Rugby: Canes to cancel scalped final tickets

The Hurricanes will cancel any tickets to this weekend's Super Rugby final believed to have been scalped after 26,000 seats were sold in less than a minute.

Long lines of rugby fans queued in Wellington yesterday for a chance to witness history but their efforts seemed to be in vain when tickets appeared on Trade Me soon after they went on sale, causing outrage.

Hurricanes chief executive James Te Puni said where it was proved that tickets were purchased from a scalper, they would "invalidate them" as it was against the terms and conditions to resell the tickets.

One listing asked for $399 for two seats "located generally behind the goal" for the match against the Highlanders at Westpac Stadium.

Other listings were selling tickets for $300 or $400 each last night.

Official ticket prices ranged from $35 for adult bronze tickets to $75 for platinum seats under cover with children's tickets going for $20 to $30.

Mr Te Puni said his office had contacted Trade Me and asked it not to support the resale of finals tickets at an inflated price.

"Our ticket prices have been set to enable the fans to come to the game, not to fund the activities of ticket scalpers."

However, Trade Me spokesman Paul Ford said the company did not enforce third party terms and conditions. They were only enforceable by the ticket agency against the original purchaser.

He added that Trade Me would remove listings where it believed the ticket was not in the seller's possession.

About 30,000 tickets have already been snapped up for the final.

Tickets for the much-anticipated clash between the New Zealand teams at Westpac Stadium went on sale at 4pm yesterday.

Wellington Rugby was hoping to build temporary seating to add 1500 to 1800 extra seats, a spokeswoman said.

Around 5000 remaining tickets are expected to go on sale tomorrow when the balance of those held for members and commercial partners' needs are released back into the public domain.

The spokeswoman said it was expected to be the biggest Super Rugby crowd in the Cake Tin's history.

A line began to form outside the ticket office at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington early yesterday afternoon and by 5pm hundreds of hopeful fans were queued up down the road.

Hamish Sail arrived with his foldaway chair just after 2pm -- two hours before tickets went on sale. His strategy was a success and he said the wait was "worth it".

- Scott Yeoman of the New Zealand Herald

Add a Comment