DURBAN – The Springboks can rest assured that home ground advantage has been secured for next year’s series against the British and Irish Lions after the news that local fans swamped the application process for match tickets
SA Rugby have confirmed that when the local ticket ballot recently ended, 260 000 South Africans supporters had applied for 323 964 tickets to attend the tour’s eight matches.
The results of the ballot will be emailed to registrants on Friday.
SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux is thrilled at the response.
“We would like to thank all our local fans for their massive interest in buying tickets for the British & Irish Lions tour next year,” he said.
It’s #TuesdayTrivia time!! 🤓
— British & Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) September 22, 2020
How many different national teams have the Lions played against since 1888?#LionsRugby pic.twitter.com/H8WATYBtSf
“The last couple of months have been challenging as we fought the Covid-19 pandemic, and it was heart-warming to see the interest from South Africans to experience a truly unique tour, which comes around only once every 12 years,” Roux added.
“As we’ve expected, interest in the three Tests was extremely high – they are two to three times oversubscribed – but we are confident that we’ll get as many people as possible into the stadiums.”
Roux reiterated that the draw for tickets is done by a computerised selection process and that supporters who have applied for tickets may not receive everything they have applied for, while the high demand for tickets means some applicants may not be successful at all.
“We also know that not everyone will take up the tickets they are issued and there will be a re-sale phase later on, so all doors are not necessarily closed,” he added.
A pivotal role in any great team, we have some superb players for you to choose from this week 🤩
— British & Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) September 10, 2020
Which of these scrum halves would you most like to have on your team? 🤔#LionsRugby pic.twitter.com/sYBnCMq4UZ
“But we do want to warn and discourage fans from buying tickets from illicit vendors as those tickets cannot be guaranteed.”
IOL Sport