Supporting the Irish rugby team through the Six Nations Championship will be significantly more expensive next year as the IRFU has decided to increase the price of the best seats at Lansdowne Road by 22 per cent.
Top-end tickets for next season's Six Nations home games will rise in price from €57 to €70.
Every single category of ticket will show an increase, with the biggest rise - €20 on goal-line seats - taking them from €35 to €55. The second price stand category shows an increase from €48 to €60, the uncovered stand from €40 to €50, the touch-line seats from €35 to €50, the East terrace from €21 to €30, North and South Terraces from €21 to €25 while schoolboys' and girls' tickets are up €2 to €7.
The top stand ticket for tomorrow's All Ireland Hurling final at Croke Park costs €50. However, tickets for the game are trading at up three times their face value on the black market.
Average ticket prices on the black market, according to buyers and sellers, were €100 to stand on Hill 16 or for a Canal End seat, and €125 for a Cusack or Hogan Stand seat.
Defending his organisation's price rise, the IRFU's press officer, Mr John Redmond, said yesterday: "The IRFU is running deficits even at the new price range. That price range is reflective of the quality of the product in the market place but still comes in under the going rate for the other five nations in the championship."
These new prices will only apply for next year's Six Nations Championship and, as Mr Redmond contended, "Other internationals staged in Ireland have been very competitively priced with attractive package deals that include a two-for-one offer or three for two".
The best seats at Twickenham, home of the England rugby team, are currently £50 sterling, while the top seat at the Stade de France will cost €100.
A similar-quality seat at the Republic of Ireland's European Championship qualifier against Russia at Lansdowne Road last Saturday was €50.
The soaring cost of professional rugby is proving more punitive for the IRFU by the year, especially as its income is greatly curtailed by an ageing stadium with a capacity of just 49,000.
The Stade de France has an 80,000 capacity for rugby internationals, and Twickenham 75,000, while the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff caters for just under 75,000.