Plans by the Irish Rugby Football Union to sell off the President's seat at Lansdowne Road as part of an auction of memorabilia from the stadium have run into unexpected problems.
A rugby fan who contacted The Irish Timessays he has the actual seat used by President Mary McAleese and that the one being sold by the IRFU is a fake.
Andrew Morgan said he plundered the chair from the West Stand of the stadium at the last match played there last December before renovation. For good measure, he added, his friend took four neighbouring seats from the presidential box.
"Not only do I have chair number one in my shed, but friends of mine have numbers two to six, all of which were the chairs directly on the half-way line.
"Our chairs are the nicest ones in the box, in the best positions, clearly presidential."
Mr Morgan said he had no qualms about removing the seat from the stadium. "It was the last night in a great old stadium. Even the security staff were there encouraging us to take it."
However, an IRFU spokesman said they were sure they had the right seat, described in the auction material as a "blue rexine upholstered padded flip seat chair".
"We definitely have it. There were two seats taken from the presidential box but not from the row in which she sits. If this man wants to bring his chair down to Lansdowne Road we'd be happy to verify it."
Kieron Gammell of auctioneers Bache Trehearne, which is organising the online auction of more than 400 pieces of Lansdowne Road memorabilia on behalf of the IRFU, said it was attempting to clarify the status of the chair in its possession.
"If it does turn out that this guy has the President's seat, we'll just have to reword the advertisement for our item and call it a 'VIP seat'," Mr Gammell said.
Mr Morgan, whose chair is green, said he originally planned to use the chair at home in Bray. Now, however, he may put it up for auction on eBay at the same time as the IRFU auction later this month.
"If there was enough - any - interest in this, I'd be more than willing to put the chair up for auction and give 100 per cent proceeds to charity."
Other items for sale in the Lansdowne Road auction, which runs from April 26th-30th, include signed jerseys, a cast-iron turnstile and original wooden scoreboards.
