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Canberra members of the GWS Giants may find it more difficult to take advantage of one of their membership perks - bringing along guests for free to home games- as the AFL team becomes more popular in the national capital. Demand for tickets from the paying public means members are being squeezed on how often they can bring guests for free to the Giants games, despite it being part of their membership packages, albeit with caveats. For this Saturday's game against the Melbourne Demons at Manuka Oval, the Giants released about 300 guests passes for its 4089 Canberra members, the tickets allocated via a ballot. Manuka Oval has a seating capacity of 13,550. Giants financial officer Ryan Kaveney confirmed guest passes were in the past used to fill the stands when the team was less popular but they were now used more as a reward for members, the exact number released per game up the discretion of the club. "At no stage in any of the terms and conditions is anyone ever promised free tickets in addition to their package," he said. "Historically, obviously when we had empty stadiums, we would do what it took, whether it was in Sydney or Canberra, to get people there." The situation reflects the Giants' rising membership in the ACT and its regular sell-out crowds, in contrast to other local codes such as the ACT Brumbies which are contending with disappointing crowd numbers. "We couldn't be more excited about where we're at in Canberra," Mr Kaveney said. It comes as one Canberra member of the Giants initially threatened legal action after he did not receive any guest passes in the ballot for Saturday's game which is tipped to be a sell-out but might still be cruelled by the chilly conditions. The member, James Chesworth, and his wife Laura, have $206 platinum memberships which allow them each two guest passes per home game depending on "venue capacity" and the possibility that passes "may be capped in the weeks leading up to a match" Mr Chesworth did not receive any guest passes in the ballot. He questioned how venue capacity could be a factor, when tickets were still available for sale. Mr Chesworth said he was told by the club it looked at capacity in the allocated members' area, not the entire Manuka Oval.An email from the club to Mr Chesworth read: " On this occasion, we have had to cap the guest passes issued for this game and unfortunately some members have missed out. We always do our best to accommodate all members requests but with over 150 requests for around 300 tickets that were made, we were only able to fulfil around 90 requests". Mr Chesworth initially threatened to take the issue to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal to seek compensation and was eventually issued with the four guest passes after contacting the club. He said at the very least the club should have issued the guest passes to the 150 members who requested them as a gesture of goodwill. "Even though I've been looked after by the club, I'm happy about that, but there will be other members who are still upset, having that same expectation that they would get seats," he said. "While the club has expressed in a phone call [to me] that they didn't expect the amount of membership to grow as fast as it did, it's not the consumer who should lose because the club couldn't meet the expectation they set at the beginning of the year. It should look for other options to be able to accommodate those customers who did want tickets." Mr Chesworth said he and his wife left their previous AFL teams (he with the Lions; she Collingwood) to support the Giants because they loved being able to watch the game live in Canberra. "I still love the club," he said. "The guest passes are an important part of why I take out the memberships because I really enjoy introducing friends and family to the game." Since inquiries were made this week by The Canberra Times, the Giants have removed all reference to free guest passes in its membership packages and stated all guest passes will be issued at the discretion of the club. A Giants spokeswoman said this was to clear up any confusion that the guest passes were an "entitlement" when they were actually only a "reward". Mr Kaveney said it was a factor of the club's growth that guest passes might become less easily obtained. "As we continue to grow the availability of above and beyond free passes will be scarcer but at the same time we're going to always reward our members where we can," he said. "We don't look at the fact we have 5000 [sic] members and say, 'Oh they're locked in for life'. We know that every year we've got to be doing something special as part of this footy club to keep everybody there, because their money is valuable and disposable income is lower." "If it turns out we get a lot of member feedback that that's something they really value, we'll make sure we look at it and adjust it." Mr Kaveney said guest passes were still important as guests could easily turn into members. But members could not be "rewarded" all the time and receive free passes every game. "Obviously we're a club that's trying to grow and make money, we've got to sell the tickets. We're just the same as every other sporting club in the country," he said.

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