Organisers offer free Champions Cup final tickets
Just 5,000 fans from Clermont and Toulon expected to make the trip to Twickenham
Due to very real concerns that there will be vast swathes of empty seats at the 82,000-capacity Twickenham Stadium for this weekend's European Champions Cup final, the organisers have allowed fans who purchased a ticket for the English Premiership final to claim a free seat this weekend.
Inadvertently, due to a technical hitch, a small number of fans were able to take advantage of the offer without even having bought a Premiership final ticket and were simply required to pay a booking fee.
Until recently European final tickets were being sold on Ticketmaster for €96. But in a separate offer tickets for the Premiership final on May 30th started at just over €40 and included a free ticket to the European final involving winners for the last two years, Toulon, and Clermont.
Tickets for the European showpieces are now available at half price and lower through various European Rugby partners.
The EPRC expect 50,000 to attend on Saturday.


people on here are quick to lambaste GAA attendances
but when you compare the fact that this is the major competition in european rugby
and they have to offer free tickets to get any sort of crowd not even close to filling the stadium
despite all the marketing that goes into rugby
maybe people should lay off our own and take a little more pride in the gaa

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 28/04/2015 12:02:42    1718403

I think it is quite common for the Rugby Cup not to sell out its final.

When there's a limited supported team(s) in the final it won't sell out.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13704 - 28/04/2015 12:29:08    1718423

Strange, alright. I suppose the organisers were hoping there'd be an English team in the final. French rugby fans don't really travel to away games.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 28/04/2015 12:30:45    1718426

Bit different having to fly to London, Book accom and fly back that driving to croker and back from Cork, Derry, Bfast or Galway

DoireCityFC (Derry) - Posts: 1580 - 28/04/2015 12:46:20    1718435

28/04/2015 12:02:42 hill16no1man.
people on here are quick to lambaste GAA attendances but when you compare the fact that this is the major competition in european rugby and they have to offer free tickets to get any sort of crowd not even close to filling the stadium
despite all the marketing that goes into rugby
maybe people should lay off our own and take a little more pride in the gaa Eh you cant totally knock rugby here. It involved two French teams. French are renowned for not travelling. Look at the French league in rugby and you will see often even many of the teams don't travel well/not put huge effort into away games
If there was anything other than two French teams in the final this wouldn't have happened. GAA is also a sport in one country, a relatively small country so cant be compared
28/04/2015 12:29:08 MesAmis
I think it is quite common for the Rugby Cup not to sell out its final.
When there's a limited supported team(s) in the final it won't sell out. wrong wrong wrong. How is it quite common for the european rugby cup final not to sell out. Main finals not to sell out have been all French finals in Ireland etc
How are these limited supported teams in the final? You don't know anything about rugby if you think Clermont/Toulon are limited supported teams

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 28/04/2015 13:44:04    1718470

The Heineken Cup has been carved up & redrawn to suit the English & French teams. Next year's final will probably be in France & if 2 English teams qualified for it it probably wouldn't sell out either.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 28/04/2015 14:06:26    1718490

you aint comparing like with like hillman and if the final was in france it would sell out - also i logged onto ticketmaster to check price and cheapest was £50 which is too dear Other sports have their attendance issues too not just rugby

But you are right the attendances at gaa are excellent (would be better if prices were a bit cheaper) and during the nineties were absolutely amazing

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 28/04/2015 15:28:44    1718552

Limited support in that there isn't enough supporters willing to go to the biggest showcase event.

If there weren't limited supports then it would sell out regardless of the three countries the final could be played in.

A quick search shows that attendances in the finals of 2014, 2013, 2011, 2010, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2000 were not sell outs. Some very respectable attendances from what I can see though. Could be other factors though but it does seem common enough.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13704 - 28/04/2015 15:47:46    1718562

ormond
Eh you cant totally knock rugby here. It involved two French teams. French are renowned for not travelling. Look at the French league in rugby and you will see often even many of the teams don't travel well/not put huge effort into away games
If there was anything other than two French teams in the final this wouldn't have happened. GAA is also a sport in one country, a relatively small country so cant be compared

the point is not to knock rugby but rather to show that people on here are quick to lay into the gaa
for not filling croke park for league games and so on
when you consider all them marketing rugby gets and they have to offer free tickets to half fill their premier competition final
then surely credit where credit is due should be shown to gaa supporters
you tell us constently how big a competition the champions cup is in the scale of sport

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 28/04/2015 16:12:03    1718574

janesboro the point is people continually moan on here about croke park not being filled for games
well you have an 82 thousand stadium holding the final of european rugbys premier competition
and the best they are hoping for will be 50 thousand and thats down to giving away free tickets to actually get that
you wont hear many rugby supporters complain about twickenham being half full for this game
like we have people quick to do so for league finals in croke park
when you consider that no marketing whatsoever goes into the national league final
and most managers and players knock the competition
we should be proud of how strong the attendances are

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 28/04/2015 16:18:04    1718579

ormo, its all very well and good saying that French fans are renowned for not travelling, but come on, its the european final. Surely to God you must admit that 5000 (if thats an accurate figure) is poor.
Besides, its not like the game is a 6 hour plane trip away. France to england? Not that far.

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 28/04/2015 16:18:42    1718580

i also remeber in 2011 the europa league final was held in the aviva stadium
and on the day in dublin city they were handing out free tickets for the game to try and fill the ground
i think they even fell 5 or 6 thousand short of doing so

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 28/04/2015 16:22:22    1718584

So much for the new organiser's having a better competition. They've messed up. Something for the GAA to consider when suggesting moving the All-Ireland finals to August? In fairness something has to be done for clubs if the finals will be in December.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7820 - 28/04/2015 16:45:04    1718602

hillman i think you are correct we get excellent attendances bear in mind the league is the no 2 competition as well - separately some of the attendances for 21s and minor games are staggering

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 28/04/2015 16:53:31    1718610

I believe many people on here aren't angry with GAA attendences, we are angry that the GAA continue to play small games in an 82000 seater stadium. Interesting that they are handing out free tickets to fill the stadium a bit more, could the GAA do this perhaps? I wouldn't say no, especially when I see large amounts of empty seats in croker

PoppinPoints (Meath) - Posts: 225 - 28/04/2015 18:03:10    1718650

True poppinpants. 10 000 is a good attendance for a game, but put 10 000 into croker and it looks deserted. Impossible to create an atmosphere in such a vast stadium too.

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 28/04/2015 18:36:12    1718664

if psg were involved in the champions league final id imagine they wouldnt have much trouble getting support and people to travel

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 28/04/2015 19:03:25    1718669

true my only issue is where they put the games..give the other grounds a few games

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 28/04/2015 19:15:27    1718673

hill16no1man
County: Dublin
Posts: 9632

Totally agree.
Especially when you consider that when some counties with smaller populations reach a provincial final 25% to 30% of the population attend.

rcarragh (Dublin) - Posts: 305 - 28/04/2015 19:33:32    1718679

I noticed as well the champions league quarter final in juventus was half empty. Plenty big soccer matches on the continent are worse than croker

flack (Dublin) - Posts: 1054 - 28/04/2015 20:10:13    1718692