Semi-final tickets sell out in seconds

Heineken Cup - Munster v Leinster:It took just 30 seconds for the 5,000 tickets on general sale for the Heineken Cup semi-final between Munster and Leinster to sell out on last night.

The first tranche of tickets for the eagerly anticipated All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park was made available on Ticketmaster at 6pm, shortly after Leinster had booked their place with the nerve-shredding 6-5 win over Harlequins. By 6.01pm they had already been snapped up.

Both provinces subsequently received approximately 30,000 tickets each and Leinster made their allocation available, again through the Ticketmaster website, this morning. As always, season ticket holders receive priority when these tickets are being distributed.

Leinster have permitted each season ticket holder to buy up to six tickets on a first come, first served basis. The province have almost 10,000 season ticket holders for the current season while 7,000 have already signed up for the 2009-10 campaign.

Both groups are eligible for semi-final tickets and while there is an obvious overlap, with the majority of next year’s figures made up of renewals, demand for seats at Croke Park is clearly going to outstrip supply.

Indeed, as of 4pm today over 9,500 tickets had been sold. In the unlikely event of tickets being left unclaimed, Blues members will then be offered the chance to book their place on May 2nd. As a consequence, the likliehood of any tickets going on sale to the general public is virtually nil.

Munster’s 30,000 tickets will be allocated in line with the policy adopted at Thomond Park for European Cup pool matches with the clubs receiving somewhere in the region of 10,000 while 10-year ticket holders and sponsors will also be catered for.

Supporter’s club members will be able to buy tickets (approximately 6,000) on Ticketmaster but these will be limited to one per member and will come on stream at 10am today. Those eligible will have already received details, complete with password, of how to order their tickets. Again, given the huge demand it is not expected any tickets will go on general sale.

In addition, premium level and corporate box holders will have the opportunity to purchase approximately 10,000 tickets, a further 1,500 will be sold as hospitality packages with the ERC distributing the remainder to “rugby stake holders and partners”.

Tickets for the match range in price from 70 for a seat in the premium level to 25 for a place on Hill 16.

The bad news for supporters unable to get their hands on a precious ticket is that the match, on target to break the record attendance for a club rugby game, will only be screened live on Sky Sports.

RTE, having relinquished Heineken Cup rights to the satellite broadcaster, will be restricted to showing highlights later that night.

Munster v Leinster ticket allocation (Croke Park capacity 82,000)

Munster– 30,000
Leinster– 30,000
Premium / Corporate– 10,000
General Sale— 5,000
Hospitality– 1,500
ERC sponsors etc... – 5,500