World Cup tickets just 7 pounds for children
Programme built for fans
LONDON, Nov 27, (RTRS): Tickets for many matches at the 2015 rugby World Cup will be £7 ($11.33) for children and £15 for adults as organisers unveiled a strategy aimed at opening up the tournament to families and grass-roots fans.
Forty one of the 48 matches will have child tickets (under 16 years old) at £7 or £15 with organisers aiming to attract a new generation of young fans to the game.
Adult tickets for pool games will also start at £15, with half a million available at £50 or less and more than a million on sale for £100 or less.
Every one of the more than 2,000 clubs affiliated to the Rugby Football Union (RFU) will be guaranteed at least one ticket to the final at Twickenham on Saturday Oct 31, which will kick off.
With many of the tournament’s organising team having moved directly from the 2012 Olympics, progress has been made in making public the number of tickets available in each category, in stark contrast to the London Games’ opaque approach.
“We have a range of ticket prices for every budget - for fans and families who want to come to one of the world’s greatest sports events,” England 2015 chief executive Debbie Jevans — who was director of sport for Olympic organisers LOCOG — told a Twickenham briefing on Wednesday.
“Our ticketing programme is built for fans who support the game week in week out, whilst encouraging a new generation of rugby fans through the rugby World Cup 2015.”
Tickets for each match are split roughly equally into four categories, with no limit on the number of child tickets available in the lower two categories for all pool games and the third/fourth place playoff.
The best seats at the final will cost £715 with the cheapest at £150, and while the top adult price at the lowest-key pool games is £60 that rises to 315 for matches such as England’s Twickenham clashes with Australia and Wales.
“A family of four can watch Australia or South Africa in the pool stages for a total of £70 or watch England in Manchester for 130,” Jevans told Reuters.
“We really want to encourage families and the people at the heart of the grassroots game up and down the country to get involved in what is going to be a fantastic celebration of the game.”
For long-suffering rugby parents the ticketing policy will come as good news.
Prices for Twickenham Six Nations matches range from £40 to £90, with no child discounts available. The same applies to the higher-profile autumn tests, although £41 child tickets were available for last month’s match against Argentina
With a million more tickets than at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, and huge capacities at venues such as Twickenham, the Millennium, Wembley and the Olympic Stadium, organisers are targeting a minimum ticketing return of £80 million.
In May next year the first half a million tickets will be available through the RFU’s affiliated clubs. A further 700,000 will go on sale via a public ballot in September, with any remaining going on general sale in December.