Tickets for the July 6 clash in Sydney between the British Lions (with nominal representation of Scotland it seems) and the Wallabies went on sale to Waratahs members yesterday. The Rolling Maul was keen to secure some. Then I saw the price.
Now, keep in mind that around half the 80,000+ stadium seats won't be available to the general public. They're reserved for corporates and stadium members and other members of the privileged Rugby community most of whom will be other corporate-types and many of them will be former players - Rugby is that kind of sport, the kind that looks after its own as long as by 'own' you mean the absolute elite who just happened to be born in the eastern or northern suburbs of Sydney, went to a GPS school and have freakish hand-eye coordination or are just big and powerful.
So of the 40,000 or so remaining you'd expect demand to be pretty high for an event that only happens once every 12 years. And you'd expect too that the cash-strapped ARU are going to cash-in, after all they've got all those player top-up payments they weren't going to pay anymore because they were moving to an incentive based system.
There's also the multi-million dollar coach they can't afford to get rid of and all the medical expenses from the casualty ward of injuries their overworked players incurred in trying to generate even more revenue for the ARU.
So it's gonna cost. Boy, does it cost.
Platinum tickets, or those where you have a slight chance of getting a decent view which is difficult in the cavernous Olympic Stadium but is still interpreted by the ARU to be all those seats in the lower tier between about the in-goal areas (so not necessarily even anywhere near the middle of the field) are $295 (or about 237 Euros) plus the booking and credit card charges (another few %)
Gold tickets are for the corners behind the in-goal area where you get the worst of both worlds - front and side-on views - rather than a bit of both, and the lesser nose bleed seats, are $235 (E 189)
Silver tickets (behind the in-goal areas but not against the fence and the serious nose bleed section) are $175 (E 141).
And Bronze tickets (behind the goal posts up against the fence and in a nose-bleed section so high you'd need a sherpa guide to find your seat) are $90 (E 72).
Indeed if anyone from Europe reads this it would be great if you could leave a comment about how much international Rugby costs where you come from.
So The Rolling Maul needed to raid the kids piggy banks and re-mortgage their cubby house to be able to afford a couple of tickets and used the following justifications to do so:
Now, keep in mind that around half the 80,000+ stadium seats won't be available to the general public. They're reserved for corporates and stadium members and other members of the privileged Rugby community most of whom will be other corporate-types and many of them will be former players - Rugby is that kind of sport, the kind that looks after its own as long as by 'own' you mean the absolute elite who just happened to be born in the eastern or northern suburbs of Sydney, went to a GPS school and have freakish hand-eye coordination or are just big and powerful.
So of the 40,000 or so remaining you'd expect demand to be pretty high for an event that only happens once every 12 years. And you'd expect too that the cash-strapped ARU are going to cash-in, after all they've got all those player top-up payments they weren't going to pay anymore because they were moving to an incentive based system.
There's also the multi-million dollar coach they can't afford to get rid of and all the medical expenses from the casualty ward of injuries their overworked players incurred in trying to generate even more revenue for the ARU.
So it's gonna cost. Boy, does it cost.
Platinum tickets, or those where you have a slight chance of getting a decent view which is difficult in the cavernous Olympic Stadium but is still interpreted by the ARU to be all those seats in the lower tier between about the in-goal areas (so not necessarily even anywhere near the middle of the field) are $295 (or about 237 Euros) plus the booking and credit card charges (another few %)
Gold tickets are for the corners behind the in-goal area where you get the worst of both worlds - front and side-on views - rather than a bit of both, and the lesser nose bleed seats, are $235 (E 189)
Silver tickets (behind the in-goal areas but not against the fence and the serious nose bleed section) are $175 (E 141).
And Bronze tickets (behind the goal posts up against the fence and in a nose-bleed section so high you'd need a sherpa guide to find your seat) are $90 (E 72).
Indeed if anyone from Europe reads this it would be great if you could leave a comment about how much international Rugby costs where you come from.
So The Rolling Maul needed to raid the kids piggy banks and re-mortgage their cubby house to be able to afford a couple of tickets and used the following justifications to do so:
- It's a once in 12-years event so next time the Lions come round here the Maul could be ridden with Parkinson's or Alzheimer's and not in a position to go to the game or even understand what's happening (not that that's stopped me before);
- Given beer prices at the ground, just withholding from a drinks shout will save a significant proportion of the ticket price;
- Confirmation is required that Lions supporters have weak bladders and will urinate just about anywhere - certainly that was the experience last time they were here when they left the Sydney Football Stadium's sinks, shrubbery and corners reeking of wee;
- There's a good chance the match will suck as a spectacle - the Wallabies only play ugly and refuse to do anything interesting and the Lions haven't gelled as a team for 16 years - so there'll be plenty of opportunities for some typical ranting and whinging material for The Rolling Maul; and
- The match isn't until July and by then I'll have forgotten how much it costs and repaid the kids.
See you at the game.
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