Webb Ellis

I took "A" to her first rugby match today. Been building up to it for a few weeks. Northampton vs Leicester. 3pm kick off.

We arrived at 2:30 pm. Quiet, I thought. But I am used to Cardiff and maybe Northampton is quieter. They let us in, took our tickets. And after 15 minutes I thought "it really is quiet". Went to a steward and asked about kick off. To be told it was 5 pm. I checked the tickets and they definitely said 3pm. But apparently three weeks earlier, ie after tickets had been printed and sold etc, Sky had decided they wanted to show the match so the time was changed.

I didn't like Sky before. But how ridiculous is this. What if I had something else planned for the evening when I bought the tickets. It isn't as if it is free (well, actually, in our case today it was but that's not the point). People have plans and calendars are arranged in advance. If you buy a ticket for something that is stated as a certain time then that is what time it should be on. And the person at the turnstile who took our ticket should ahve at least pointed out that we had arrived two and a half hours early! I mean, I could have had a young child with me for her first match - oh yes, so I did! And the suggestion that I spend the time in the bar wasn't really a good one with a 6 year old at my feet.

Thanks to some helpful stewards it turned out well, and "A"s first match was a success.