Ticket policy has undone goodwill towards Irish rugby

ON RUGBY:Did nobody tell the IRFU that this country is in the grip of the worst recession since the foundation of the State, writes GERRY THORNLEY

A NEW season has dawned and a relative degree of optimism is in the air. The game has seemingly been liberated by the IRB’s law amendments. Alas and alack, the most vexed area of debate hereabouts this past few weeks – judging by the bewilderment and outrage out there among pub discussions, message boards, letters to the editor, etc – is the IRFU’s eye-watering ticket pricing and ticket policy for the autumn internationals.

In their wisdom, the union originally packaged all four games – against South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina and Samoa – in one block. The packages ranged from €340 to €425 for one ticket per match, or for those living in the real world who want to take a relative or friend, they ranged from € 680 to €850 for two tickets per match.

Faced with a smaller fan base after the Croker years, the IRFU appeared quite content to take the money and run, limiting the fan base to the same 50,000 people on four successive Saturdays.

This showed scant sympathy for people based outside Dublin and travelling from Cork, Limerick, Galway, Belfast or wherever, and the costs therein of petrol/diesel, food and an overnight stay, not to mention a great many people cannot plan four weekends that far in advance, and all of them around Irish rugby matches. In the real world, even avid rugby fans are restricted by weekend work engagements and travel plans as well as funerals, weddings, christenings, etc.

As of late last week, this “four-match” policy was revised slightly, and confirmed yesterday, with the IRFU’s management committee decreeing that the South African match will be linked with the Samoa game, and the New Zealand match with the Argentina game.

Although “sorry” often seems to be the hardest word in Lansdowne Road, this is an admittance the management committee got it spectacularly wrong. It’s a small step in the right direction, but still only a small step.

Regardless, rugby fans will still have to dig deeper than any would-be supporters have ever had to do for any sports event in this country. Now the packages will range from €150 (stand) to €185 (premium) for one ticket to each of the South Africa and Samoa matches, and €190 (stand) to €240 for the New Zealand/Argentina games. This is all based on stand tickets being priced at €100 for each of the marquee games against the Springboks and the All Blacks to €125 for premium tickets. (By the by, it’s hard to believe all stand seats have identical views, and ditto premium ones.)

The Argentina game (this is our favourite!) has been priced at €90 for a stand ticket to €115 for a premium game, whereas tickets for Samoa have been priced at €50 or €60.

Ninety yo-yos to watch an Ireland-Argentina rugby match, or € 115 for that matter? Hello? That really takes the extortionist biscuit.

Were the IRFU at the last one, per chance, that stultifying arm-wrestle which Ireland won by 17-3 at Croke Park two Novembers ago? Even on a freebie you’d have wanted your day back, never mind the money.

Tickets for pop singer Shakira range from €49.20 to €70 – Ireland v Argentina or Shakira at almost half the price?

In any case, the provinces now represent better value for money, and certainly the Leinster-Munster Magners League game at the start of October (€30 or €40 to €70) does.

The Pumas were magnificent at the last World Cup but tend not to be the Harlem Globetrotters in between times, especially in grudge matches against Ireland. This will be the ninth meeting since the turn of the millennium, so not only has it been a clear case of familiarity breeding contempt, but the fixture has long since lost its novelty.

By contrast, the top price for a ticket to Sunday’s All-Ireland final at Croke Park was €70, for either the Hogan or Cusack Stands. Now, admittedly, the IRFU will argue that their match-day capacity has dropped from 80,000-plus to 50,000, which equates to a reduction of 35-40 per cent in crowd attendance, and they have to make up that shortfall somehow. After all, they are competing with bigger pockets, notably French and English.

As is his wont, poor Philip Browne, as chief executive, seems to be copping most of the flak, though this was strictly a decision by the management committee, chaired by Finbarr Crowley, with IRFU president Caleb Powell, vice-president John Hussey, treasurer Tom Grace and three committee chairmen, Pat Fitzgerald, Stephen Hilditch and Martin O’Sullivan.

Maybe a decision for the professionals?

The union possibly thought they could charge such prices because of the basic laws of economics – ie, supply and demand – all the more so given the stadium’s novelty value. But such high pricing, and ticket policy, actually turns recent new fans at Croke Park, or potential fans, away from the game. Rather than spreading the gospel, it is an affront to their loyal fan base and confines Irish rugby matches to a more exclusive audience.

It doesn’t say much for the union’s imagination or marketing abilities. Why not price the tickets, Dunnes Stores-style, at €95 rather than €100? There was also a compelling case to move the Argentina game to Thomond Park and the Samoan game to, say, the RDS. But if they have to make the Aviva pay its way by hosting all four, why not make more schoolboy tickets (steepish at €40 for the marquee games) available for the Samoan game (€20)? Entice the fans of the future.

Did nobody tell the union this country is in the grip of the worst recession since the foundation of the State, and that much of their fan base has been made unemployed or had their incomes seriously reduced in the last two years?

In the midst of all that, their policy has undone much of the goodwill towards Irish rugby which the IRFU themselves have helped to develop over the last decade, which is probably the worst sin of all.