Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty, Design: Tina Tiller

SportsNovember 8, 2022

All your questions about Rugby World Cup final tickets, answered

Guest writer

Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty, Design: Tina Tiller

Is Eden Park sold out? Can’t they add more seats? Why aren’t tickets for sale on Trade Me? And, most importantly, will we win?

Yay! The Black Ferns made the final of the Rugby World Cup. I have to go and see them play England. I must. So how do I get my sticky little hands on tickets for this Saturday’s final at Eden Park?

You can’t.

What?!

Yeah sorry. While Eden Park has stopped short of calling this weekend’s final a sell out, almost all of the venue’s 40,000 tickets are gone. “While current seating is almost entirely allocated, a review of remaining space is underway as we look to release every last seat for fans,” said an Eden Park spokesperson. “We’re encouraging fans to keep a look out throughout the week for the chance to snap up the final few.”

Oh, OK. Eden Park can just add more seats right, like they do for popular All Blacks games and other major events?

Yes, it can. But it won’t be doing that.

What? Why not?

“We have explored the possibility of adding temporary seating for the final following the extraordinary turn-out of fans throughout the tournament,” said Eden Park’s spokesperson. “Due to the time constraints and logistical challenges involved in installing temporary seating, we made the decision to focus on filling every possible available seat in the existing stands and leave no stone unturned to ensure the stadium is at capacity for Saturday.”

The Black Ferns celebrate a try against France (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/World Rugby via Getty Images)

How many extra tickets will go on sale?

According to this 1News story, a few hundred extra seats could be released soon. But they’ll be snapped up fast. You can find them, if and when that happens, here.

Well there are other options. Aren’t live event tickets going cheap on Trade Me right now?

They are for other things, like recent concerts by Kings of Leon and Aldous Harding. But this is special, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the Black Ferns lift the Rugby World Cup at home at a time when the success of women’s sport is being supported and celebrated like never before. It feels like that time everyone wore red socks for the America’s Cup, or when David Tua took on Lennox Lewis. Everyone wants to be part of it. But while Trade Me was allowing tickets to be sold yesterday, some for as much as four times the original price, today those listings have been removed.

‘He mea tautoko nā ngā mema atawhai. Supported by our generous members.’

Liam Rātana
— Ātea editor

Why?

The event is covered by the Major Events Management Act 2007, meaning the on-selling of tickets for profit is banned. “The reselling or trading of a ticket for a value greater than its original sale price, either in person or online, is an offence under the Act, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000,” a spokesperson for RWC 2021 told NZH. “Fans obtaining tickets from unofficial sources run the risk of having those tickets cancelled, being refused entry or being evicted from a venue.”

Weren’t tickets less than $50 originally?

If you bought them before Saturday night’s win against France, yes.

And didn’t it used to be free to watch the Black Ferns?

Yes. Until this World Cup (literally one month ago), you never had to pay to see a Black Ferns match on its own (double-headers with All Blacks are a different thing). Isn’t it amazing what a little bit of marketing can do for commercial viability?

Ugh. If people had enough foresight to buy tickets in advance, why would they want to sell them anyway?

Yesterday, one seller said they now had to work the night of the game. People were not happy at how much profit they were making, so it makes sense Trade Me has removed them all today.

How about Viagogo?

No. Please. Just don’t. If you must spend your money, someone’s charging $250 for this ridiculous RWC banner. At least you’d actually get something that way.

Sniff. But I want to see Ruby Tui score the match-winning try against England live. What are my other options?

Many bars will air the game live. If you’re in Auckland, choose one in Kingsland or Mt Eden, the suburbs closest to Eden Park, and you can soak up the pre- or post-game atmosphere. For everyone else, the game’s available to watch free-to-air on Three or on Spark Sport. Organisers expect more than a million people to tune in. “We’re calling on Kiwis to not only make history in the stands with another record crowd, but to achieve record viewership for women’s sport in New Zealand,” said Eden Park’s spokesperson.

Is there anything else I can do to nab tickets?

Short of breaking into Eden Park with a sleeping bag and spending the night on the roof – which we are absolutely not suggesting you do – not really, no. Just keep looking out for news alerts and refreshing the ticketing home page.

No sleep, then, till Saturday. So who’s going to win?

Who knows? (The Black Ferns.) England have won their last 30 games. (Definitely the Black Ferns.) Even Black Ferns coach Wayne Smith sounded a little scared of them when he said, “… they’re pretty frightening like, they’re so efficient in what they do”. (The Black Ferns, 100%.) So it really is going to be very tight and one hell of a game. (The Black Ferns, obviously.)

