For some football fans, attending Premier League matches is a weekly habit. They buy their season tickets for home matches, and travel the country following their team away, too.
For others, going to a game in England’s top tier is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which they save up and take extended time away from their regular lives for.
Last weekend, James from South Korea travelled 5,500 miles to Brighton to watch his beloved Tottenham play for the first time, paying £900 for a ticket from an unauthorised resale website. When he tried to enter the stadium, he was turned away.
After the BBC exposed the industrial-scale black market in Premier League tickets last week, Brighton invited us along to demonstrate how widespread the problem is, and how they are trying to combat it.
The ticket James bought had already been deactivated when he tried to scan it to enter the Amex stadium. He was advised to go to the ticket office, where Brighton staff informed him his ticket had been purchased illegitimately.
“I’m disappointed. I didn’t understand this rule,” he said outside the stadium, visibly upset.
“I have been told I should try and get a refund for the ticket.”
More than 200 more like James also had their tickets for the match cancelled in the same way.
