RWC: Twickenham Debenture Holders getting restless

This morning's (London) Times has an article (sorry, no link as it's behind the Murdoch pay wall) talking about Twickenham Debenture holders getting very grumpy over the fact that they won't be getting preferential access to RWC tickets - the Rugby Paper reported on this back in August http://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/index.php/featured-post/twickenhams-debenture-holders-in-world-cup-row/ so I'll over the Times a sarcastic pat on the back for finally catching up.

Basically the RWC has been mentioned in some advertising aimed at Debenture sales, however recently the RFU has written to Debenture holders saying that RWC Ltd's tournament hosting requirements mean that they can't guarantee tickets for Debenture holders.

As a non-Debenture holder I'm quite happy for tickets to be accessible to everyone, but I can understand why Debenture holders are unhappy if they've paid a shedload of cash to not get access to seats. At least the word is out now, so people can opt out of buying if the perceived benefit from a debenture is outweighed by the cost.

It's worth noting that when the NZRU told season ticket holders prior to 2003 that they wouldn't be guaranteed seats several opted to try and sue - of course NZRU's inability to guarantee clean stadia due to incompetence from the Blazers in charge (Steve "Teflon" Tew was abut the only senior NZRU figure to survive the aftermath of that debacle). But the loss of hosting rights in 2003 is a powerful precedent that means RWC host unions are unlikely to try and play hardball with RWC Ltd over tournament hosting rules.

Typical RFU greed. They just want to milk as much cash from rugby fans as they can.

Happy to shaft debenture holders so they can sell RWC tickets to the highest bidder.

Debenture only gives you the opportunity to buy tickets.

RFU's greed could well bite them in the bottom.