Tigers Prey On Scarlets’ Ticket Allocation

Llanelli are expecting queues at Stradey Park tomorrow (Tuesday) when tickets for their Heineken Cup semi-final clash with Leicester go on sale to the public – they have three days to reach a 9,600 total in order to keep the Tigers at bay.
The European champions are already looking for more tickets for the 28,000 capacity City Ground in Nottingham Forest and the Scarlets need to sell fast or lose part of their allocation to the opposition.
Llanelli want fans to come to the Stradey Park ticket office from 9.30am on Tuesday to ensure they get the tickets they want and to help the club fend off the Tiger’s fans.
The Scarlets have sold 7,000 tickets to members and over 90 free coaches have been booked by fans from all over London and South, West and North Wales so far.
“We’ve been selling to members only all week and tickets have been going well, but the news from Leicester is that they are oversubscribed on their ticket allocation already and they are looking to get their hands on any that we might have left,” said Llanelli commercial manager Ross Davies.
“This is obviously the last thing we want to happen. For the good of the team and for Welsh Rugby it is important that Llanelli are not outnumbered in the stands on the day.
“The Leicester Supporters Club have already been on to us looking for tickets and we have had to take certain precautions, such as selling by postcode for telephone orders, to ensure that our fans get first refusal on our entire allocation.
“We have 9,600 tickets, which we should sell easily if our last Heineken Cup semi-final at Reading in 2000 is anything to go by. The club are providing free coach travel to everyone who buys a ticket from us and that has had a positive impact on sales.
“But we need to reach that 9,600 mark by the end of next week (Friday 22 March) in order to access a further 2,400 tickets that are in reserve for
us and equal the representation Leicester will have in the ground.
“If we don’t the tournament organisers, ERC Ltd, will release these tickets to the opposition. We have no argument with that, but we hope our fans realise they have to buy tickets now or they will be disappointed.
“The best way to do it is to come to Stradey Park. Tickets go on sale from
9.30am on Tuesday and we are expecting queues. When we played Leicester at home in the pool stages of the competition dedicated fans started queueing from 7.00am and we sold out in one day.
“To that extent we have come up with a few initatives to help the queuers, the Scarlets Cafe will be opening up early and the players will make appearances throughout the day to sign autographs and talk to people.”