FA: Good morning, Football Association.
Mktg: Hi. I'm just calling to find out about the cancelled England game against the Netherlands. I bought my Dad tickets, so I'm wondering whether the game will be rescheduled.
FA: With regards to that, tickets are being refunded. The money is being transferred back to the card the tickets were booked with. With regards to the match, we do have an agreement to play (the Netherlands) at Wembley, but as yet there is no date, and it won't be in the short term.
Mktg: So it is going to be a few years away?
FA: Our chairman said yesterday he will be sitting down to rearrange the fixture, possibly (for) next year. There is an international date in October, but it won't be then.
Mktg: Was there no thought given to waiting until the day of the game itself, as the situation in London seemed to improve?
FA: Obviously (the rioting) did die down slightly, but the issue was that we can't operate as a venue without a safety certificate, and the Metropolitan Police security teams within London couldn't guarantee that they could provide security, and if they can't do that, we could have been shut down. It could have gone ahead without the police, but if anything were to have happened we could have lost our licence, which we're not in a position to do.
Mktg: Will another game be organised instead, at some point down the line?
FA: There will be another friendly down the line, but at the moment our hands are tied because we have three games left to qualify (for the 2012 European Championships). If we finish second in the group, we would automatically have two games in November. If we finish top of the group and qualify straight through, there will be dates (available) in November, but with regards to Holland, I doubt it would be that quick.
Mktg: Thanks very much for that information.
FA: No problem at all sir, thank you.
Verdict
The call-handler was very well briefed and had all the relevant information on the cancellation to hand. He was prepared for questions on why the game had been cancelled as well as refund details. His knowledge of the forthcoming fixture issues was impressive and likely to encourage future ticket sales.
Score 10/10