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Sports You've Watched Without Having To Pay

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    Sports You've Watched Without Having To Pay

    Excluding times that your parents paid:

    Baseball - I was raising money for charity and got free access to a game where we were fundraising


    #2
    League Cup Final 1967

    My Dad got comps for the Rugby League Cup Final. There were two tickets for the FLC in the package too. I think there were a fair number around being the first time it was at Wembley. My Dad didn't want them so I went with a mate. First time I ever saw QPR play. It's been downhill ever since.

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      #3
      Most recently, non-league Stonewall FC.

      The Chicago Fire PDL (player development league) played one year at a high school near my apartment. They gave out free season tickets to anyone who liked the club on facebook. I'm not on FB but had the missus like them and some friends did the same thing. I think we went to about 3 or 4 of the 6 home games. This was during the summer so we all were traveling a bit. I would think attendances were much better for this setup. Now they are back to playing where the Fire play and I doubt anyone shows up.

      As a kid, my dad used to take me to see a lot of community college games (football/soccer, basketball, and track and field). I don't know if there is a community college system in other countries, but basically this is a two-year system for students who can't afford a 4-year university or whose grades might need a boost. In many states these colleges have different sports teams. Usually we would go see the college that was closest to where I lived (Golden West) but if they were in the playoffs, we'd sometimes travel to other community colleges. In retrospect, it was interesting that he did this because I would usually bring friends, we would stand behind the Golden West goal and chase down the ball for the keeper and gab about girls. Meanwhile my dad was stuck in the stands by himself.
      Last edited by danielmak; 13-04-2019, 07:25.

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        #4
        When Hampshire used to play at their old Northlands Road ground, I used to get in free every day. If you walked through a turnstile, they charged you; if you drove into the car park, they charged you. If you walked through the car park, however, the system collapsed and you got to watch Cardigan Connor for free. Although they more than made their money back from the amount I spent on beer.

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          #5
          Malcolm Marshall for free must have been a treat; best fast bowler who ever lived.

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            #6
            Football (last few minutes of a Union Berlin women's game against unidentified opponents, when we went along to have a look at the stadium and realised there was a game on; various matches in Argentina on press tickets)
            Tennis (a few Fed Cup and one Davis Cup tie(s) as a journalist).

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              #7
              Football - numerous matches which don't charge. Won tickets to the final of the 2005 women's European Championships.
              Cricket - won tickets to Lancashire v Surrey
              Golf - free entry to every day of the 1998 Open Championships as an under 16
              Cycling - Tour de France, Tour of Britain
              Volleyball - free student tickets at Penn State

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                #8
                I once watched a little bit of a lacrosse match on the caged astroturf pitches next to Tooting & Mitcham's ground, Hillcroft v Hitchin was the fixture.

                I also saw the Olympic Racewalk as it came through central London in 2012 (I was picking up tickets for the Beach Volleyball that day) and have watched the London Marathon a few times.

                Nothing else I can think of that isn't already covered on the "paid for" thread.

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                  #9
                  I was given a free ticket for a grim Ireland 0-0 NI friendly in 1999 and won a pair of tickets for Ireland – Russia in 2011 or so. A friend organised “free” VIP tickets for Switzerland-Togo at the 2006 World Cup but I was morally obliged to make a significant contribution to a shared interest not-for profit, so that hardly counts. I was going to cover Ireland-Scotland for WSC in 2015 but we couldn’t get a press pass sorted at short notice.
                  I lived walking distance from Dundalk racecourse and slipped through the hedge a couple of times in my teenage years in order to annoy the bookies in the ring with my 2 or 3 carefully selected pesky £1 bets. Free dog and horse racing company nights out more recently.
                  The 1987 All-Ireland hurling semi-final between Kilkenny and Antrim was played in Dundalk (before all semis went to Croke Park soon after), in my local ground perhaps 30 yards from my house. This is roughly equivalent to Man United played an FA Cup semi-final tie against Plymouth at Cheltenham racecourse. Slipped around the back through the fields for that one, and for a handful of Louth Gaelic football matches including a Division 2 match against Cork which was effectively a promotion playoff, c 1990, and county club finals. Saw at least part of some Louth league hurling matches there too, but I’m pretty sure they would have been free in anyway.
                  Tour de France in Ireland 97 and in France 17, Nissan Classic Tour of Ireland in the 90s (fairly strong professional lineup from what I remember) and Olympic road race 2000. Olympic marathon in 2000- fucking hell those guys are fast. A full out sprint alongside the leaders lasted perhaps 100 metres, but that may be more of a reflection of my ability than theirs.

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                    #10
                    You didn't used to have to pay to go to Fenners (I have no idea if you do now), so i used to pop up quite a lot in those spring days when Cambridge Uni would play county sides or the MCC.

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                      #11
                      Numerous under age international games,junior cup finals and Drogheda Uniteds European run in the mid noughties when I've been running the PA in Dalymount park, Ireland v France in rugby league at the same venue doing stewarding.
                      Tour de France 1989 (that finish) and 98, many games for my local GAA club,amazingly you can turn up and watch some of the most celebrated sports stars in Ireland playing on a local council pitch behind the clubhouse.

