Ospreys Vs. Scarlets

VS.

Tonight dad went to his first professional rugby game and saw the Neath-Swansea Ospreys vs. the Llanelli Scarlets. If you remember my previous post Llanelli is pronounced "Kknekki" if you can sound that out. Of course I wasn't invited because it was past my bedtime! Anyway, the Scarlets are the most famous rugby team in Wales and the Scarlets franchise goes back more than a century. They are sort of the Yankees of Welsh rugby except... they don't buy all their players.

There were a lot of interesting differences between Welsh sporting events and North American sporting events. Starting with the uniforms professional Welsh (and this is true throughout European sport). As you can see NPOWER is the main sponsor this year for the Ospreys, you can see their logo on the front of the above jersey. This is a lot different from, say, major league baseball, that nearly had a meltdown when the Yankees attempted to put a 'Spiderman' web on the bases as a promotion for the Spiderman movie. Wait a second, I wasn't born yet when that happened. How did I know that?

Getting tickets was the most difficult time of the night. Despite a game that wasn't anywhere near sold out the game needed to be postponed because the queues (lineups) were so long. Can you imagine a hockey, football, basketball, or baseball game being delayed because fans were still waiting to get into the stadium? Not likely I think. And what do I know I've never been to a professional sports event. Dad just tells me stuff. I also think it unlikely that a) that many people would not have tickets before the game, and b) that a North American sporting venue would not have the ability to process tickets and fill the stadium. I saw people walk away tonight because the line was too long. Not good for business.

Getting in the gate was the another adventure. Dad thinks he touched on this when he went to the Swansea Swans soccer match. You literally need to turn sideways to get into the stadium. Then you inch along and hand in your ticket, and then roll through a turnstyle (still sideways) and finally into the stadium. Anyone of any size would have a serious issue getting into the stadium. Apparently this is set up that way as a precautionary measure to prevent fans from storming the gate (a major problem in Europe but not one I have heard of in North America).

Concessions are not easy to track down either. Outside the gate people were selling programs for the evening's match. Dad figured "I'll pick one up inside", no you won't dad, there weren't any for sale inside! And, once you are in your seat you need to go get your own food because it ain't coming. Unlike most venues in North America you need to go get your food at the concessions below.

Another interesting thing, at the start of the game the first few players bring young children onto the field. This is also common in European sport and I always figured that these were the players children. No! Individuals pay money (for the Ospreys it was 250 GBP) for their children to walk on the field with the players! Now 250 GBP (about $450 USD) isn't a crazy amount of money but imagine what it would cost for a child to walk on the field with a team like Manchester United? It would cost a small fortune and children walk on the field every game...

It was a beautiful night, again thanks for inviting me dad, and interesting to see how they do their national pastime in Wales.

P.S. - Dad didn't take the top picture but did take the other pictures from his seats (like you couldn't tell).