During the week, an interesting video surfaced online looking into Sunderland’s Black Cats Points system and, quite plainly, explaining how difficult it can be for someone starting from scratch to build up enough points in a relatively short time.
Whilst I’m not so sure that all of the maths in the video was completely accurate, the overall topic of Black Cats Points has always been a polarising one.
Now, though, with Sunderland sitting in a great position in the Premier League and Europa League football
also on the agenda, the debate has raged again during the international break – at a time when many supporters are longing for the return of ‘proper’ football and perhaps reflecting on the situation we currently find ourselves in.
Black Cats Points exist to reward the loyalty of those supporters who have attended the most games, particularly away from home.
Whilst you collect loyalty points through attending home cup games and some SAFC Women’s matches, the main bulk of points are collected from travelling the length and breadth of the country watching the red and white wizards – and many of those long-standing away-day travellers will have been putting in the hard yards when things were considerably less attractive.
Plymouth Argyle. Accrington Stanley. Fleetwood Town. Burton Albion. Those are the kinds of places supporters were travelling to when Sunderland weren’t exactly giving us much to shout about.
It goes without saying that those with the highest number of points have undoubtedly earned their right to get first dibs on the most sought-after tickets – which, let’s be honest, is virtually every ticket these days now that we’ve got a brilliant team on the pitch competing on all fronts.
If you’re in that elite bracket, it’s more than likely that you’ve spent a fortune over the years to see the team, particularly when things were considerably less enjoyable and it would have been much easier to pack it all in and sit at home watching on the telly.
And that’s the bit that shouldn’t be forgotten. The system exists for a reason, and those who have built up huge loyalty-point tallies have earned the rewards that come with it. But there is another side to this.
The increase in popularity of the football club has meant that more and more supporters want to be there in person to follow the team. As outlined in Tucky’s video, if you’re approaching this from a clean slate, the likelihood of building your points up to a level where you’re even able to claim tickets in later phases is difficult – bordering on impossible.
That, in itself, isn’t an unfair point to raise – and I say that as someone who has a lot of loyalty points and is virtually guaranteed a ticket for most of the games Sunderland will play away from home this season. This doesn’t come from a place of bitterness or jealousy.
I completely understand why some fans are feeling shut out and why, from their perspective, the system doesn’t feel fair – but it’s actually the younger supporters that I feel sorry for most.
I believe that children are the future, as some bloke on the wireless once said, and we can’t ignore the fact that the current system makes it incredibly difficult for a certain age bracket of fans to even get on the ladder in the first place.
And once you’re off the ladder, how are you supposed to climb it?
Sure, the ballot system which was introduced this season has created an opportunity for all fans to increase their chances of attending away games, but the truth of the matter is that gaining tickets through the ballot comes at a cost – you need to buy a membership to even have the chance to apply – and then, even after that, it’s a total lottery. You’re entering alongside thousands of other supporters who all have exactly the same hopes.
That’s not necessarily a criticism of the ballot itself. It’s simply the reality of what happens when demand massively outweighs supply.
As a dad with a young child, I’m very much aware that if I want to take my daughter to away games in the future, it’s going to be very difficult, and I know there will be plenty of others in the fanbase currently in the same boat – supporters with a high number of points, kids desperate to go away from home, and no obvious way of getting them started.
So what is the way in?
Unfortunately, the only way is to cheat the system and use someone else’s points to buy tickets, which is, of course, completely against the rules and something that the club are increasingly clamping down on, with spot checks occurring at away games and bans being issued as a result. That obviously isn’t the answer.
So is there a way to fix this? I think there has to be, and I’d implore the club to look into it further.
As much as I like the idea of the ballot system, I think it would be far easier for the wider fanbase to stomach if the beneficiaries of it were actually young supporters.
You could potentially kill two birds with one stone here.
If we’re going to portion off a percentage of away allocations, why not ensure that those tickets go to fans under the age of 18, when applying with an accompanying adult who has the requisite number of points?
Not only would that give young supporters a genuine way into the system, it could also help tackle one of the other problems that comes with the current set-up. It would probably stop people from cheating the system and applying for tickets in the name of fans who have no intention of even attending the game.
Most importantly, though, it would give the next generation of Sunderland supporters the chance to experience something that many of us take for granted.
Going away with Sunderland is one of the best parts of supporting the club. The journeys. The pubs. The arguments over where to stand. The strange grounds you’d never otherwise visit. The camaraderie. The misery. The celebrations. Those experiences are how you create lifelong supporters – and if we want Sunderland to continue growing, surely allowing younger fans to experience them should be part of the conversation.
This is just one suggestion, and I’m not saying that I’ve got all the answers here, but I believe it’s certainly worth exploring further.
It’s such a tough balance to strike because I imagine people with a high number of points are feeling slightly cheated by the system right now, but there have to be some small allowances made.
I’d suggest that the only game this season where people on over 60 points are going to feel particularly hard done to by the ballot system will probably be the Newcastle away game, which is the most sought-after away ticket of the season.
For virtually every other game, though, the bigger issue is going to be the sheer number of supporters who simply cannot get onto the ladder in the first place.
What’s clear is that this debate isn’t going to go away, and if the club keeps making huge strides forward, the desire for away tickets is only going to increase as time goes on.
That’s a nice problem for Sunderland to have, but it is still a problem that needs addressing.
Patience is key, and I suspect that should the club’s flame die off over the coming seasons, so too will the appetite for away games. By that point, interest in certain games may well wane, which would then offer some supporters a route in – but should we really be relying on Sunderland becoming less successful for younger supporters to get their chance?
In the meantime – and as outlined in the video that was posted online – people just have to keep building points in any other way they can. Right now, that will be through going to home cup and Europa League games.
Luckily, this season we’ll have a few more of them, and that will help people to build up their tallies for this season at least, but perhaps we should be thinking beyond this season.
Black Cats Points have done exactly what they were designed to do – reward loyalty.
The challenge now is finding a way to preserve that principle while ensuring that the next generation of Sunderland supporters aren’t permanently locked out – because eventually, the kids currently watching from the sidelines will be the ones making those long journeys themselves
And surely we should be giving them a chance to get started.
What do you think about the system – is it fair? Do you think it needs reform, or should it just be left alone?
