English Premier League football team Manchester United has banned a fan from attending away games for a year after illness caused him to break club rules by missing a game for which he had bought tickets.
Graeme Clarke secured two tickets for the match at Hull City in August but did not attend after coming down with flu.
Five days later, according to the Manchester Evening News newspaper, the club contacted Mr Clarke to tell him he had been banned from attending away games for a year because he did not collect the ticket. United said it was understandable that Mr Clarke had not travelled to the game, but said that under club rules introduced this summer he should have cancelled the ticket to avoid his seat remaining empty. It added that it aims to “ensure each allocated ticket is used”, having worked closely with the
Football Association and the authorities to secure more tickets for its travelling fans.
According to the newspaper, Mr Clarke is now looking at taking an appeal to the club’s appeals panel in November.
Mr Clarke’s son Callum told the newspaper: “We just want the ban to be erased – we feel it’s really unjust. There’s nothing else we could have done with it being the morning of the game.”
Following the change to club rules introduced over the summer, United season ticket holders who pass away tickets to friends face being banned for attending games for three years.
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