OWN CORRESPONDENT, Glasgow | Wednesday 10.15am.
TICKETS to World Cup matches are too expensive, South African coach Nick Mallett said on Tuesday when asked to comment on the poor attendances at games staged in Scotland.
“I don’t know what salaries are like here but 30 pounds ($50) for a ticket seems to be very expensive,” he said. “A family with two kids would have to spend an exceptional amount of money. It might not be worth it to go and watch a South Africa match against Spain, to be frank.”
Murrayfield was nearly deserted when South Africa played Spain and Scotland met Uruguay. Even when the Scots faced the Springboks there, some 7000 seats remained empty.
Less than 2,000 tickets had been sold by Tuesday for Friday’s game between South Africa and Uruguay at Glasgow’s Hampden Park and Saturday’s last group A tie between Scotland and Uruguay at Murrayfield also looked unlikely to attract many fans.
“Perhaps when they see that they are not selling tickets, they should cut the price, or even let the youngsters in for free, because we’d love to play in front of good crowds,” Mallett said.
Only one game in group A, between lightweights Uruguay and Spain, was staged at a small venue, in Galashiels.
“You could go to smaller grounds but the guys prefer to play on a decent-sized field,” Mallett said.
The South African coach, who has repeatedly argued that the tournament should return to a 16-team format to offer more competitive fixtures, said he understood people not turning up for uneven contests.
“I know it wasn’t quite full but the atmosphere at Murrayfield when we played Scotland was electrifying,” he said. “Apparently it was the same for the game between England and New Zealand at Twickenham.
“Games between the top Five Nations teams and the Tri-Nations teams are always going to generate a lot of interest. But when people perceive that there is going to be a mismatch, they don’t really want to go and watch.”
Scotland coach Jim Telfer has criticised the Scottish fans for their lack of support.
“When you get to the first match of a World Cup, you are playing the title holders and you still can’t sell the game out, there is something wrong,” he said.
Scottish newspapers on Tuesday published letters from readers reacting to his comments by complaining about the price of the tickets and the lack of publicity for the tournament.
“This is a World Cup, and yet the non-rugby supporting public is unaware that it is taking place because there has been virtually no publicity,” one reader wrote to The Scotsman.
“You can’t have games on television and expect fans to turn out when tickets cost 35 pounds plus,” the letter read. — Reuters
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