Wimbledon Ballot 2007

From Tennis

The LTA makes available a number of tickets for Wimbledon fortnight to affiliated clubs. The number of tickets made available to each club depends on the number of playing members at the club. The tickets, which are for Centre Court and Number One Court, are allocated and sold to TDLTC members at their face value.

At Thames Ditton, committee members get first choice of these tickets, up to a maximum of one pair of tickets per committee member. This is the principal, and possibly the only perk, for being a committee member. (It should be added that several committee members do not take up their entitlement.)

Contents 1 2007 Rules 2 Post Mortem 2.1 What Went Well 2.2 What could be Improved 3 Financial Claims for Refunds due to Play Stoppages

2007 Rules

For 2007, the rules used were based on the automatic entry of every eligible member, unless they email Gavin Wilson asking to be excluded:

1. Each committee member is entitled to choose a pair of tickets. They must be one of the Wimbldeon attendees; the other must be a member (any category) of TDLTC.
2. The remaining tickets will be allocated by a ballot to Club members at an evening event which includes the Wimbledon Draw.
3. Only full playing members can put their names forward. This includes all full playing members aged 22 and over. It excludes Social Members, Midweek Members, and all members aged under 18 years.
4. Members must attend the Wimbledon Draw event to qualify for a pair of tickets, should their name be drawn.
5. Successful entrants must be able to pay for their tickets—either by cheque or cash—on the night of the Wimbledon Draw, so that the transaction can be completed there and then.
6. Successful members will also be required to sign a Disclaimer Form and a Security Leaflet, both of which will be provided with the pair of tickets.

---

Originally, the rules drawn up by the committee were based on a form-filling approach:

1. Each committee member is entitled to choose a pair of tickets. They must be one of the attendees; the other must be a member (any category) of TDLTC.
2. The remaining tickets will be allocated by a ballot to Club members at an evening event which includes the Wimbledon Draw.
3. Only full playing members can put their names forward.
   • This excludes Social Members, Midweek Members, and all members aged under 18 years.
   • It includes all full playing members aged 22 and over.
4. Members wishing to put their name forward for the ballot must do so on the appropriate form, and hand the form to a committee member before, or at the start of, the evening event in which the Wimbledon Draw will take place.
5. On the form, eligible members will be able to nominate themselves plus one other eligible member with whom they are prepared to spend the day at Wimbledon.
6. At the Wimbledon Draw, each nomination that is successful will be entitled to a pair of tickets. We expect the pair to consist of adjacent seats in the same Court on the same day.
   • So each eligible member will get two chances to win a pair of tickets:
     1. on the form on which they nominate themself, and
     2. as the companion on one other form signed and submitted by an eligible member.
7. At least one member of each successful pair must attend the Wimbledon Draw event. If neither is present at the event, the tickets will be re-entered into the ballot.
8. Successful entrants must be able to pay for their tickets—either by cheque or cash—on the night of the Wimbledon Draw, so that the transaction can be completed there and then.
9. Successful members will also be required to sign a Disclaimer Form and a Security Leaflet, both of which will be provided with the pair of tickets.

Post Mortem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJDZ5bw6MkY

What Went Well

• All finished in 30 minutes.
• Everyone paid by cheque or cash on the day.
• Inviting female members from the audience to draw the winners seemed to work well.
• It's important to agree the rules in advance, to avoid embarrassment on the night and prevent complaints. Some members raised "What if?" questions beforehand, and these helped us to refine the rules.

What could be Improved

• A number of people complained about the lack of notice. (We only emailed them on the previous Thursday and Friday.)
  • Two members complained that they hadn't received the email, when the Hotmail audit trail said that notes to them were sent out. They said they didn't know about the event, but they hadn't visited the clubhouse or looked on the Website.
• One member complained that the draw wasn't run as per some earlier years when you didn't have to attend the draw to qualify.
• There was some bitterness about the number of tickets taken by committee members, particularly in one case where the attendance record of the member has been very poor over the past 18 months.
  • Apparently having the automatic right to a pair of tickets hasn't always been a committee members' privilege.
• Probably needs four committee members to supervise:
  • One to supervise the drawing of names.
  • One (e.g. the Chairman) to announce each draw to the crowd.
  • One to assist the winning member with their choice of day at Wimbledon.
  • One to ensure the cheque is correctly written and to hand over the ticket etc.
• Started later (at least 30 mins later) than announced. New members are probably not accustomed to poor time-keeping.
• Need to ensure there is drink for people—i.e. needs the bar open, or a party to have started, or for tea to be still available.

Financial Claims for Refunds due to Play Stoppages

• 'The All England Club said that, as we had obtained the tickets through a club ballot, the club would have been reimbursed and we should therefore approach TDLTC for the refund.' (Source: member email of 12-Oct-07)
• Secretary's reply: 'The Club received a cheque from Wimbledon. I passed this to our Treasurer a few weeks ago. It was made out to the Club, so he needs to write a cheque from the Club to you.'