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                        #12
                        Have mentioned this before, but we have been able to watch multiple versions of the Giro d'Italia, NYC Marathon, NYC Triathlon and NYC Tugboat Race without leaving (different) flats of ours.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by Ray de Galles View Post
                          I also saw the Olympic Racewalk as it came through central London in 2012.
                          Having been generally unlucky with Olympic tickets I got out to see as much free stuff as I could including racewalking, marathons, cycling, triathlon etc.

                          Lots of cycling plus baseball (in the Netherlands) and just the one football match in hospitality which I'd be happy never to repeat.

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                            #14
                            A mate at school was the grandson of a horse trainer, and part of a generally 'horsey' (though not posh) family, so a couple of times I went with him to Carlisle races and got in for free - not on official comps, they just waved the whole family in (it probably only cost about 50p for kids to get in back then anyway).

                            Any time I've been given comps for football it's either been for a match I'd already paid for via my season ticket, or completely at random - we got comps for the home stand at Roker Park for the Carlisle's second visit there in the Cup in consecutive years, after missing out on away tickets, and only got them the night before; and outside the New Den someone asked if we were away fans and as he didn't look particularly Cockney nor threatening I answered in the affirmative and he said I've got two spare comps, here you go.

                            In the 80s I used to watch Carlisle RL at Brunton Park and there was usually a gate that didn't have anyone taking money - at the time someone I knew swore blind that this was to do with Sunday trading regulations (which were of course a much bigger deal back then), and that if there was a free gate somewhere it meant that those who chose to pay in were making a donation and it meant paying in wasn't a condition of entry. I always thought it was bollocks, and that it was probably used by people with comps, or volunteers who were selling raffle tickets or whatever, but occasionally I'd blag in by following a few people through.

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                              #15
                              A bit of road cycling, and a lot of days of first class cricket at the University Parks in Oxford. Best of all was the West Indies tour of 1984, with Marshall, Holding and Garner pissing around in the nets that were basically open to everyone, and signing autographs and just being really nice and laughing a lot.

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                                #16
                                Royal Ascot - was working. Everything stopped when the racing was on. Got a wave from old wooden teeth.

                                Shinty - Camanachd Cup at Anniesland, Glasgow. No idea what was going on. Very violent, and everyone very drunk. Think we got in where you'd stand in front of a paying adult at the turnstiles. (This used to work at Celtic Park for years.)
                                Last edited by Gerontophile; 15-04-2019, 20:03.

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                                  #17
                                  Living on the Isle of Man, the TT numerous times. Scary watching though!

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                                    #18
                                    Road cycling, obviously. All fairly local, none more than 10 miles from my house, but even the two that passed a hundred-odd yards away I made a special effort to get a better vantage point than simply walking to the nearest point with a line-of-sight. From memory that was the Milk Race way back in the 1980s, Women's Tour of Britain x2 and Tour de France. Must admit all of them were rather underwhelming experiences.

                                    Squash in both the Hatfield Galleria and Grand Central Terminal, New York. Two buildings it's not easy to otherwise link!


                                    Apart from that, it's all amateur sport that doesn't charge admission but is well above the equivalent of parks Football level. Squash in Hertfordshire can be very strong, and sometimes has pro players representing clubs in Division 1 matches. One Cup final I witnessed included the World No.13 taking on the World No.30-odd at top string, so genuine international class competition happening almost completely unheralded. Also watching local Rugby clubs (again some of them well up the pyramid) but never for a complete game. And lots of Hockey, up to and including National League and National Cup games. You can watch Rio Olympic gold medalists for free if you know where and when to look. About five minutes of National top Division Volleyball as well, as that was taking place in the gym of a Sports Centre I happened to be in anyway.

                                    In fact, the idea of having to pay to watch decent or even top level players is something of a distortion caused by Football. That is the exception rather than the rule, many international class competitors in Britain are performing at venues where you can wander in and watch as you wish.


                                    I can't remember even having a complimentary ticket for pro sport, though.

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                                      #19
                                      Tour de France (Montauban ‘98, London 2007, Sheffield the last time)
                                      Tour of Britain came to Gateshead twice
                                      Nigerian FA officials got out of a taxi and handed us freebies for the game against Paraguay at the 98 World Cup. We’d jogged along to the ground to soak up atmosphere so we watched it in shorts, quite cold by the end
                                      And living on Waterloo rd opp. the old stand when Wolves were in the 3rd and 4th divs, I often got in just after half time

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                                        #20
                                        Football - Scotland vs. England, Hampden Park 1976 (2-1! Get that up ye!) - I was in the marching band that played pre-match.
                                        Gridiron - Saw Denver Broncos and someone playing at Sydney Olympic Stadium 1999(?); invited by AT&T who were a sponsor. Cheerleaders were the best part of the whole thing.
                                        Rugby Union - Wallabies and Waratahs games from time to time again thanks to various suppliers
                                        AFL - a couple of times; a friend works for QBE, Sydney Swans' major sponsor
                                        Rugby League - State of Origin once; a recruiter we were using at the time invited me

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