EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS REPORTS
BILL LOTHIAN
SCOTLAND'S rugby clubs are angry over what they claim are sudden changes in Murrayfield marketing policies which will hit their Six Nations ticket allocations.

Grassroots organisations are crying foul over the SRU linking purchases of Autumn Test series tickets to the sale of coveted briefs for forthcoming visits to Edinburgh by France and England.


One source, who asked not to be identified, accused the SRU of treating clubs unfairly - a charge denied by the SRU.

The source said: "Problems began for us when the SRU chose to appeal directly and over our heads to club members who regularly attend Murrayfield fixtures.

"When it appears the SRU were dissatisfied with the response for the matches against Argentina, Samoa and New Zealand they turned their attentions back to club committees and pressurised us to try to sell more tickets by saying Six Nations allocations might be cut depending on sales.

"Such arrangements took no account of the fact the SRU had already approached our regular purchasers first.

"Effectively the SRU were asking clubs to bail them out by creating a second wave of buyers since they couldn't do well enough in the first place."

An SRU spokesman said: "A percentage of tickets (for the Six Nations) will not be linked to the Autumn Test sales so it is not a black and white issue. We have given a commitment to clubs through Gordon McKie (SRU chief executive) to look at the whole pricing structure with immediate effect."

Followers have been upset at the high cost of match tickets amidst attendances of around 14,000 for the two Autumn matches so far in a stadium with a capacity of 67,500. The SRU could not say, however, if the promised review will take into account club complaints about the way tickets for the traditionally sell-out France and England matches are now being made available.

SRU officials are expecting a crowd of 45,000, for Saturday's match against New Zealand claiming it would be the highest attendance for an Autumn Test for three years.

This article was posted on 25-Nov-2005, 09:08 by Hugh Barrow.