‘My season ticket is free’
For as long as I can remember, I’ve supported Tottenham Hotspur. Now that I live within walking distance of their ground, you’ll find me at a stadium halfway down White Hart Lane. At Haringey Borough FC season tickets are not only easier to come by, they are also free for everyone.
The north London football club, whose men’s team play in the Premier Division of the Isthmian League, are offering free season tickets for the eighth successive season. I’ve had one for the past three or four.
The tickets give access to the home games of the men’s and women’s senior teams, and the under-23s and under-18s teams. Cup games cost, as the receipts are split with the opposition.
Games are fast-paced and high-scoring – and usually start at 3pm on Saturday, as they should. The crowd is lively, while refreshments are cheap – the beer is less expensive than at most local pubs (and you can drink it while you watch) – and children are made to feel very welcome.
Getting in for free encourages you to spend money on food and drinks, and on merch – the number of blue and yellow scarves I see around Haringey has proliferated as news of this great deal has spread. My friend Niamh has the hat, the scarf and the tote bag.
There are not many ways to entertain your whole family for an afternoon for the cost of a couple of drinks and a bag of chips but once we’ve walked there and back, and my son has had a kickabout with his friends after the match, now that’s what has happened.
I really hope Spurs do well this season but it’s on the terraces of Coles Park where you will find me cheering on my local team. Hilary Osborne
‘I’m saving hundreds a year’
As any football fan will tell you, switching allegiance is one of those things you just don’t do. So how have I ended up, after a lifetime as a diehard West Ham supporter, the proud owner of a season ticket at Brighton and Hove Albion’s Amex Stadium and an obsession with the fortunes of the Seagulls?
In my defence – and I admit it’s a bit weaker than Albion’s back four – it was a pretty unusual combination of factors that led me to this point.
My dad’s death coincided with West Ham’s move from the Boleyn Ground to the sterile London Stadium and, suddenly, the two biggest connections to my team were no longer there. I also had a young son just hitting the age when he wanted to watch football.
It was entirely Sam’s choice which team he supported but I admit that my wallet and I were relieved when he opted for his local side.
Premier League football doesn’t come cheap, whoever you watch. My season ticket costs about £650, his roughly half that, paid for monthly by direct debit.
Crucially, we can be at the ground in minutes, and we avoid all the travel costs associated with watching games in the capital.
Brighton to Stratford International would cost me a minimum of £35 on the train for a weekend game – more so in the week if I had to travel during peak time. Rail strikes add an extra layer of cost and confusion.
Factor in West Ham’s eye-watering beer prices, and that extra £50 that seems to vanish whenever I take the kids to London, and it’s saving me hundreds of pounds a year.
And it’s a happy coincidence that it has coincided with the most successful spell in Brighton’s history. Ian Carter
