More than 35,000 tickets have sold for the opening day of the Rugby World Cup at Eden Park on Saturday almost half the number of tickets sold for the entire tournament.
Rugby World Cup tournament director Michelle Hooper said on Monday that Eden Park is heading towards a sell-out crowd for Saturday’s triple-header – South Africa vs France, Fiji vs England and the Black Ferns vs Australia. Eden Park’s capacity is 47,000.
“There’s still a few golden tickets left for those that are eager to buy up and make sure they don’t miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity,” she said.
Phil Walter/Getty Images
35,000 tickets have already sold for the Black Ferns game this Saturday at Eden Park
“We are tracking towards a sell-out, which will be a moment in history for us here in New Zealand to sell out Eden Park for women’s sport.”
The largest crowd previously for a women’s rugby game was 20,000 at the 2014 World Cup final in France. The largest women’s sports crowd in New Zealand was 16,162 for a North Korea vs USA under-17 soccer game in 2008.
About 75,000 Rugby World Cup tickets have been sold overall for the matches spread across six weeks and three locations – Eden Park, Northland Events Centre in Whangārei and Waitakere Stadium.
Hooper said their target is at least 127,000 fans in the stands.
“When you look at the fact the tournament has started yet, we are pretty proud of that number to date. We’ve got a good five weeks of incredible rugby about to start to sell out the remaining spot of those matches,” she said.
Supplied
Hip-hop artist Ladi6 will headline matchday two of Rugby World Cup at Northland Events Centre.
UK pop star Rita Ora headlines this weekend’s opening round, with Shapeshifter performing at the semi-finals on November 5, and Benee at the final a week later. Ladi6 is the latest star to be added to the stellar entertainment lineup, with the hip-hop artist performing in Whangārei on Sunday, with a triple header involving USA vs Italy, Japan vs Canada and Six Nations rivals Wales and Scotland rounding out the day.
Tickets for the Rugby World Cup are $5 for children and start at $10 for adults, depending on the match. Hooper said it was important to make the tournament accessible to everyone.
