SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP AVIVA STADIUM TICKETS:THE IRFU have moved swiftly to atone for the errors in their ticketing strategy for the Guinness Series by introducing a new tiered structure as well as reducing their ticket prices for the Six Nations games against France and England at the Aviva Stadium.

The estimated 30,000 tickets that will go on sale through the clubs via the four provincial branches (21,700 are already committed to 10-year tickets sales, sponsors, visiting unions and the like) will see the introduction of five general admission ticket categories for the two games.

Ireland host France in round two on Sunday, February 13th, and England in the concluding weekend on Saturday, March 19th.

With 3,200 premium tickets remaining at €125, the most numerous of the 30,000 which will go on sale are 13,000 category-one tickets, which are priced at €90 – down from €100 for the November matches.

Categories two, three and four range from €80 to €65 to €50, with the most striking reduction affecting the least numerous, namely the 1,800 schoolboy/schoolgirl tickets, which have been reduced from €40 to €15.

Tickets for the two games are now being sold separately, as opposed to the bracketing of games during November, after the IRFU committee met on Sunday morning to ratify the recommendations put forward by a working party under the chairmanship of Pat Fitzgerald.

“We understood the issue about tiering the stadium,” admitted IRFU chief executive Philip Browne yesterday, “and the need to have a range of seats at better prices.”

The average ticket price still works out at €80 but Browne maintains the category-one tickets, at €90, are the same as for Croke Park against France and England two years ago.

“We were selling at €90 and €95 for the comparable games two years ago, so we’ve effectively brought the prices back down to a comparable figure. Actually if you look at the prices compared with some of the other unions we’re in pretty good shape.

“England are up at around €100, Wales are at €87 for category one, Scotland €81 and France and Italy are both €110. We’re there or thereabouts and that’s the market we have to compare against and likewise down through the rest of the categories.”

“The working party looked very carefully at all the other Six Nations stadia and indeed at Croke Park; looked at how they were tiered and what their prices were. So we used those not as benchmarks but as reference points. You also have to take on board market conditions here as well and the views coming back from the provinces and the clubs into the working party.”

Although the union were pleasantly surprised by the 30,476 attendance which braved the arctic weather on Sunday for the Test against Argentina, the average attendance at the Aviva Stadium over the four-match autumn series was around 35,820.

The number of tickets actually sold was greater than that figure but until such time as all the ticket sales are tabulated the union don’t know how much remained unsold.

Whatever amount was lost due to failure to sell out any of the games, Browne makes the point that had they set prices much lower and ensured capacity crowds, the financial implications would be the same.

But full houses would have been far more preferable as a public relations exercise, and for the team itself?

“Of course it would and that’s absolute fair comment.

“We fully accept that and it would be naive of us to say anything else.”

Browne also reiterated that the clubs will only have to pay for the tickets actually sold, and their allocations would not be affected by November sales.

However, he could not pre-empt any recommendations from another working party, chaired by John Hussey, in which each branch will be asked to nominate two representatives from the clubs to discuss solutions to the number of tickets unsold. Lochlann Quinn will also sit on that committee as an independent presence.

Ireland have only four home games in 2011, with England and France also the visitors next August for World Cup warm-up matches, and Browne retains the hope that the new prices have been pitched well enough to ensure full houses for the Six Nations games.

“I think this will address the issue going forward and certainly for the Six Nations they are fair prices and hopefully we’ll fill the stadium.”

2011 Six Nations ticket prices

The prices for Six Nations tickets at the Aviva Stadium, with approximate numbers per category, will be as follows:

PREMIUM LEVEL

3,200 will continue to be available €125 (no change)

CATEGORY ONE

13,000 – East/West /South Stands €90 (10% price reduction)

CATEGORY TWO

4,500 – East/West/South and portions of North Stand €80 (20%)

CATEGORY THREE

5,000 – East/West/South Upper Stands

and portions of North Stand €65 (35%)

CATEGORY FOUR

2,500 – East and West Upper

Stands/Touchlines €50 (50%)

SCHOOLBOY/SCHOOLGIRL

1,800 – North Stand€15 (62.5% )