Are you in search of tickets for the Irish Rugby games? Lucky for you, this guide will provide all the information you need on how to get your hands on tickets and enjoy the match. Whether you’re a seasoned rugby enthusiast or a newcomer to the sport, this comprehensive guide will help you navigate the world of Ireland rugby tickets and get you closer to the action.
Join your local rugby club
It’s as simple as that really. There are 209 rugby clubs on the island of Ireland and speaking as someone involved with one of the smallest, I can guarantee they would appreciate your support. Depending on the size of the club and your enthusiasm this could range from helping out with training, to simply showing up for the games to cheer the team on.
The vast majority of clubs will have a social/non playing memberships available, often as part of these memberships you’ll have the chance to put your name forward for the clubs ticket allocation. The more involved you are, the more likely you will succeed in your quest for tickets. Ironically, the more involved you become the less likely you will have the free time to go to the big games, as you’ll have bigger, more important games at your new club to be involved with. I was tucked up in bed at 10pm after the last 6 Nations game I went to as our girls u14’s had a fixture at midday the next day. Wouldn’t have it any other way.
Join your local rugby club. If you ever played the game, you owe it to the volunteers who enabled that to happen. If you are a late convert to the sport, you won’t find more enthusiastic and knowledgable fans than those you’ll meet at grass roots rugby clubs. Try it sometime, you’ll love it.
Know the fixtures
Currently, as we sit smack bang in the middle of the 6 Nations, you can often find individuals moaning on social media about ‘real’ rugby fans never being able to get tickets. That it’s all corporate hospitality and account managers doling out tickets, the ‘true supporters’ never get a look in. Frankly, this is just not true. Every year we have autumn internationals and regularly a couple of summer series games will go on sale to the general public as well as being distributed through the clubs.
The easiest way to find out when these games go onsale is to sign up to the IRFU’s Irish Rugby newsletter. To emphasise the point, there are two games of Ireland’s summer series, against Italy & England on sale now.
Hospitality/Rugby Travel Companies
So, if you’ve not managed to find a rugby club to join or didn’t manage to get organised in time to access the online sale, then hospitality or rugby travel companies are your best bet. The IRFU have a dedicated hospitality partner that handles all the hospitality within the Aviva stadium, there are others with access to tickets but may cater for their guests outside the stadium itself. Whilst these companies will get you in to the game, you will be paying a premium! For example; for the upcoming summer series game against England, an aviva hospitality package will cost you €750 p/person. Tickets are currently available from €110 each.
That said, with the hospitality tickets, you do get more than just a ticket, the package includes;
- Early admission to the Official IRFU VIP corporate hospitality
- Reserved seated match ticket provided by the IRFU and allocated in groups
- Pre-match celebrity guest speaker
- Full complimentary bar (excluding champagne) throughout (3 Hours pre-match & 1-hour post-match)
- Superb three course gourmet meal
- Superior wines
- Half time drinks
- Colour television facilities with video replay
- Finger food during post-match reception
- Interview with current Irish players during the post-match reception
- Official match programme
- Ref Talk
- E-Ticket & E-Invite sent directly to you
- Experienced event managers in attendance throughout
Similar packages will be available with the other rugby travel companies and they may even offer you just a ticket for the games. Expect to pay a heavy premium on face value though, as these companies have paid the clubs a premium for their tickets. It’s one of the reasons I don’t see these companies as ‘touts’ as many do, they are actively investing in the grass roots game by purchasing a portion of the ticket allocation & providing additional services to those who can afford the prices, rather than simply profiteering as many would accuse them of doing.
Social Media/Competitions/Raffles
Follow a number of smaller rugby clubs and you will find an awful lot of competitions/raffles to enter, whilst it won’t guarantee you a ticket, it will guarantee you are supporting the game by investing in the grass roots. You might not get to go to the game, but you can feel good about yourself at least, that’s exactly half of a win win scenario.
On very rare occasions you might want to try a search with the hashtags #6nations #tickets #ticketfairy and you might be incredibly lucky with what you find. Most likely these will be a collection of the aforementioned ‘real supporters’ bemoaning the fact that they can’t get tickets as they aren’t members of rugby clubs/started looking for tickets on the week of a grand slam decider/won’t pay a premium (directly investing in the game) as they are ‘real supporters’ who are entitled to a ticket because they shout at the TV and wear and Ireland shirt to the pub for 6 weeks a year.
Touts & Resale sites
For the uninitiated, a tout is a person who hangs around the outside of stadiums offering to buy spare tickets (for less than what was paid) and sell tickets at hugely inflated prices. Resale sites, whilst they may describe themselves as “connecting people to inspiring event experiences”, are just touts with a website and an advertising budget. To my mind, slightly worse for the sport than those hanging around the stadiums. Gougers, the lot of them.
In conclusion
Join your local rugby club, it’s the best chance you have to get tickets and the best way to support rugby. If you are based overseas, then join your hometown club or one friends or family might be involved with. Do it. Do it now.