A small gripe

ollyk1

I'm interested in getting some views on this. I'm sorry if its long but I want to give the background and in parts I'm just ranting :rolleyes:.

I've attended the odd youths interpro match over the last 10 years. Generally the Leinster matches are held at the Barnhall or Terenure grounds (the ones I attend anyway as I'm based in Dublin). In the past I have even gone to Mullingar for the finals.

Normally the spectators for these games would be very thin on the ground and only when finals etc are reached would you even have many family members turning up to support the team.

I have a family member involved in the organisation of the Leinster Youths team for the last number of years so I often call out to a game for a chat and I like to see what talent is coming through from the clubs as well as watching what can be entertaining and open games.

Last weekend Leinster were playing Ulster in their third game of the round robin series before the knock out stages. Leinster youths are going very poorly this year and had lost their other two games which I hadn't gone to see. Essentially this game was a dead rubber as Leinster would still finish in 3rd or 4th and end up playing away in the knock out stages but it was a good chance for the lads to perhaps get a win with some pressure off and get some momentum heading into the knockout stages.

The match was being held in Donnybrook. I've never attended a Youths game at Donnybrook before.

I arrived just as the second half was starting (I couldn't make it any earlier) and was told that for the privilege of going in and standing in a 99.9% empty stadium I would have to pay €10 and children would have to pay €5.

I was gobsmacked that they were even charging on the gate. Only for finals have I ever had to pay to get in to see a Youths game and I've always thought it a bit of a rip-off to be charging parents and friends of the players to view these games but in this case I doubt there were more then 4 sets of parents even interested in attending.

Am I wrong to be annoyed about this?

What does this say about the management of the lower levels of the games in Leinster? Are we really trying to restrict the game to the more affluent in society? I would have thought the Leinster branch would be encouraging people to watch these games and kids to support their teams mates etc but instead they are trying to profit from the children.... :mad:

Things like this and the slow death of the club game in Ireland are really p1ssing me off about a sport I love.

I'd welcome your comments

Olly


P.S. I've just lumped out for tickets for the AIs and home 6 nations games so this wasn't a case of me being a cheap b@stard but I really thought it was very greedy and shortsighted by the Leinster branch.

Trojan

Charging to the Youths games? That's crazy.

And for the record, I AM a cheapskate, and there's no way I'm paying €90 a ticket for home internationals.