NRL 2023: Souths fans express anger at Roosters ticket hike for Friday night blockbuster

South Sydney fans don’t need an excuse when it comes to disliking cross-town rivals Sydney Roosters, but a massive ticket price hike for Friday night’s blockbuster has supporters fuming.

PENRITH, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 09: Damien Cook of the Rabbitohs is tackled during the round two NRL match between the Penrith Panthers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs at BlueBet Stadium on March 09, 2023 in Penrith, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Angry South Sydney fans have accused the Roosters of price gouging by charging nearly double the amount for a ticket in the Rabbitohs’ supporters bay for Friday night’s blockbuster at Allianz Stadium.

Souths fans contacted The Daily Telegraph to complain at being charged $90 an adult ticket when the same seats for other games this season at Allianz sit at $50 — a price hike of 80 per cent.

Sydney Roosters chief executive Joe Kelly hit back immediately, saying Friday night’s game “is one of our tier one games” and “tiering of matches is based on opposition and demand.”

Kelly said “many clubs and codes” increase prices dependent on the opponent but a Souths spokesman said the Rabbitohs set a standard ticket price all season for opposition fans and even drop the amount for games scheduled in an unfriendly timeslot, primarily Friday 6pm.

Category one tickets for other Roosters games at Allianz this season are $70 but have been increased to $90 for the Rabbitohs match.

The Roosters will charge $100 for a ticket in the St George Illawarra away supporters’ bay for the traditional Anzac Day game this season.

Rabbitohs fans unable to afford the $90 ticket have been forced to other areas of the stadium. Souths’ main fan club, The Burrow, say they have moved bays to category three seats.

Rabbitohs fans are being asked to fork out $90 when their team takes on the Roosters at Allianz Stadium on Friday night.

“For the Souths supporters’ bay, it was $90 for an adult ticket,” said Josh Kemp, a committee member of The Burrow. “I have spoken to a lot of Souths fans and we are angry and annoyed.

“It’s a price hike because we are Souths fans. A lot of us are upset by it.

“In the end, we had to find a different area because it was just too expensive. It’s definitely because this is a bigger game and they know Souths fans will travel to the match — it’s quite ridiculous.

“We understand if it’s a final, you can cop it. But regular season games, it’s too much given the increasing prices of everything. It makes it hard for people to attend.

“I have just organised tickets for us to go to (away) games against Brisbane (round nine) and the Dolphins (round seven). We have about 60 of us going to the Dolphins match. For a bay there and the Broncos game, tickets were only $20, and they are great seats.”

Souths fan and Mascot Juniors secretary Kim White is also upset with the price hike along with husband Lee, son Lachlan, aged 9, and daughter Chloe, 7.

“It’s really disappointing because it impacts our ability to take the kids to these games,” White said. “It should be an annual and set ticket price, irrespective of who they are playing and demand.”

Despite the ticket increase for the Roosters game, and given the anticipation around the Friday night game, the Souths’ supporters’ bay has sold out.

“The Rabbitohs match is one of our tier one games. Tiering of matches — based on opposition and demand — is a standard practice across many clubs and codes. Our pricing is actually less than round 25 (against Souths) last year,” Kelly said.

Rabbitohs faithful have complained at being charged $90 for an adult ticket when same seats for other games this season at Allianz sit at $50

“Our category one seats for a tier one match are $90 regardless of who is buying and Rabbitohs members are offered a 10 per cent discount to this price. We nominated a quality tier one bay — bay 30 — for Rabbitohs members and supporters which is sold out.

“We were approached by the Rabbitohs to say that some members found the category one option expensive and they wanted a more affordable alternative, at which point we extended the 10 per cent Rabbitohs member discount to category four seating — our most affordable seating option — of which there are still plenty of seats available.

“Further, we were contacted by the Rabbitohs for a designated seating area for The Burrow so they could be seated together. We were happy to facilitate this with the Rabbitohs and we are liaising with their membership manager to make this happen in a category four seating area, and with the ten per cent discount.

“The last two matches between the Roosters and Rabbitohs at Allianz Stadium were sellouts, and sales for this game have been incredibly strong to date.”

One Sydney-based CEO said clubs do consider price gouging for big games.

“We don’t do it but it’s like a motel room. On Monday it’s worth $100 but by Friday it could cost $400,” he said.

Cronulla offered opposition supporters $36 tickets for a round one match this year, although the Sharks home ground cannot offer the same elite facilities as Allianz Stadium.

Kemp added: “There is already enough spice between the two teams anyway — we both hate each although it’s probably more the fans these days than the two teams themselves.

“The animosity between the Souths and Roosters fans will never go away, which is great for the game. You need those rivalries.”