French put on poor mouth

AS few as 7,000 fans are set to travel from Toulouse and Perpignan for the Heineken Cup final in Lansdowne Road on May 24.

Perpignan, who stunned tournament favourites Leinster in the semi-final at the same venue, say they expect just 2,000 of their supporters to make the rip to Dublin, while Toulouse, one-point winners over Munster in the other semi-final, say only 5,000 of their fans will travel.

During Toulouse's home win over Biarritz last Saturday, angry supporters waved banners saying "Dublin is too expensive" and "Dublin orphans rugby fans."

The Toulouse fans also went on 'strike' for the first-half of that game refusing to bang drums or sing until after half-time.

Following the match, Toulouse president Rene Bouscatel launched a furious attack against the ERC saying they had not done enough to help French supporters travel to Dublin.

"The club does not gain anything from this final," said Bouscatel, who has been criticised by Toulouse fans for not providing financial assistance to travel.

"The ERC have given us 45,000, which will be used to pay the team's travel expenses. We made efforts, but we did not receive any help to allow our supporters to accompany us."

ERC spokeperson Diarmuid Murphy responded by saying the ERC had given the clubs 45,000 and suggested that it be put towards marketing, but at no point did they issue any specific directives on how the money should be spent.

That was up to the clubs.

Perpignan president Marcel Dagrenat said he is disappointed the final is in Dublin, but he understands why it is being held there.

"If we cannot play the final in France, the next best place is Ireland. However, I expect only 2,000 of our supporters to travel.

"In 1998 Perpignan won the French Championship in Stade de France and 45,000 of our fans were in Paris.

"But Dublin, it is too expensive. It is more than 400 and this is not a rich area. Our supporters have already spent a great deal following the team in the French Championship."

The poverty line from the French will not sit well with the thousands of Munster fans who dug deep into their pockets to follow their team around Europe over the last four years.

The final is now a litmus test of the true standing of the Heineken Cup as a European competition.

Murphy says the ERC's intention is to run a competition that will have a guaranteed full house for its final irrespective of the teams involved, as the Champions League does in soccer.

"This is a severe test of our strategy of nominating the final venue in advance. From a marketing point of view it obviously would have been better for us if there were an Irish team in the final," said Murphy.

"But, it's two French teams and we're taking that blow on the chin. To be honest, this has come three years too early for us, but we are encouraging Irish rugby fans to turn out and watch what will be a fantastic game of rugby."

With special seating installed, the capacity for Lansdowne Road will be just under 40,000 on May 24.

As it stands, 1,500 tickets have gone to the corporate sector, 4,500 to the ERC and partners, 8,000 have already been paid for and 7,000 fans are expected from France.

Assuming that all those attend, that leaves the ERC having to sell approximately 20,000 tickets between now and May 24 to have a full house at Lansdowne Road.

Already an advertising blitz has begun spearheaded by Toulouse's Irish flanker Trevor Brennan with help from Ireland's European veterans Mick Galwey and David Humphreys.

Whether that will be enough remains to be seen but Brennan, perhaps forgetful of his marketing commitments, was typically forthright on the ticket sales issue last weekend.

"I couldn't give a shite how many turn up. It could be one man and his dog as long as I get a medal."