I was shocked to see at the Wales v Australia game, what seemed like a whole end-stand empty with seats which should have been full of supporters covered by Y Ddraig Goch - not that I don’t like y faner! I don’t know if this ever happens at International football games, but when I was going to Internationals, well, tickets were like gold dust. I then remembered one occasion when there were banks of empty space at Cardiff Arms Park and I wanted to cry as I stared at them, because it was clear that striking miners couldn’t afford tickets and Clubs had been obliged to return their whole allocation.
Now? I realised that so many are out of work or on dreadful zero hours contracts. Where are they to find money for a ticket when the family are relying on a Food Bank to eat?
I checked the WRU web site and found that the only seats on sale for Argentina are £50. Maybe you cam get one for Japan for £20, but there are still fares or fuel and parking on top of that.
If any of you are still members of Clubs within the WRU or the equivalent in football, is it worth trying to get prices reduced to something folk can afford, rather than leaving a whole end stand empty and silent and pretty and patriotic, but dead?
It is a sad situation. I am not on a high income and £50-60 + probably a few beverages per person, is a lot out of the budget. The reason for empty seats is plainly and simply ticket prices. I went to the Blues v Scarlets at the Arms Park recently, £20 for the terraces, the ground was full but lots of people were muttering about the prices. It is no longer about trying to get hold of tickets for internationals, but whether you can afford it, it’s the same at the football, lots of empty seats.
I wonder why they don’t welcome school children for, say, £2, rather than have empty stands. And wouldn’t it make more money to have most seats at £20 and fill them, rather than sell a few for £50+? Are you a member of an affiliated Club? It might help if they told WRU that their members can’t afford such prices.
Well, look a tthe sponsor of the Autumn tour and you’ll have the picture at once. I believe a lot depends of sponsors too. I bet when Dove was sponsor of the tour the tickets were a bit cheaper anyway …
Well just a thought to reconsidder why it is so.
The current sponsor seems to be a property company! Heaven help us!! I hate professionalism!! (Says aged, out-of-date disgruntled dragon!)
Nope. The current sponsor of the tour (for the Welsh team) is Under Armor which deals with sportswear itd … but I believe it’s imagined to be of more “excellence” then Dove (Men) which was sponsor all those long years before.
The property company Principality is sponsor of the Millenium Stadium solely and not the Welsh team as that. I also saw the company became the sponsor of many stadiums across the UK though. And I believe it’s also sponsor of one of the club championships, however I would not say from my head which this is.
So both of these facts can contribute to high prices of the tickets much more then WRU solely and “Millenium Stadium” on its own.
Money, money, money … 
I was wrong, but I was thinking of an ex-sponsor! Principality isn’t a property company, it’s a Building Society, founded to help people buy their homes. Many have turned into banks, but Principality is reputable! Folk invest money for agreed interest rate and that is lent to folk to buy a home. They have to show they can repay the agreed rate of interest plus enough of the capital sum to clear the mortgage in, say twenty years!
Ah, thank you. Here I was wrong not having insights and to be honest … I didn’t pay too much real attention about what they’re really doing. Thank you.
Murrayfield full! Tickets £20 adults, £10’child,or get Australia and Argentina for £35 / £15! Lesson for WRU?