Feb
18
2010
Wembley on the Cheap
Author: Donald Rowbotham
£10 of Quality Sporting Entertainment
As most everyone is aware the new Wembley Stadium and cheap are not normally synonymous, with the total cost of the build project being estimated to be £1 billion, the cost of a Club Wembley gold seat is a one-off 10-year-licence payment of £8,885 + £3,495 per annum, which provides you with all England senior games, Charity Shield, Carling Cup, FA cup and Rugby League Cup games played at Wembley – it probably works out to be an astonishing £400-£500 per game.
For those of you who have not been to Wembley or have children who you would like to take, there is a cheaper alternative to experience Wembley and especially the joys of Club Wembley. Anyone passing through Liverpool Street station and using the Bishopsgate underpass would probably not have failed to notice the billboard advertising the Premiership Rugby Union game at Wembley between Saracens and Worcester on Saturday 13th February 2009 with tickets from £10.
I have some very good friends who support Worcester and five of them duly arrived at my house in West London on the Saturday morning; after breakfast, we set off taking the 83 bus, which drops you at Wembley Park Station in order that you can have the experience of walking up Olympic Way. First stop was the ticket office, where six £10 tickets were ordered; we had no idea where these tickets would be but on inspecting them we discovered our entrance was to be Club Wembley East which takes you into the Club Wembley Concourse (level 2) normally entirely dedicated to Club Wembley seat holders. Our seats, wider and padded with armrests than the general admission seats, were probably of the Gold standard being fairly close to the half-way line. The Club Wembley concourse is a delight, roomy and with more facilities for eating, drinking and relieving yourself than most self-respecting grassroots supporters of sport would find decent, with hardly a queue to be seen and great views over London.
The game was enjoyable not quite up to the standard of the Wales v Scotland affair but certainly eclipsed the torrid England performance against Italy the next day, and probably more exciting than a lot of the England senior football games. The game hinged on a dropped try-scoring pass by the Worcester full-back Latham late in the second half, Worcester were in the lead at the time and this try would have probably sealed them a victory but, from the dropped ball, Saracens raced the 80 meters to score a converted try and duly won the game.
All in all it was a fabulous day out which, including £20 pounds into the beer kitty, a very fine curry afterwards and the travel, cost under £50 – a bargain.
TO might well be doing some corporate hospitality next time the Saracens are at home at Wembley!