Lions facing extinction

It’s quite hard to admit, but the Lions tour has been a dreadful letdown… and the worst is, I should have seen it coming.

When the Lions landed I waxed almost lyrical about the excitement generated by a tour.

I had been researching their history; I had been closely involved with the ’74, ’80 and ’97 sides and I couldn’t wait for the matches to start.

However I took my eye off the ball.

I should have known that fans would not be enthused over supporting provincial teams and pick-up squads that contained none of the star players that normally attract them to part with their money, but most of all I should have heeded the warnings dropping into my own inbox.

For some time now offers of “Hospitality Packages” have been arriving offering marvellous experiences at the Test matches at highly inflated prices - none less than four times the value of the already overpriced ticket of R1140 and some even reaching five times the value.

All made the same basic proposal. Access to an exclusive VIP Marquee upscale 3-course luncheons, a match ticket, parking, an item of memorabilia, a complimentary premium bar (whatever that is), post-match snacks and perhaps the chance to rub shoulders with some former players.

For goodness sake! How do you arrive at a price of 5½ grand for a single ticket to a rugby test match? Are they flying out a French chef? Serving caviar and Dom Perignon? Handing out expensive bright red replica jerseys? Not on your life.

And there you have it. That’s what’s wrong with the Lions tour. Greed has overtaken all thoughts of loyalty to fans and the economic downturn has simply been ignored.

Too many tickets have been handed to the events companies to chase the corporate buck and it seems it has failed.

Mark my words. Soon those “Sold Out” notices will come down and the tickets will come filtering back into the market. The 50,000 Poms will fail to arrive and websites from the UK will also be looking to dump unsold tickets. I get the feeling a large number of fans have made up their minds to tell them to “stick it.”

To paraphrase Roberto de Vicenzo after he had signed away the Masters: “What a stupid I was.”

I fondly remembered what tours used to be and my conviction that they should be returned to the fixture list clouded my view.

The fact is they’re too expensive and the demands on the players from all quarters are too great. While the John O’Neills push for 365 days of rugby the players will be overburdened, too tired to play for their provinces or too valuable to be risked in anything but a tests, and astronomical guarantees and super-pricing will always seem to be the only way out.

This Lions tour has shown that it can’t work. Unless administrators come to the realisation that less is better there will simply be no room for tours and we’ll continue with a game that exists only for the top-end.

And I’m afraid that too is unsustainable. One more wring of the neck and the golden goose will surely die.