Saving the Craic

By LISC & LIRC
December 3 2002

The following is a statement issued jointly by LISC and LIRC. Basically it is very good news. The Craic has been saved until the end of the season.

London Irish has an unparalleled reputation as everyone’s second favourite club. In recent years, following our move to the Madejski Stadium, we have endeavoured to continue this enviable tradition with performances by Le Chéile in both the North Stand bar on home match days and of course during the now world famous St. Patrick’s weekend celebrations.

Unfortunately all of this comes at a price. Whilst we are extremely grateful for the support that we have gathered over the last two years at the Madejski Stadium we were nevertheless faced with the grim reality of having to contemplate cancelling The Craic because of the cost involved. This was naturally greeted with dismay by supporters who rightly considered The Craic to be part of the club’s heritage and something that made London Irish unique from any other Premiership rugby club.

Following discussions with representatives of the London Irish Supporters Club (LISC), during which the concerns expressed by their membership and by supporters as a whole were aired and discussed, we have looked again at ways in which The Craic can be retained. This exercise, together with the support of Ian Steele of Seven Telecom who have kindly agreed to sponsor The Craic for the post-Christmas Newcastle Falcons match on 29th December 2002, means that we are now pleased to announce that we are able to retain The Craic in its present form until at least the end of the current season.

Obviously to achieve this we have had to look at where revenue can be generated and savings made. As a result we have decided to remove the advance ticket purchase discount with effect from 9pm on 20th December 2002. This is with the exception of tickets purchased on-line at www.london-irish.com. The benefits of purchasing tickets on-line are the ability to make purchases 24-hours per day 7-days per week. Tickets can also still be purchased in advance by telephone on 0118 968 1000 but without the advance purchase discount. Buying your ticket in advance prevents you having to queue to buy your tickets on a matchday.

In addition, in consultation with LISC, we are also introducing a mini season ticket at a cost of £50 (a ‘family package’ is also available whereby if you buy two adult tickets you will also receive two Under 16’s tickets FREE!). The mini season ticket is only available for purchase until 15th December 2002 and makes an ideal Christmas present.

It is hoped that on-line discount and the mini season ticket offer will more than make up for the withdrawal of the advance purchase discount while at the same time enabling us to ensure the continuance of The Craic and the London Irish tradition of providing much more than just ’80 minutes of rugby’.