barnsleymat

I'm an average 'Joe Soap' and I'd pay that to watch England play at Wembley in the first match of the World Cup including the opening ceremony.

BEVS

So are we but we couldn't afford a week's wages for 2 tickets. The budget just doesn't allow .

lardyl

as BEVS says - I've drawn the line at Cat C ticket for England-Scotland at Eden Park which to me is the absolute-best pool match. Would have gone if I'd got my arse into gear for the Cat D and taken my lad but $320 for the two of us is far too much. And we're two professionals, business owning and pretty well off. NZ's grassroots rugby fans are suffering more than usual at the moment. Plus I suppose Eden Park now has more of the later games (due to the earthquake) so maybe people up here are going to those games not the pool matches. But I hear what you are saying about opening ceremony......but 4000 is not that many, there must have been that many empty seats at the Bledisloe when we were there and the seats were much cheaper.

TBH seen England play rugby and cricket at Eden Park far more than England play footie in the Uk (only one U-21 game) come to think of it we've seen the All Whites more at North Harbour than England cricket, rugby and football in the UK.

lardyl

maybe we are spoilt with so many other internationals (and even RWC games)being so cheap to watch

T20 v Windies about $35 for me and the boy
ODI v England about $75 for 2 adults and the boy
rugby test v England about $70 for me and the boy
All Whites v Honduras about $60 for me and the boy
France-v-Japan about $130 for the family of 4

If I'd have to pay a week's salary in the UK to see England play at Wembley I'd have thought twice or three times and probably gone down the pub.

southerner

Seems the tickets are selling at a reasonable clip at the moment - kiwis typically leaving it til the last moment, and belatedly working out that there won't be any discounted tickets on Trademe.

I'm still considering another game or two, better get on to it.

southerner

For a AB-Tonga game it aint, and there are still 8 days to go. I would imagine the crowd will be 3-4x the previous record crowd for those 2 teams.

You seem to be having an issue with all the hype - we live in a world of Marketing (or alternatively media naysaying), most people are adult enough to take it for what it is. Having full stadiums for tests involving the All blacks is not the be all, end all to me.

barnsleymat

It's not just an AB v Tonga game though is it, its the opening match and ceremony to the biggest sporting event ever to happening in NZ, they keep claiming it's the 3rd biggest sporting event in the world and it's got the nation gripped. And they still can't fill a stadium, as an Auckland tax payer I'll be having to foot the bill. So when all I hear is how popular Rugby is and how fantastic this RWC is I find it totally crazy they've built 2 huge scaffolding stands just over the road from where I am and they can't even fill em.

Conclusion: NZ ain't that Rugby mad they just like to think they are.

lardyl

Seems to me that NZ are doing pretty well.

Look at the other recent tournaments like Cricket World Cups in the subcontinent/Windies, The Football in SA, etc where everyone could see that venues were half empty or tickets had to be given away (literally) to fill them. These were in places that are supposedly mad on the sports.

If you don't like rugby and resent that NZ'ers seem to like it more than football come out and say it - spell it out in so many words rather than harping on about how NZ are not as entheusiastic as they might be.
Lots of them are pretty entheusiastic they just don't go on a lager fuelled binge around town as a result. Also as Southerner says they are mad on bargains, sales, and cheap stuff so getting them to stump up the cash ahead of time is going to be a big ask.

Personally I'm glad I get the opportunity to see live test matches and internationals that would have been out of my reach or at the very least a rather less gratifying experience in the UK.

barnsleymat

I'm not either way when it comes to Rugby, I'm from South Yorkshire a place where Rugby Union is behind voting Tory as a past time.

Of course I'm football mad, so I expected NZ to have the same amount of passion about Rugby Union, it is meant to be king here like football is in the UK.

When a country that is so focused on one sport (like footy in UK n gridiron in USA) and they hold a world tournament and can't fill the opening match there's serious problems somewhere. From my experience so far in NZ I think the All Blacks supporters aren't as crazy about them as I once thought. Armchairs supporters aren't proper fans in my books, chose whatever sport.

BEVS

I know. Thing for us is having to factor in added costs of travel/flights + accom & lost time from work , on top of the tx prices.

lardyl

yep we up here in the smoke are really lucky - and even the public transport can work (to a degree).

Matt - I'm football mad (well almost) too .....(play organise coach ref and supervise most saturdays and organise, coach, train and play summer/indoor otherwise).... but Kiwis are pretty reserved and won't make a great fuss over the whole thing, not as much as European types, Yanks or Aussies. Listening to the radio there is far more in depth discussion over rugby (league and union) here on Sports radio (unless I missed it all on FiveLive or whatever in the UK) and the kids on the playgrounds are about 5:1 when it comes to playing with the odd shaped ball.

There is plenty of football about but talking to the NZ Football coaching and development people they are desperate for the kids to keep playing when they get older and not to be lost to other sports. That's why the whole coaching and development system for 5-12s is being re-vamped. And about time too when you hear the 6 year olds are learning the game by playing 11-a-side.

Justcol

I bought 4 tickets for the England v wild screaming jocks game at eden park, only cost me 400 bucks for the lot.
Its only as expensive as you want it to be.

however, I went to the recent bledislow cup game at Eden park (ab's v Oz), the tickets (platignum seats) cost us $170 each.
Those same seats are on sale for $465 each for the world cup games. So yes we are getting ripped off.

Seriously Ripped Off. . . . . . As Usual !!!!

Browner_

If you pay those prices you are stupid, gullible, rich or love rugby.
Most of us will watch games in pub and spend $15 on a couple of beers.

Justcol

I only paid $97 per ticket for the England V Scotland game. I don't think that's overly expensive
I cant comment on being stupid but I've been to one rugby game in my life, I'm not a rugby fan and I'm not rich
but I'm going with some good mates and intend to have a good few beers at the game, wave my huge cross of St George flag
and have a great time wallowing in Englishness while supporting my beloved home country and experiencing a tournament
I will never have the chance to experience again.

Sitting in the pub watching a game and having a few beers $50,
Actually being there when the English beat the Scots in a world cup tournament....PRICELESS

BEVS

Oooo. Hope you have a really great time mate. We would have loved to go to that game.