way Belgium easily beat England in both matches. We weren't close.
Dublin last 16 could well be a meeting of the old enemies. This would be a sell out and a touts dream England v Germany in Dublin Then England v Spain in Rome Then back to Wembley for Semis on Wednesday 8th and Finals. lol my forecast.....
Yes and England really won't be considered a neutral side I suppose. Now whether people will pay €185 to watch England win/lose is another matter. It's a funny one here. My father was at the 1966 WC and had England tickets to the final but came home after the semi as my mother was pregnant with me. He said everyone here was supporting England. Indeed the iconic photo of Geoff Hurst completing his hatrick with the scoreboard operators celebrating is of 2 guys from Waterford. A journo here tracked the down a few years back. I remember most wanted Englnd to do well in the 70's but took delight in that goal in 1986. Stuttgart remains my fondest memory of watching us. 1200-1500 English fans made the trip to Ibaraki to support us v Germany in 2002. That was very well received. Same world cup on the Dublin commuter train a massive roar goes up early in the quarter final. My colleague assumed Brazil had gone a goal up but it was England who had scored. It will be interesting next June. Northern Ireland is another complex one here. Everybody here supported NI in the 1982 & 1986 WCs. Many still wish them well but many more particularly our fans from north of the border absolutely despise them more than England. I go quite a few NI games and I know that is an issue for some. I had been keeping it fairly quiet but many more of our fans know now.
I have always been keen on teams from the British isles doing well in tournaments and was always sad when Scotland went out on goal difference every WC. I was keen they should all the countries do well in France and was only aware how much everyone wanted England to lose about 20 years ago so it is nice to hear your balanced views. I remember being in the Lake District in 2000 and seeing a Scotsman at the bar wearing a Maradona shirt and being quite shocked.Scotland in particular in the 1970s had some of the 1st Division's best players but I think many were put off them in 1978 when they made such a big thing of England not qualifying again and building Scotland up way too much.
The Scots have an incredible vocal support. I remember many Scots decamping under the Eiffel Tower during France 98 at the outset of the World Cup, jovially drinking copious amounts of beer and serenading a group of Argentinians with a Maradona 'hokey-kokey'. The primary reason why Maradona is revered as a legendary cult-figure amongst those North of the Border, is because he 'single-handedly' put England 'out-out-out' of Mexico 86.
Not yet! Hoping for them soon. In other news, Wimbledon Ballot tickets have started to be sent out - so far I am unsuccessful in that as well!
I don't mind anyone building up their team too much. The only people who really suffer from that are those supporting their team when they cannot match those expectations. 78 is before my time though. I also like to see other teams from these islands doing well. Understand those who don't. Some people just lose their heads when it comes to football. A lot of the Scots in England take a different view to the stereotype. Most people prefer to be around happy people than sad so it makes sense. Applying for tickets for Euro 96 I didn't think things through so ended up going to Villa Park and watching Scotland beat Switzerland whilst England were playing at Wembley. I'd been to England Scotland with mates but this one was with my family and I remember my dad being extra cautious. We all supported Scotland for that match and it was good fun. The executive boxes were just behind us and that is how we knew the England - Netherlands score as each goal was met with a cheer as they watched the TV. At 4-0 we pointed out to the Scots near us that they were going through. They refused to believe it until Holland got a goal back and they could blame England for going out! A few Scots get into cricket and they always seem to support England at that. It really is just football where it gets so heated. Rugby to a much less extent. From experience in Lyon Northern Ireland fans are completely different to any others. Some of the nicest people you will meet and some who really seem to be insane. The nice ones are genuine, talkative and also good listeners. The loons can be quite disturbing. I often deal with some people in Belfast and they're really friendly. "Dead on" is my favourite local expression for feeling good. I'm sure we'll get back on topic when more ticket news arrives!
Nothing. Also checking on the Polish forum and also there no sign of the results. Some of the lads there were indicating they have seen some screen captcha when they logged in to their application, showing something like "next steps" button. They made up their logic that perhaps this was some positive sign of getting the tickets.
Really is a ridiculous wait. Am more convinced that they are selling poorly and have thrown in some hospitality tickets to the Cat 1s.
The UEFA site has not even bothered to claim there were 100 billion ticket applications this time. In fact look at the site and they seem to have lost all interest in the competition.