Empty seats have been a obvious in most stadiums on the tour and now the South Africa rugby chiefs have admitted that lower than expected attendances on the tour are partly down to high ticket prices. Organisers have been criticised for a ticketing policy which saw seats on sale for the Tests for about £84, against the usual Tri-Nations prices of £10 to £35.

Part of the problem has stemmed from the UK fan base not taking up the 11,000 match allocation which B&I Lions Ltd requested. This most certainly being impacted by the global economic crisis.

Locally surely they must have realised that punters would not be keen to pay almost three times the price they have been used to. Greed as so often is the case has backfired yet again, why not put a scheme together that lets local kids in for free if they turn up at the stadium gates for all bar test match’s and there is enough room?