The AFL has said the Melbourne Cricket Club has provided false information to Australia's disabled war veterans in an email advising they would be stripped of free tickets to some of the year’s most popular matches, including the Anzac Day blockbuster.
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Injured and incapacitated veterans were caught in a mix-up within the MCC. They will still be able to attend premium fixtures in the AFL draw at the MCG for free.
Fairfax has seen an email sent by the MCC to the Federation of Totally and Permanently Incapacitated (TPI) former service personnel which claimed that, under the AFL's new ticket system, the tradition of Anzac Day marchers continuing to the MCG for a free day's football would disappear.
The AFL later clarified the situation, stating "the information provided by the MCC to the Totally and Permanently Disabled Soldiers Associations of Victoria was wrong in that it failed to outline the AFL’s allocation of TPI tickets for this year’s Anzac Day match''.
‘‘As has been the case previously, the AFL’s longstanding arrangement of providing an allocation of Anzac Day tickets to disabled soldiers, free of charge, is again in place for the 2014 season.
''The AFL’s ticket allocation for disabled soldiers via the TPI Association includes the 2014 MCG Anzac Day match, all other A Reserve 2014 MCG matches and as per previous seasons, a ticket allocation for the Toyota AFL Finals Series.’’
The email obtained by Fairfax from the MCC to TPI members seemingly outlined tough new ticketing conditions that would strip veterans of free entry to premium football matches, an apparent extension to the 2014 AFL ticketing structure which has been criticised.
"The AFL have structured the ticket prices differently this year and for the first time there are categorised matches based on the popularity of the expected event," the email reads.
"This will mean that TPI members will only have access to certain matches based on what category they fall under.''
The email listed the matches that it said were not available to TPI members for free.
They were: Round 5, Monday April 21 (Geelong v Hawthorn); Round 6, Friday April 25 (Collingwood v Essendon); Round 7, Friday May 2 (Carlton v Collingwood); and Round 11, Saturday May 31 (Essendon v Richmond).
It added: "There may still be matches that your members cannot attend based on the popularity of the game and it is not limited to the 4 games identified above."
