Category Sports News

As part of a crackdown against touting, Liverpool has reportedly shut down 145 000 ticket outlets over the past two years.

In response to the discovery of widespread ticket-buying fraud, they issued a record 1, 114 lifetime bans last season.

The Premier League champions claimed that in the past year, 500 people were denied entry to Anfield because they had been using a burner phone to get inside to stop tickets from being traced.

Following last week’s BBC Sport investigation, the industrial-scale black market for Premier League tickets was exposed.

Re-selling is prohibited in the UK, but many websites still have locations abroad.

The BBC discovered that resellers frequently rack up hundreds of tickets using fake identities and fake identities to sell them for higher prices, affecting fans’ ability to purchase tickets through official exchanges or membership ballots.

It can cause fans to be forced to pay extortionate prices or be completely out of pocket after purchasing ineffective tickets, as well as undermine fan segregation.

Additionally, 162 social media platforms with a combined membership of more than one million users were investigated by Liverpool’s authorities for engaging in extortionate sales practices.

On match days, under 400 targeted stops were also conducted, blocking access to accounts with suspicious activity.

The campaign’s 1, 114 lifetime bans are significantly more severe than the 75 that were imposed between 2023 and 2024.

Liverpool closed 100, 000 fake accounts between the 2023 and the 2019-20 seasons, and they think new preventative measures like multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, and the use of more sophisticated fraud analysis tools have changed the situation.

The club, which has more than 30 000 season ticket holders, conducts an official sanctions hearing and decides what to do.

The club issued lifetime bans and indefinite suspensions primarily as a result of improper sales of season tickets, memberships, or hospitality tickets.

A number of clubs are committing to increase resources to combat those responsible for the rise in touting activity, including Liverpool.

Arsenal claim to have banned over 7, 000 club memberships this season and nearly 74, 000 accounts for trying to get tickets in unauthorised ways. More than 350, 000 bot attempts have been blocked by Chelsea, according to the company.

However, Tom Greatrex, the head of the Football Supporters Association, expressed doubts about how committed some Premier League clubs were to combating bullying.

Because of how they are made available through secondary agencies, he claimed, “long-term supporters are finding it impossible to get tickets.”

“This is becoming endemic throughout the game.”

The Premier League recommends using “extreme caution” when browsing unauthorised websites and is introducing encrypted barcodes for digital ticketing, which it claims will make it more challenging to sell tickets.

Last season, the Home Office only recorded 12 arrests for ticket touting in English football’s top six divisions.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport stated in a statement that it is against the law to sell football game tickets in England and Wales. Football clubs are responsible for developing their own strategies to stop ticket sales to unauthorised resellers because legislation exists to reduce the risk of disorder.

One week after his club Sydney Roosters forcibly punished England lock Victor Radley for ten games, he has declared himself out of the three-test autumn series against Australia.

After Radley was linked to a drug case against former teammate Brandon Smith, the Roosters punished him.

Radley, 27, has not been charged by the police.

A lawyer for Smith, who appeared before magistrates in Queensland last week, has said that he intends to contest police claims that he provided drugs and obtained inside information for illegal gambling.

The Roosters claimed in a statement that Radley had “probably obtained an illegal substance” and that he had caused the National Rugby League team to fall into disrepute at the time they suspended him.

He is donating A $30, 000 (£14, 600) to a local hospital that specializes in cancer research in addition to missing 10 club games, which is the heaviest sanction ever imposed on the organization.

At the time, Radley stated that he would “accept the sanctions in full.”

Prior to his withdrawal, he was still being considered for England’s Test squad against Australia.

“We respect Victor’s decision, but we respect his decision,” said England head coach Shaun Wane.

We require 24 players who are fully focused on the historic opportunity to play Australia in a series of the Ashes.

Radley, who was born in Sydney and has an English father, has appeared in nine Test matches for England.

I regret to the club, my team-mates, our sponsors, members, and fans for the negative light I’ve cast on the Roosters in a statement released at the time of his club suspension.

“I’ll work hard to win everyone’s support for this wonderful club back.”

After proposals to reform the County Championship were turned down, professional cricketers’ association chief executive Daryl Mitchell has not ruled out the possibility of players striking.

