Wood adds to criticism of rugby ticket prices

THE Irish Rugby Football Union is facing an unprecedented barrage of criticism over ticket prices for the coming rugby season, including complaints from past and present international players.

Former Ireland captain Keith Wood yesterday became the latest to hit out at the decision to force supporters to pay €340 for a standard package to see the four autumn tests.

The price rises to €425 for a premium seat ticket for all four matches, while a schoolchild’s package costs €135.

The IRFU has stipulated that tickets for the four matches at the new Aviva Stadium at Lansdowne Road must be bought as a package, although individual tickets are priced from €50 to €100.

Matches against South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina and Samoa form the Guinness autumn test match series.

However, the prices charged by the IRFU represent increases of up to 43% on the cost of tickets for similar series staged at Croke Park last year.

Tickets for matches against the Springboks and the All Blacks cost €100 each for a basic seat. But similar seats for the 2009 autumn series, which were also sold as part of a package, averaged just €70 each for the games against South Africa and Australia.

The average price of a stand ticket for next year’s Six Nations Championship matches, which are also being sold as a package, has also soared by 33%, up from €75 to €100.

Yesterday, Wood, the former Lions and Ireland star, branded the prices as “incredibly expensive” and suggested the IRFU should offer a compromise which would allow unsold tickets to become available to schoolchildren.

“If you have a couple of parents and a couple of kids trying to go in, it’s the bounds of €300, and that’s very, very hard to take, but that’s the nature of sport, unfortunately,” he remarked in an interview on Newstalk radio.

Labour spokesperson on sport Mary Upton said the higher prices ran the risk of undermining the good work done by the IRFU in extending the appeal of rugby.

However, an IRFU spokesperson defended the cost of tickets, claiming it reflected “the enhanced offering to patrons in the new Aviva Stadium with its modern design giving greater standards in terms of seating, views of the pitch, as well as access to a greater number of concession stands, restaurants and bars”.

Rugby websites have also been inundated with posts from supporters voicing outrage.