Clamp on World Cup tickets welcomed

THE Rugby Football Union in the UK has welcomed legislation it believes will allow it to prevent tickets being resold at inflated prices on the secondary market in the build-up to the World Cup in September.

A report in the Guardian this week says that Lord Moynihan, the former Conservative sports minister and British Olympic Association chairman, has piloted an amendment to the Consumer Rights Bill through the legislative process despite initial government opposition.

It is hoped the legislation will be in place by July, allowing sports governing bodies and music venues to cancel tickets if they believe they are being sold at a vastly inflated price.

Already, tickets for the Rugby World Cup are widely available on secondary sites at prices of up to £5 000 for the final at

The changes have been bitterly resisted by secondary ticketing sites

Twickenham. Prices for group stage matches, involving England, start at more than £300.

The measures will also mean anyone selling a ticket on a secondary site will have to provide details of the seat row and number, as well as the face value, by law — a move governing bodies hope will cut down on fraud.

The bill was passed to and fro between the Commons and the Lords before the government backed down and accepted a new version of the amendment. A cross-party coalition of peers had backed the idea of action since the first reading of the bill in November last year.

The changes have been bitterly resisted by secondary ticketing sites, a marketplace that has boomed in recent years.

Critics claim it has led to a rise in part-time “bedroom touts” and has been seized on by organised criminals using computer programmes to corner the market and then resell at high prices.

The secondary ticketing sites argue they are providing a valuable service and most consumers want the ability to resell and buy tickets. They also say they already provide protection against fraud by offering a full refund on any tickets that fail to turn up as advertised.

The new rules will allow governing bodies to cancel tickets they believe are being sold at unfairly inflated prices. They insist they will not go after those reselling tickets for legitimate reasons at or slightly above face value.