April 5, 2022
Since no one else has said anything, I just have to get this little whinge off my chest and address the elephant in the room – GOUGING.
Why are the ticket prices for the Fijian Drua versus Highlanders Super Rugby Pacific game in Suva on 30th April so expensive!
Compared to all other Super Rugby Pacific games in Australia and New Zealand they are exorbitant to say the least.
And those games are being played at way better stadiums with nearly all having bucket seats and roof cover!
Surely for their first ever home game in Fiji, you would have thought the pricing would have been set to encourage and allow the families and mataqali of each Fijian Drua player to come along and celebrate.
BUT NO there is not even a special ticket price for families!
The pricing is ridiculously high for adults $30 and children U-12 $15 on the grass, or $75 for anyone on the cement embankment – both uncovered and very uncomfortable in the wind and rain.
Not to mention the $150 – $185 for the grandstand.
The Marist 7s ticket prices last weekend for Day 3 on Saturday cost $8 for the ground, $12 for the cement embankment and $25 for the grandstand.
The Blues versus Moana Pasifika game at Eden Park last Saturday cost from NZ$15-30 a ticket for adults.
The price of tickets for Fijian Drua Super Rugby Pacific games in Australia cost from A$15 – 25 for adults and children U-14 free and these are for far superior stadiums!
And this is for the Fijiana Drua playing in a double-header – are they playing here on 30 April as well?
The crazy thing is, this is our team, the people of Fiji’s team.
The Fijian Drua literally belongs to the people of Fiji, after the government of the day paid $6Million of our money as taxpayers for 51% of the FRU company that owns the Fijian Drua.
I’ll revisit that $6Million payment for 51% of the Fijian Drua another podcast because frankly it seems a bit rich to me!
So where were we – technically, we the people of Fiji (whether we like it or not) are shareholders, majority shareholders of this Fijian Drua team and it’s sad to have to pay such high prices for our first Super Rugby Pacific home game for the Fijian Drua right here in Suva.
“Gouging” is what I think it’s called – when a business forces its customers to pay an unfairly high price for its goods or services, just because they can.
For the TeivovoRugby.com Podcast – I’m Culden Kamea.