Instead of switching to a 12-team top flight with 13 matches per side, counties voted to keep the current two-divisional structure, with each team playing 14 games.

In order to protect player welfare, the PCA had pushed for a 12-game cut, but it was opposed.

Mitchell expressed disappointment and disappointment with the outcome of the vote in a statement to BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra on Thursday.

The players will guide us, the former Worcestershire captain added. Last night, there were some high emotions in the WhatsApp group, which was pretty lively.

We are one, not the other. Any union, in my opinion, would not omit the possibility of strike action if its members wanted it. We completely disagree with our members regarding that. If the player representatives and our members decide it is necessary, we will hold those discussions.

“I don’t believe we’d want to travel there.” We’re not trying to do that because it would have a negative impact on the counties and the game.

It hasn’t been extensively discussed, they say. Because there are implications, it’s also very simple to say but much harder to execute. One of the benefits of playing is that players are not paid, and another is that members must be able to cast ballots. I don’t believe it should be something we would encourage at this time.

A lengthy review of the counties’ domestic summer was concluded by the vote on the Championship’s structure.

Consensus on the Championship has been much harder to come by. Before it became clear that a 12-game model, which the PCA favored, would not be supported, there were several ideas on the divisional structure and number of games.

A 12-team top flight, split into two groups of six, was the centerpiece of the 13-game proposal. To give 10 matches, the teams in each group would play each other twice. The top three of each group would compete for the title, and the bottom three would fight to avoid relegation. With two promotion spots up for grabs, the remaining six counties would be in the second tier.

A majority of 12 of the 18 counties had to vote in favor of a new structure in order to pass legislation.

The status quo still exists as a result of the vote, which returned nine votes for change and nine against. Each county will play 14 matches while the top tier of the Championship will continue to have 10 teams. The second tier will have eight teams each.

The majority of our members were undoubtedly seeking change because the county schedule was “not fit for purpose,” Mitchell said.

There are “different viewpoints in every game.” Some counties favored 10 Championship games, while others favored 14 as the minimum requirement.

Five sets of playing staff informed the PCA that they were in favor of a 14-match season, despite Mitchell’s claim that not all of the 18 counties’ playing groups wanted a drop in Championship matches.

Mitchell believes the issue will need to be looked at sooner than the initial goal of the review, which was to agree on a schedule that would remain in place until the 2031 season.

He said, “I don’t think many counties will want to put up with it until 2031.” That had already been returned during the meetings I attended. This will continue to rage, in my opinion.

William Saliba, the defender for Arsenal, has signed a new five-year deal.

The France international has two more years left on his current contract, but he will stay until 2030 according to BBC Sport.

Saliba, 24, left Saint-Etienne for Ligue 1 in July 2019 and spent the rest of the 2018-20 season on loan before taking on loan at Nice and Marseille.

Since making his Arsenal debut in August 2022, he has made 137 appearances and has become a key member of manager Mikel Arteta’s defense.

Saliba’s impressive form had attracted interest from Spanish giant Real Madrid, whose current contract was set to expire in June 2027.

After Saliba’s center-back partner Gabriel Magalhaes and a long-term agreement to the Gunners in June, his commitment to the Gunners will give him a second chance to win the Premier League and Champions League.

If Ospreys vanish, Jac Morgan has informed the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) that he will step down from playing professional domestic rugby there.

Ospreys claim that the Wales, British, and Irish Lions flanker has warned the governing body, which is considering reducing the number of professional teams.

At a meeting this week, Morgan’s supporters were able to discuss the highly contentious proposals, which could see the cut of two of the Ospreys, Scarlets, Dragons, and Cardiff.

Morgan is the highest-profile player to speak out against the threat to his club, being the only Welsh player to play for the Lions against Australia this summer.

However, other funding options are being considered as the governing body’s consultation with players, fans, and stakeholders ends on September.

The Welsh Rugby Players Association (WRPA) has warned the WRU that its recommendations for the elite game would “drive talent to leave Wales.”

Morgan is currently the most well-known Welsh player, and she is a contender to take over as Wales’ autumn international captain in November.