Rugby chiefs issue World Cup tickets warning

Rugby World Cup chiefs have warned fans not to buy tickets from unofficial sources after it emerged a single ticket for the final had been advertised for £59,000.

The category A ticket, which has a face value of £715, was up for sale on a secondary ticket website, StubHub.co.uk, for roughly 82 times its original price.

The site also has category D tickets for the final at Twickenham on October 31 which originally cost £125 for sale for £7,500, some 60 times the face value. After being contacted, StubHub removed the listing of the final ticket on its site.

Debbie Jevans, chief executive of England 2015 Rugby World Cup, said organisers hoped new legislation forcing secondary websites to publish the exact row and seat number would prove a deterrent – people buying tickets from unofficial sources can be refused entrance.

Jevans warned: “Our message is to buy those tickets through the official sources – not least to ensure that it is a genuine ticket and not a fraudulent one, and to ensure fans are not ripped off. The new legislation means secondary ticket websites will have to show the row, the seat and access of that ticket. That brings greater transparency which will allow us to have more exposure to who is selling those tickets and at what price.

“We will be monitoring these sites, this gives us the ability to do so to a greater degree and we do reserve the right to refuse access.”