Grounded fans offload tickets
Desperate Fremantle fans are being forced to offload grand final tickets because they cannot afford the airfare to Melbourne.
Supporters have turned to social media to trade their excess game tickets for a flight from Perth to Melbourne.
Online fan site Dockerland has been inundated with messages from fans willing to sell or trade their tickets because they cannot get or afford a flight.
Other supporters are trying to sell their plane tickets after failing to get grand final tickets in the ballot on Monday.
Yesterday, the cheapest direct flight from Perth to Melbourne departing on Friday was $1185.
One Fremantle fan wrote online that they had a young child and found shelling out more than $3000 for return flights "unpalatable".
"There IS an incentive to get me on something relatively well priced and that is a ticket into the game" the fan posted.
Perth-based Hawks fan Ryan was devastated he was forced to sell his grand final seat because he could not afford the flights after getting a ticket in the ballot.
"The flights, you pay $300 to $400 one week and then all of a sudden you're looking at $1600 to $1700 and people having to fly through Asia," he said.
"Having a look now you can't really do anything."
Ryan, who did not want his surname published, is trying to sell his ticket for $800 and believes he should be able to profit from the sale.
"It's up to the people who are buying them," he said.
Fans have been urged to avoid buying overpriced grand final tickets - even if they have already bought airfares and accommodation in Melbourne.
AFL deputy chief executive Gillon McLachlan and Victorian Sports Minister Hugh Delahunty warned there were severe punishments for ticket scalping because the league cracked down on profiteering.
Mr Delahunty said anyone caught selling five tickets or fewer at an inflated price could be fined $721 and that fine would increase to $8661 if they sold more than five tickets. Any company caught profiteering from the sale of grand final tickets could be fined $43,308.
He warned that social media, newspapers and websites were heavily monitored and no one should risk buying or selling the tickets.
Mr Delahunty said scalped tickets could be cancelled, leaving the buyer with no way to get into the MCG.
"If they've come all the way from Perth, it'd be a long way to come over here if your tickets could be cancelled," he said.
