Home Sport British and Irish Lions Tour – here is what you should know...

British and Irish Lions Tour – here is what you should know about the tickets

833

With tickets going for as low as R100, organisers have struck a balance between pricing for the biggest sporting event to hit South Africa since the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Lions captain Sam Warburton and head coach Warren Gatland with the rest of the management team. Picture: British and Irish Lions

CAPE TOWN – SA Rugby on Tuesday announced details of tickets for next year’s much-anticipated British and Irish Lions tour.

With tickets going for as low as R100, organisers have struck a balance between pricing for the biggest sporting event to hit South Africa since the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The eight-match Lions tour stretches across six cities over five weeks and kicks off in Cape Town on 3 July 2021.

“The top-priced tickets are comparable with what was charged 12 years ago when the Lions were last here,” said Jurie Roux, SA Rugby CEO.

SA Rugby have introduced four tiers of pricing for all matches – unlike the once-price-fits-all approach the last time the Lions visited the country.

“We have provided a range of price points for the public and, for instance, a family of four will be able to watch a match against one of the franchise teams for R1 000 in total, and for as little as R400 for a match in PE or Nelspruit, said CEO Jurie Roux.

Ticket prices for matches against the DHL Stormers at Cape Town Stadium, the Cell C Sharks at Jonsson Kings Park and the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus Versfeld range in price from R250 to R600.

Tickets for mid-week matches against a SA Invitational team in Port Elizabeth and against SA ‘A’ at Mbombela Stadium are even cheaper ranging from only R100 to R350.

The cheapest Test match ticket is R500 – less than the price of a ticket to a 2019 Springbok Test – and increases to R1,250 and R2,000 to the top-priced ticket of R3,000.

South Africa, as a territory, has the majority ticket allocation and South African residents will have access to an affordable ticket pricing tier structure.

“The British & Irish Lions are unique in that they visit South Africa only once every 12 years, and we look forward to welcoming their thousands of fans to some warm South African hospitality,” said Roux.

He added: “This is the home of the Rugby World Cup champions, the Springboks, and the Lions will know they are in our den. More tickets will be available to home fans than to overseas fans.”

Rugby fans should note that there is only one route to secure tickets – by entering the ballot on www.lionstour2021.co.za. SA Rugby has warned against buying tickets from anyone other than the official ticketing channel.

Roux reiterated that tickets will not be available at match venues, through provincial unions or at the usual retails outlets and if anyone answered an online advertisement for Lions tickets, they were in danger of being defrauded, exploited and ticketless.

South African residents who registered on the British & Irish Lions UK website would also miss their opportunity. South Africans are encouraged to the ticketing website, www.lionstour2021.co.za to ensure they are part of the support.

Roux continued: “Any other South African-based fan can register on the site now or when the ballot opens. The ballot closes at midnight on 16 September 2020, after which we expect all the publicly available tickets to be allocated. It is critical that if you want tickets for the tour you register on the site before 17 September 2020.”

Picture: David Rogers

Once registered, the process is as follows:

•On Wednesday, 2 September at 10h00 registrants will be able to login to www.lionstour2021.co.za;

•South African residents will be able to select tickets for all eight matches (to a maximum of eight tickets per match);

•Ballot closes on Wednesday, 16 September at 23h59;

•The draw will take place by a computerised selection process;

•All registered users will be advised by email whether they have been successful on 25 September 2020;

•Payment will automatically take place on the credit card used for submitting your ballot application on 28 September and;

•Seat allocation and tickets dispatch (courier or electronic) will take place in the second quarter of 2021.

Hospitality packages are available for all matches – ranging in price from R2,495 (excl. VAT) for a midweek game to R8,995 (excl. VAT) for a Test match. Those interested should email: [email protected].

Similarly, tickets can be accessed as part of a tour travel package by contacting SA Rugby Travel on [email protected] or 021 525 2515.

Staff Reporter

Previous articleNortjé to replace Woakes in Delhi IPL side
Next article“Christmas time” as booze ban is lifted