Sir, – Gerry Thornley raises an interesting question about the lack of atmosphere at the Aviva for the Welsh match on Saturday (“Flat atmosphere at the Aviva Stadium not helped by Irish fans treating matches as a social occasion”, Sport, February 27th). He talks about it becoming a social occasion.
I think that ignores the fact that it has always been a mighty social occasion.
However, he makes a good point about the scarcity of tickets for genuine rugby fans.
I’ll get into deep water here. My wife wouldn’t ever dream of taking a ticket. She has always said that she wouldn’t want to deprive a genuine fan of a chance to be at a game. I think she is right.
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There is also a point that corporate tickets often go to guests who are not rugby people at all but who are glad of the day out.
Finally, the stadium is modest in capacity compared to any other national rugby ground. Cardiff at the Irish game sometimes feels like a home fixture, with supporters resident in Britain managing to pick up tickets. It is entirely fair to say that there will be many more Irish in Cardiff than Welsh in Dublin. – Yours, etc,
DAVID McCARTER,
Hillsborough,
Co Down.
Sir, – We pay to be members of the Irish Rugby Supporters Club.
As usual, the IRFU left it very late to issue tickets – January 10th. For those of us not living within walking or Dart distance from the Aviva, there is transport to organise and hotels to dream about, and then promptly forget, due to the crazy prices.
This year nobody I know in the club got tickets.
Winning is cyclical. When a tough period comes, I fully expect we’ll be treated a little better than currently. – Yours, etc,
DAVID CURRAN,
Knocknacarra,
Galway.