Madam, - The price of international rugby tickets bothers Shane McBain (November 19th), but a matter of greater concern is the distribution of international rugby tickets by the IRFU.
From what I can gather, all the tickets - with the exception of those sent to visiting teams, officials and VIPs - are divided up among rugby clubs. So to buy a ticket, you have to be a member of a club. But that is not always possible or desirable.
It is not good enough to say that if someone is really interested in rugby they should join a club. There are many bona fide reasons for not joining one. But that should not exclude anyone from the chance to buy a ticket for a big game. The current set-up that promotes the system of, "Ah sure, I'll get you ticket, I know a fella." So-called fans who are members of clubs buy more tickets than they need or want and sell them on at greatly inflated prices. You have only to look at eBay to see the truth of this — and that's just the ones sold in that manner. This is straightforward touting.
The other three unions on these islands seem to be able to manage fairer systems by selling directly to the public and using licensed ticket agencies such as Ticketmaster.
It is time for the IRFU to look at their elitist practice and reform it. - Yours, etc,