This week we wanted to highlight The RFU who made the most of a position in Tier 2, and great timing to bring fans back to Twickenham Stadium with England playing France in the Final of the Autumn Nations Cup.
For the lucky 2000 allowed in, it was a stunning victory to witness first-hand in what are certainly unusual circumstances for Rugby, ‘Golden Point’ Extra Time, which was sealed with a penalty by Owen Farrell.
As Steve Kitcher, Head of Ticketing at Rugby Football Union explained, “not only was it a success on the pitch, it was also a success off it.“
The RFU have been using the lockdown period to test various elements of new functionalities developed by Ticketmaster Sport throughout the last six months, as the whole country eagerly waited for news as to when they can return to stadiums to watch live sports again.
The fans themselves were keen to know how a stadium with only 2,000 socially distant fans would look before buying their tickets. As Steve explains: “The online purchase was easy for the customer and having a visual of the how the seating was spaced, offered reassurance that the venue was applying socially distancing measures correctly. They were steered away from buying seating which wasn’t suitable for their group size and gave them peace of mind from a socially distanced standpoint as they could see the groupings and spacing prior to completing the purchase.”
As games gradually make a comeback, every club and stadium up and down the country is keen to get supporters back in as safely and quickly as possible. The game at Twickenham was one of the first examples of what fans can expect while in Tier 2, before things hopefully return to normal in 2021.
