Tigers may bow to ticket demand

REIGNING champions Leicester are poised to move their Heineken Cup quarter-final from Welford Road to Leicester City’s Walkers Stadium to accommodate demand for tickets from Munster.

The Tigers had opted to keep next month’s clash at their 16,000 capacity Welford Road, but after top-level discussions with ERC chiefs, may reverse the decision next week.

ERC chief executive Derek McGrath is involved in delicate negotiations with the Zurich Premiership club, aimed at maximising the capacity for the most attractive of the Heineken Cup quarter-final pairings. A development is expected early next week.

Leicester City’s new Walkers Stadium has a capacity of over 32,000, which would give Munster’s travelling fans up to 8,000 tickets for the April 13 showdown between last year’s finalists.

Munster officials are livid at the prospect of a mere 1,000 tickets if the game goes ahead at the Tigers home ground.

Leicester has insisted that they are complying with ERC obligations which stipulate that 25% of “available” tickets must go to the away team. With over 12,000 season ticket holders, the Tigers have argued that it only has 4,000 available tickets.

ERC officials will revise the participation agreement again this year to avoid any further misinterpretations in the future.