Enlarge imageBy Claire Soares
ROME (Reuters) - Rugby fans eager to see World Champions England square off against Italy next month require stamina and a cool head to negotiate the ticket-buying maze that Italian authorities have created.
"Queuing for a visa in Botswana was easier!" was the verdict of 27-year-old Paul Alexander, a British lawyer living in Rome who is trying to get to the game.
England begin their defence of the Six Nations title in the Eternal City on February 15 -- their first competitive outing since lifting the World Cup in Sydney in November.
Even though some crowd-pulling stars will be absent -- England captain Martin Johnson has retired and golden-booted Jonny Wilkinson is on the injury list -- tickets are hot commodities.
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The Italian Rugby Association (AIR) has set up a long-winded process to get seats involving e-mail reservations, a visit to a designated bank to pay, and a second trip some weeks later to actually collect the tickets.
"Even if everything had gone smoothly it was complicated. But this is Italy so then there are the hitches," said Valentino Valentino, a 40-year-old insurance salesman.
"Back in December, I sent an email reserving tickets. Today I get to the bank to find it served no purpose and I have to start from scratch. I’ve waited for two hours but now I think I’d just rather watch the game on television," he added.
An employee at Banche di Credito Cooperativo, the chain of banks assigned to handle the tickets, explained that AIR had not sent them a list of the people who had reserved and so they were selling tickets on a first-come, first-served basis.
No-one from AIR was immediately available to comment on Tuesday as their telephone lines were permanently engaged.
Marta di Fazio, a 33-year-old office worker, was bewildered that in the age of telesales, she was having to embark on such an obstacle course.
"Rome organises concerts and shows regularly so why can’t they cope with a rugby match? It’s not as if the fixture’s been organised at the last minute", she said.
Adding to the confusion, were weekend media reports that the Flaminio stadium had already sold out.
And many pundits are questioning the Italian Rugby Federation’s decision to keep the fixture at the 30,000-seater venue, instead of moving it to the 80,000 Olympic stadium -- the home of Rome’s two top-flight soccer clubs.
Meanwhile, fans are still waiting to get tickets in hand.
"It’s a disgrace," said lawyer Alexander. "My friends have bought expensive plane tickets and it seems touch-and-go whether we’ll be watching it in the stadium or in an Irish pub in Rome."
