Aussies will have their eyes on the ball

Greg STUTCHBURY

Rugby World Cup organisers are hoping Australians will have their eyes on the ball to fire more interest in tickets for next year’s tournament.

Tourism New Zealand’s giant rugby ball, which has been used to promote the tournament in Paris, London and Tokyo, is to be opened on Sydney’s harbour front on Thursday, and Rugby New Zealand 2011 head Martin Snedden is confident it will help generate more ticket sales from the country’s closest neighbour.

The opening of the 25-metre inflatable ball has been timed to coincide with the one-year countdown to the beginning of the tournament on Sept. 9, the opening of the second phase of ticket sales on Sept. 10 and the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup clash between Australian and New Zealand on Sept. 11.

“The existence of the ball and the Bledisloe will increase the awareness of rugby World Cup,” Snedden told Reuters before he travelled to Sydney for the opening of the venue.

“I think just the existence of the ball, everything raises the awareness and will tell them it’s a good time to start buying tickets.” Australia-based buyers had snapped up about 5,500 venue and team-based ticket packages in the first phase of sales that ended in May, but only 2,000 of those were to follow the Wallabies in their four pool games, local media reported. Snedden said the package sales amounted to about 25,000 tickets in total in Australia during the first phase, with expatriate markets fuelling sales of South African, English and New Zealand team packages.

About 100,000 tickets were sold internationally, out of a total of just over 500,000 in the first phase.

Snedden said it was imperative organisers tap into Australia, New Zealand’s biggest tourism market, when the estimated 400,000 tickets to individual matches go on sale next week.

“It’s a big market, which is why we’re intensifying the activity there,” the former New Zealand test cricketer said. WELLINGTON, Reuters