Net market for tickets boils over

Ireland v England:Let's start with an understatement: tickets are hard to come by for Saturday's Six Nations game at Croke Park.

English supporters will officially number 7,000 but - assuming Saturday's visitors can replicate, or surpass, the recent French invasion - a significant chunk of Europe's fourth-biggest stadium will be singing God Save the Queen before the 5.30pm kick-off.

The black market has never experienced such demand for a sporting event in Ireland. Let's get face values on the record first. A premium seat is €110, a stand seat €80. A place on the terrace costs €30 (€10 for a schoolchild).

Six months ago a pair of premium tickets could be purchased from a corporate-event organiser for €650, €500 for the French match. These figures have increased significantly.

Some 82,300 people will descend on Croke Park this Saturday - well, minus the 50 tickets withheld at the front of the Davin Stand to accommodate anyone suffering an attack of vertigo in the upper tier - a common predicament, it seems, in modern stadia.

Ebay.ie is a common port of call for the desperate this week. For punters willing to be dragged into a bidding war for two Cusack Stand tickets, €2,400 was the going rate yesterday evening.

The English RFU received an increased allocation of 2,200 tickets, which they will reciprocate to the IRFU for next year's game at Twickenham.

"Previously, a 4,800 reciprocal deal was in place between the unions," said an English union source yesterday.

"We give and receive 5,500 tickets with the other unions but that was due to Lansdowne Road being a smaller ground."

The clubs receive the lion's share of tickets from the IRFU and have been given a 15 per cent increase as a result of improved capacity at Jones's Road - 34,000 more than at Lansdowne Road

"Initially we received the same ticket allocation as an international at Lansdowne Road," said the Leinster Branch CEO, Mick Dawson. "Then an opportunity arose to apply for additional tickets. We went to the clubs and the vast majority said yes. Everyone got what they wanted."

Leinster received approximately 23,000 tickets; their previous allocation had been 15,000, more than any of the other three provinces.

Among the clubs, Ireland's oldest, Trinity College, enjoys the biggest allocation.

An established club like Blackrock College receives around 200 stand and 250 Hill 16 tickets.

One All-Ireland League club have tapped into the corporate market by offering the creature comforts of a five-star Dublin hotel, lunch, a match ticket and transport to the game for 350 people at €700 a head.

A fuller breakdown of ticket allocation is unavailable, the IRFU refusing to provide details on the grounds it is "too sensitive" an issue.