To tell a friend to sit somewhere else

[Stickerrocks]

We've had a family season ticket for our football club for the last few years. We've taken DC's friend for the odd birthday treat & their family has tended to come along as well and go to a few other matches. Now it's season ticket renewal time & the other family are muttering about getting one for themselves.

AIBU to ask them not to get the free seats immediately next to us if they decide to go ahead? Although I'm friends with the mum & our DC are friends, we don't socialise together as families. We tend to take other family & friends with us regularly, which having them next to us would hinder. Most importantly, we love going to matches as a family, spending time with each other and chatting about stuff, and having them alongside us would cramp that. If I'm NBU, how can I say to go ahead and get a season ticket if you want to, just not next to us?

You've got it! The kids all get given a free extra ticket for their birthday from the club, so suggesting a spare seat or two so both families can use them may work. After all, it would be a shame not to be able to take advantage of the freebies, especially as a couple of the kids have their birthdays close together and we wouldn't all on top of each other. You're geniuses!

It's an extreme reaction for the sake of 90 minutes every other week

Well TBF it's 105 minutes, since they have half time. That extra quarter of an hour might tip them over the edge :o

We try 😁😂

Well I won't bloody book them next to you then

Skittlesss

Other posters have said the same thing but I really can't understand how you think that this family not buying the seats next to you will keep those seats free for your extra guests?

Surely anyone looking to buy a season ticket could have them? And then you'd have no free seats to book as and when you felt like it anyway.

Santa - The OP said further up that she thinks this family would be unwilling to move a bit to accommodate guests they bring with them, which implies that other "owners" of those seats have generally been flexible and she was expecting "owners" who weren't this family to be flexible too.

Oh I see BoomBoom. That's still quite an assumption to make about any prospective new 'owners' isn't it?

They may well be much worse than the family OP is trying to avoid .

If it's the culture of the place, then I think it's logical to assume most people will conform unless you know otherwise. Lots of smaller places have a great community spirit and you can rely on the vast majority of people not to be dicks.

I think it's not just whether or not they'd move for guests, but more that it's enforced socialising with someone that you might only see occasionally, and it can be awkward. I signed up for a class in something once to meet new people, and when I got there, found that I knew a little group of people from another activity - not very well, and although we got on politely, if we'd been going to be good friends it would have happened already - and yet we knew each other well enough that we couldn't ignore each other either, but it was always just a bit awkward and uncomfortable, and changed the dynamic of the activity. So I do understand the feeling of liking someone (or a family) but not wanting an activity to turn into socialising with them every single week, as it's then a really different prospect - sometimes you want to do something alone/with your own family, or meet new people, or bring others along, and awkward socialising with people you know but not all that well (and don't particularly want to become super-close with them) changes everything. It can be awkward and uncomfortable for both parties, whilst trying to stay polite.

YANBU