Keep going!

The Black Ferns celebrate a try against France (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/World Rugby via Getty Images)

SportsNovember 6, 2022

The Black Ferns are the best rugby product in the world right now

Madeleine Chapman

Editor

The Black Ferns celebrate a try against France (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/World Rugby via Getty Images)

In a semifinal for the ages the Black Ferns played to a half-empty Eden Park. It won’t happen again, writes Madeleine Chapman.

It was ten minutes before halftime of the Black Ferns-France semifinal when people started regretting not buying tickets. “Very good call to go to the game,” said Duncan Greive, who’d opted to watch the game at a nearby bar instead. “This is an insanely good product.”

He was right, it was an insanely good product. The strongest defensive line in the French against the most dynamic attacking backline in the Black Ferns. The past four match-ups won by France, yet the Black Ferns betting favourites thanks to a strong World Cup campaign so far and a home advantage.

It was always going to be a close match-up worthy of a sell-out crowd, but with no proof of concept in the New Zealand market (outside of the opening day, which felt like its own standalone event), every Black Ferns match is a sales pitch, asking local rugby fans to get on board with women’s rugby.

It’s a lot of pressure to add to what should just be a rugby game, but last night’s semifinal was a masterclass in selling a product. It sold women’s rugby, yes, and women’s sport in general, but mostly it sold the Black Ferns.

There is genuinely no other sports team in New Zealand easier to cheer for than the Black Ferns. They’re players who are known as much for their presence and charisma off the field as they are for their play on it. We love a bit of yeah-nah-definitely energy in our national athletes, and have used that to our advantage, but if sport is an entertainment product, the Black Ferns are closer to NBA stars than they are to rugby players.

By that I mean, there were thousands of people at the game on Saturday night who had little-to-no interest in rugby but were invested in the lives and careers of Ruby Tui, Portia Woodman, Stacey Fluhler, Sarah Hirini. Just as thousands of people go to NBA games with little knowledge of basketball but a love for celebrity and entertainment. As far as commercial viability goes, fan engagement stretching beyond what happens on the field of play is crucial, and something rugby has struggled to have in any real sense.

Stacey Fluhler with fans after the match (Photo: Joe Allison/Getty Images)

But even with all that engagement with individual players, it comes to nothing if the rugby product isn’t up to scratch. A close and scrappy semifinal, with three tries apiece, big hits (and two yellow cards from big hits), consistent and unobtrusive refereeing and a penalty kick to win (or lose) the game is a test match for the ages.

There’s plenty to think about this week. Veteran Kendra Cocksedge will be breathing a quiet sigh of relief after some ill-considered kicking plays in the second half. Santo Taumata subbed in late and nearly cost her team the win with a 79th minute high tackle. I shudder to think how those final 10 minutes would have played out with a full-15 French squad. And England have long been the tournament favourites.

It’s no surprise that ticket sales for the grand final surged in the moments after the final whistle and are now sold out. I hope local councils and businesses are planning ways to host all the fans who can’t be at Eden Park for the final. Public screenings of the match, special events etc. As much as I’d like to approach this tournament as any other rugby competition, it really isn’t. The development of the women’s game and the broadening of society’s approach to professional athletes have collided at the perfect time to create a slingshot for the Black Ferns into New Zealand’s national psyche as the team to support.

The Black Ferns celebrate a one-point win (Photo: MARTY MELVILLE/AFP via Getty Images)

If Saturday’s game, and the reaction to it, doesn’t result in more Black Ferns sponsors and more investment (or at least attention) from New Zealand Rugby to replicate it outside of a World Cup, then something is amiss.

Shortly before that fateful 79th-minute penalty was given, another friend messaged me: “I’m at the game and loving it. If we win, are you keen to go next week?”

I told him I’d already bought tickets, and as captain Ruahei Demant thanked the crowd for the support and lamented “I don’t think people realise how much of a difference it makes to us out on the field,” my friend replied. “Honestly the best game of rugby I’ve watched in years. Am gonna get a ticket tonight.”

Eden Park hosted the Black Ferns in a World Cup semifinal to a half-empty stadium. Everyone watching, from a grey seat, a barstool or a couch, couldn’t believe the product they’d just been served. If Saturday’s match was a showing of potential, the Black Ferns will never play to a half-empty stadium again.

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Madeleine Chapman
— Editor