There have been three committee meetings which were held on Jan 5th 2023, March 27th 2023 and August 1st 2023. Minutes can be found here:
West Ham raising the age for concessions from 65 to 66.
In April 2023 West Ham United Football Club announced its decision to increase the age at which the Senior Season Ticket Concession Rate applies from 65 to 66.
This decision specifically targeted and negatively impacted our older supporters, many of whom were budgeting for their season ticket at the old concession rate.
The additional income generated by the Club, was minuscule and amounted to little more than a cynical, petty penny pinching exercise by the club at the expense of some of its most loyal and long serving fans.
Only West Ham United and Aston Villa in the Premier League raised the concession age to 66.
Old School Hammers wrote to the Club requesting that the Club reconsider its decision. Our requests were ignored.
We then launched a petition calling on the Club reinstate the Senior Season Concession Rate to age 65 and refund all those loyal season ticket holders immediately to allow them to enjoy a vital part of their social life.
The petition gained 1710 signatures which frankly was disappointing. Perhaps if more had supported, the club would have been less likely to launch its current attacks on our concessions.
Season Ticket Concession Petition>>
VAR
On Wednesday 15th May Wolverhampton Wanderers formally called for the removal of the Video Assistant Referee which has been used in England’s top-flight since 2019.
They tabled a motion to the Premier League which would have to be voted on by Premier League clubs.
West Ham United of course would be voting on this so Old School Hammers canvassed our members seeking guidance.
The voting was as follows:
- Keep VAR – 0 votes
- Scrap VAR – 68 votes
- Keep VAR but with vast improvements and a time limit – 72 Votes
We sent our results to West Ham.
The Premier League motion raised by Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C was defeated by 19 votes to 1.
Campaign against the club’s attack on concessions and inflation busting season ticket price rises.
We are playing an active role working closely with Hammers United and other fan groups.
We fully support the petition against concession changes and over inflation ST price increases and have actively promoted it urging our members to sign and reaching out to the wider West Ham community on social media.
We also fully supported the successful boycott of the Betway Cup match again promoting to our members and reaching out to the wider West Ham community on social media.
We are fully behind the Programme for Food initiative launched to raise the profile of the campaign and put more pressure on the club and at the same time support a worthy initiative.
We urge our members not to purchase a match programme and to consider donating the programme money to Irons supporting Foodbanks.
Fan Engagement. Independent Supporters Committee and Fan Advisory Board.
We wrote to the club specifically raising our members’ concerns on match-day queues, searches and season ticket prices and supporters using the disabled queues. This led to a series of Email exchanges with the club and you will note that on May 16th 2023 we made a formal request that
Old School Hammers be represented on the new Fan Advisory Board.
Fan Advisory Board Membership >>
Moving on from this correspondence we wrote to the then Club Supporters Liaison officer seeking a meeting.
OSH seek meeting with Supporters Liason Officer >>
On 13th April 2024 we met Cat Smith the new Club Supporters Liaison Officer. We reiterated that we would be making a formal application to join the ISC and or FAB.
OSH meet with new Supportesr Liason Officer >>
We have now submitted our formal application to join the Fan Advisory Board. We are confident of being accepted as we meet all the laid down criteria.
If accepted we will then ballot our membership on whether or not we take our place at the table.
Phil Stringfellow (Chair)
