Rugby

Rugby World Cup online ticket sales leave buyers frustrated at queues

More than 150,000 people were in a queue for the first tranche of tickets for France 2023

Photograph: Georges De Keerle/Getty Images

Gerry Thornley's face
Gerry Thornley
Mon Mar 15 2021 - 21:11

Online queues which consistently numbered 150,000 people seeking to purchase the first tranche of tickets for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France has led to deep dissatisfaction among supporters on social media. By the same token, it also suggests that the next World Cup will be sold out more quickly than any of its predecessors.

Tournament organisers placed an unspecified number of ‘Follow My Team’ and ‘City Packs’ tickets on sale on Monday, but only for those who had signed up to Mastercard and the so-called ‘2023 Family’. But would-be buyers complained that they queued all day long only to be informed that the site was busy.

“This opening presale phase was met with extraordinary demand with more than 150,000 fans online when the process went live,” said a statement by Rugby World Cup on their Twitter feed.

“As a consequence of this huge demand, a number of packs are no longer available in this initial presale phase. However, there are price categories still available for Saint-Etienne city packs and Argentina, Australia, Italy, Fiji, Japan Follow my team packs.

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“We appreciate the frustration of fans who have queued for a long time, have experienced technical difficulties or have missed out on the packs of their choice owing to the huge demand and would like to assure them that there will be availability across all packs and price categories when the 2023 Family next phase opens on 18 March at 17:00 GMT.

“Official Travel Agents are also taking registrations for ticket-inclusive official travel packages. Further information can be found via www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/official-travel-programme.”

The deadline for joining the Mastercard 2023 Family has expired but after this pre-sale phase there will be public sales, in which all ticket prices and ticket packs will still be available for purchase.