REGIONAL 1 SOUTH CENTRAL

London Welsh have introduced a £7.50 ground entrance charge for this season.

At the AGM, we were told that the Board had done some research and found that at least half of the clubs in the league charge for entry, and the price ranged from £5 to £10.  I've paid £10 to watch London Irish at L5 in the past.  Personally I'm not in favour, but given the increased cost base (primarily travel, plus energy bills - we don't pay players!) I can understand the rationale.

Why do we in Rugby sell ourselves short and think the product we put on display does not warrant people paying to watch?   It is the norm to pay to watch in Football at far lower levels than what we are talking about, and yes I know we are very different sports, but we should not be afraid to mirror some of their practices.    It does not have to be about paying players....as we can all work out, a 100 people paying £5 isnt going to make many players rich! To me it is recognising the effort done by clubs and the lads that put on a bloody good afternoons entertainment.  From my experience at my club, the initial decision to charge was concerning but gates did not drop, and in fact some people commented that they stayed away as they thought it was  "private members only"  but because we charged they could now come and watch.  

When we first reached the dizzy heights of level 6, dragging ourselves out of the chip shop leagues we were surprised to be charged at away games. This would have been 12 years ago if I remember correctly.
We introduced a small charge which ballooned up to £5 when we first rocketed up to level 5.
That’s probably 8 years ago and it’s still £5, it gets you safe parking and a little brochure/programme. We still don’t pay players to play for our Club.

Sounds wonderful. Where can I find these people who are skilled, dedicated, accountable and willing to work for free? Do you have a conveyerbelt of them? RFU wet dream

HAVANT TONY wrote: We don't pay our players nor do we pay our coaches, we tried that donkeys years ago and the club nearly went jugs up !

HAVANT TONY wrote: Blimey £7.50 !!!  I bet their fans love it when they go to  away matches where they'll  generally pay NOTHING such as at our place Will be looking for a hole in the fence when I go there then😂

I obviously can't vouch for clubs asking for money in the North being the fact that you can't really get any further south than my club Havant , unless you want to swim to the channel islands!!

Edited by HAVANT TONY - 09 Aug 2022 at 13:57