Yesterday, Huddersfield Town released the details of their season cards for next season. There were few surprises and very little to criticise as existing season card holders had their price frozen as promised and people that didn’t have a 20/21 season ticket only have to pay an extra £50 (working off adult prices). The age bands were adjusted in a sensible way to smooth the transition from child to adult with a new Under 23 bracket. I love to grumble about the way the club is run but it all seemed fair enough to me and we must surely continue to be among the cheapest Championship clubs to watch.
The most interesting news released yesterday, to me at least, was a fairly major change to how the practicalities of season cards will work for most fans next season. Unless you arrange otherwise, your season card will move from physical to digital, with details stored on smartphones via the Apple Wallet or Google Pay apps. Before technophobes start screaming, thisnew scheme is optional and a physical card can be arranged by getting in touch with the club. Another sensible move, as many fans won’t want to make this change.
How will the digital season card work?
Details were light in the Season Card FAQ but the turnstiles will no doubt have scanners to hold your phone up to in a similar way you can pay for things in ships using contactless cards and mobile phones. If anything, this should speed up things on the way into the ground, as the barcode readers for the old season cards can be glitchy and struggle with cards inside protective cases (despite them being the cases issued by the club). Whereas I’ve never had an issue paying for things using my phone as it uses NFC technology to zap the phone.
Like any change it might not work perfectly to begin with but providing the club have done their homework it should be fairly smooth as it’s based on technology that is already widely used in shops and public transport.
What are the potential benefits of digital season cards?
I think this is good thing for most fans as it eliminates the risk of forgetting your card and having to mess about with the ticket office before the game and potentially missing kickoff. I’ve not made this mistake in all my time of watching Town (yet!) but still have to check my wallet multiple times on the way to a game to set my mind at ease. If, like me, you take your mobile with you everywhere then you know there’s little to no risk of arriving at the game without a ticket because it’s tucked away in the digital brain of your phone.
It’s also one less card to carry around in your wallet or purse, which can’t be a bad thing. Plus, there are environmental benefits to not having to create many thousands of little bits of plastic. Not to mention the cost saving to the club of going digital. All that money could be used to buy an extra massage table in the treatment room for all those hamstring injuries we seem to specialise in picking up.
I suppose there’s a safety element too, as it’s likely to be easier to run this system without any physical contact, whereas a typical turnstile operator on the old system would handle hundreds of cards and potentially spread germs between everyone using that turnstile.
What are the potential downsides of the new system?
We’ll know more when the full details are announced in July but it’s hard to imagine how a digital card could be easily shared between friends beyond physically giving your phone to someone else. There might be a digital alternative that transfers your card to another device temporarily but it’s hard to imagine a system as quick and easy as physically handing the card to another person. I appreciate that this kind of sharing isn’t officially sanctioned but my impression is that a blind eye is turned for genuine fans lending to a friend as long as it’s not a proper ticket touting operation.
I think I’ll most likely “go digital” but I will miss having a physical card just like I missed the little booklets when we changed over to cards. It feels a bit wrong to spend so much on a season card and have nothing physical to show from it, just digital credentials stored on your mobile. While this isn’t a logical argument, I know I won’t be the only fan to feel like this.
Another fear is that this switch to a digital system puts the club at the mercy of their technology and with the best systems in the world still fail. This is already an existing problem though and I have vague memories of our early Premier League home games being blighted by iffy ticket readers so I suppose it could actually just be a move to a better, more robust system.
My dad made a fair point when I talked to him about this change, his phone is rarely on him or if it is he’s not charged it, so the scheme is no good to him. For those that either don’t use there phone much or live dangerously with their battery life there are potential issues with having your card on your phone. I can already envisage fans trying to push in because they’re down to 3% battery, or the less lucky ones trying to find someone to lend them a portable charger.
Here’s a screenshot of the relevant part of the FAQs
Good idea, But like quite a few people like myself work shifts so do miss a few midweek matches. I do actually give the card to a mate of mine in these circumstances who cannot get there at weekends even though not supposed to, however the card is paid for and it’s another body to shout on the town . Mind you I could be paying him to take it off my hands the way things are going.
That joke about mailing your season ticket to a lamppost then someone stealing the nail and leaving the ticket will have to be retired with digital season cards.
In all honesty, I’m expecting the system where you can transfer a ticket to someone else’s online account for them to print a ticket at home will mean you can still share a ticket without having to share your phone but I’m not too sure on exactly how that works.
I have done both under existing circumstances, had a ticket transferred to me then printed off and passed on to a mate. Also transferred my ticket to a fellow sc holder they then printed it off for their friend. I should imagine the same would still work digitally or otherwise?
Fraid I’ll be sticking with the old fashioned way. I’ve got my own SC and my son has a PA Card. He’s my helper.
On the odd occasion he can’t make it then my other Son steps in and takes his place.
Simply wouldn’t work if we had them on the phone because if my named PA couldn’t make it we wouldn’t be able to pass it on to my other Son to act as PA on the day.
That would mean I would not be unable to attend.
One thing I noticed is that the Senior age threshold has increased from 60 to 65. It doesn’t affect me personally as I have just turned 65 but I had been getting reduced price since the age of 60 which meant (as I don’t live locally) that it was much more cost-effective to pay per match than have a season card for which there is no price reduction for Seniors (also benefiting from Terrier Membership until lockdown put an end to attending for all of us). So it will affect non season card holders aged between 60 and 65.