A NUMBER of Irish rugby clubs are set for a significant financial haul from corporate hospitality at Saturday's international against England. But not everybody is happy. Indeed, there was widespread anger yesterday from club members who have been denied their normal ticket allocation.

One irate caller to this office, claiming to be a member of a Limerick club for 15 years, complained he had been denied stand tickets which he had paid far last September. In a letter, the club referred to a "shortfall" which was due to "a reduced allocation of tickets to senior clubs and an increase in the membership list".

Another caller, however, was given a specific reason for the club's failure to match his needs. In explaining why they couldn't supply two ground tickets as requested, Terenure College admitted they had actually done a deal which would help to finance a coming tour to South Africa.

Our caller, whose son plays for Terenure, was informed by letter that: "The club have been offered an opportunity to raise a significant amount of money by the disposal of a number of tickets for the international match against England, and the executive have agreed to this disposal."

The reference to a significant amount of money" would suggest that the tickets were sold at inflated prices - which is contrary to IRFU regulations. Each match ticket carries the warning: "This ticket is issued on condition that no resale is effected for more than its face value."

Commenting on the matter, IRFU secretary Philip Browne said yesterday: "Difficulties are obviously created by the fact that demand exceeds supply for this particular match. But the union will not condone a situation where there is evidence that tickets are being sold at inflated prices.

The authorities don't have a problem, however, with linking match tickets to sponsorship deals. And it is on this basis that another Dublin club, St Mary's College expect to make nearly £45,000 from their allocation of tickets for Saturday's match.

With the approval of their members, St Mary's decided that most of their ticket allocation should be used for a one off corporate day. The proceeds will go into a development fund which has been set up for the club's centenary in the year 2000.

For £300, St Mary's offered a champagne reception, lunch and dinner at the ESB Sports Centre along with a stand ticket for the match. According to the honorary secretary, John Pyne, 150 tickets were made available for the venture, which is a sell out.

"We would like to emphasise that none of this money will be spent on players," he said. "Our members responded so enthusiastically to the scheme that some of them actually contributed tickets they had received from other sources."

He went on: "I am in possession of a letter from an English company offering me a profit of £175 per ticket on stand tickets and a profit of £40 on ground tickets. Clearly the inducements are there."

The IRFU will not disclose specific details of their ticket distribution, other than to say that they go to the visiting union and to the four, home provincial branches. I understand, however, that senior clubs in Leinster receive an average of about 200 stand tickets for international matches.

In the course of a letter, beginning "Dear Member" and signed on behalf of the club by Colm Jenkinson, Terenure College informed the ticket applicant: "This summer, the club intends to embark on a rugby tour, to South Africa ... As is obvious, such a tour will cost a great deal of money and the club has been involved in fund raising for many months, in addition to which all players and others who hope to go on tour have been contributing to a tour fund."

It went on to explain the ticket deal for the England match, before adding: "Accordingly, there will be a shortfall between the numbers looking for tickets and the number of tickets available. I regret that, because of this, I will be unable to forward tickets to you for this match."

The recipient of the letter was far from satisfied with the explanation. I'm furious that they should act in this way," he said. "I wouldn't mind so much if I was requesting a stand seat, but I'm prepared to stand on the North Terrace. That's what I settled for at the recent home international matches."

He concluded: "If clubs pursue this sort of policy, there will eventually be no genuine rugby followers at Lansdowne Road. People, like me will be forced away from the game.

Jenkinson, who identified himself to me as the club's tickets secretary, was at pains to emphasise that none of the tickets had actually been sold. Rather, he preferred to identify the transaction as "a corporate arrangement for a handful of ground tickets at a relatively small benefit to the club," he added.

Our Limerick caller saw a certain irony in the situation. "Only a few years ago, clubs were issuing warnings to their members that under no circumstances should tickets be sold on to other people," he said. "In fact they went so far as to suggest that anyone caught doing so would be removed from the list. Now they're doing it themselves on a huge scale."

Meanwhile, there is a general feeling among Irish rugby patrons that we are now beginning to witness the full effects of the change to professionalism. "To acquire the services of a good player, you might have to give him a car," said one observer. "It appears as if that may be too high a price as far as the average club member is concerned."