One is its advocacy of free
markets to ensure economic growth and wealth; the other is its espousal of One
Nation as a means to foster community cohesion.
It was the occurrence of the final round of matches in
this year’s Six Nations rugby tournament, of all things, which prompted me to
consider the wisdom of these two pillars of socio-economic philosophy.
The prospect of Ireland playing England in London
on Saint Patrick’s Day so whetted patriotic instincts that the possibility of
attending the showdown in Twickenham stadium was an imperative that had to be
considered.
Unlike in England whose media expect their sporting teams
to win everything, the task of taking Europe’s premier rugby competition and
beating all comers has almost always eluded Ireland.
That is apart from the year before my birth
and on one other occasion. This once in
my lifetime feat occurred as recently as 2009. It had taken 61 years of trying. On that occasion, I managed to get a ticket at
the very last minute in Cardiff after a day and a half of shameless begging on
the city’s streets.
 |
| This social media post from a Worcester Warriors fan three weeks before England played Ireland says it all |
In the penultimate round of matches this month a week
before our encounter with England, Ireland had done enough to win the Six Nations
tournament regardless of the final day’s results.
The bigger prize, the Holy
Grail, was to achieve a clean sweep - a grand slam - defeating all five other
countries.
The rarity value for us of such an achievement heightens
anticipation significantly.
And having
been in the shrine of Welsh rugby on the one available opportunity nine years
ago, symmetry was compelling me to attend the London showdown.
I began attempts to find tickets by contacting friends in
Britain about five days before the game.
As I waited impatiently for replies, a newspaper article[i] reported a predictable
sequence. This is the inevitable
consequence of demand outstripping supply, resulting in a black market for
tickets.
The article quoted England’s Rugby Football Union as urging people not
to buy tickets on offer at well above face value. Free market economics takes full rein, I
thought, in spite of RFU words.
According to the article, “the RFU...is doing everything
in its power to curtail unofficial sales... as well as internet sites such as
Viagogo, eBay, Seatwave and GetMeIn.”
I
wondered what sanctions or other authoritative actions they might be taking, if
any.
The newspaper gave an example of
tickets priced at £3750 on a site called Stubhub.
Despite warnings of this kind from the sport’s governing
bodies, buyers might feel confused and perplexed. These sales outlets are legally constituted
companies and seem to be tolerated by the regulatory authorities.
They are witness to the untrammelled working
of the free market.
Six days before the game, I had discovered that I could
fly over and back for about £80. Not extortionate and an argument in favour of
travelling.
Exasperated by the lack of
progress from approaches to various friends and contacts, I decided to think
about examining the ticket sales websites myself. This was against my better judgement but out
of curiosity.
Eventually, four days
before match-day I succumbed to have a sneak peep at the ticketing websites.
The first one I examined was e-Bay.
It showed two tickets with a face value of
£124 each. Quite expensive, but probably
worth it in the circumstances. Their resale
and somewhat inflated asking price, however, was for a total of £2400 (“free
postage” included, presumably to lessen the severity of the knock-out blow).
In response to the site’s invitation to make
an offer, I posted a bid of £300. An
instant reply declined the offer with an invitation to make another offer.
Rather than react instantaneously, I sat down with a cup
of tea and read some chapters of a crime fiction thriller novel in an attempt
to think rationally and to restore my faith in human nature.
I also wanted to avoid giving the impression
of being very ready to yield easily to a seller’s greed.
Before going back onto eBay, I looked at GetMeIn website
which advertised tickets from £605.
However, when I clicked on the actual purchase price, it displayed a
figure of £988. Worse still, when I
proceeded to the check-out stage, the total price for two £988 tickets (with
the addition of unspecified fees) became £2326.94.
Disappointing can be used as a polite word to express masterly
understatement.
I know well, however,
that free market advocates will defend the exploitation of supply and demand by
arguing that that is how market forces (and apparently Government) work.
Ninety minutes after having an initial offer rejected on
eBay, I increased my bid from £300 to £500 for the two £124 tickets. At almost four times their face value, this
constitutes a generous bid by that yardstick.
In a message aimed squarely at the seller’s social conscience, I wrote
in a helpful textbox that I am classified as elderly living on a pension.
For extra pathos, I added that I am
recovering from hip and pelvic injuries sustained in a hit and run road
accident.
Almost before I had pressed send, another instant
rejection message came back. It slapped
me in the face with such alacrity that I slumped in shock, stunned.
It would have been impossible for the seller
to have read and considered my circumstances. The reply did, with magnanimous fairness,
invite me to make a third and final offer.
Despite being urged to bid again, I did wonder if there
is any point in dealing with a mercenary seller even if his feedback rating is perfect
with, somehow, a 100% positive rating. This
is further empirical evidence of the free market’s truthful working.
The one other site I examined was called StubHub as it
offered tickets at £875.
Going through the same process, the total for a pair
worked out, not as £875 x 2, but rather as £2126.25.
Hardened in attitude against this free market,
and forewarned by the advice from the toothless RFU, I declined this further
opportunity to deal with extortion.
Meanwhile
flight prices remained dynamic but reasonably constant, with minor daily
variations.
Despite the signal failure to repeat doing my patriotic
duty, this is a story with a happy ending, as everybody knows. Our team achieved the clean sweep; national
pride, civic pride, rural pride, gay pride - every pride you can think of - all were restored.
I
was left wondering if it is too much to suggest that this sporting occasion might
be a metaphor for how things could be. Is
it fanciful to think that elected representatives could learn from the sporting
model?
All of this coincides with the uncertainty of a time when
seemingly irreconcilable differences deprive Northern Ireland of regional
governance for well over a year.
And it’s also a time when questions continue over Westminster’s policy to implement the popular campaign-winning, if oxymoronic, pledge to take back control of its borders which it wants to be invisible.
And it’s also a time when questions continue over Westminster’s policy to implement the popular campaign-winning, if oxymoronic, pledge to take back control of its borders which it wants to be invisible.
In numbers, the rugby grand slam victors in 2018 are the
one of the Six Nations teams which accumulated the most points (26), an island (quoting
its anthem) of “four proud Provinces” partitioned into two constitutionally distinctive
jurisdictions.
And despite adversity, such
as years of disappointment and underachieving in the quest for
success, it has succeeded as One Nation on the field of international play.
 |
| Best of the 6 Nations |
This is not a romantic idyll to be dismissed
lightly.
The publicity and boost for our
image internationally goes a long way to counteract pictures of division and recidivism. Success has come off a modus operandi which has
been developed patiently over time.
This
method is based on solid principles of life and on standards for diplomatic
behaviour.
These include developing a specific strategy for each
encounter, moving forward from past failures and building on progress, adoption
of a positive and can-do mind-set in the interests of the greater good, co-operative
working across seamless borders without friction, players united in taking
risks calculated to achieve a big objective and, crucially, employing creative leadership
which inspires.
On the eve of the St Patrick’s Day fixture, this very
example of sport providing a role model bringing people together was eloquently
envisaged by “Northern Ireland’s daily newspaper.”[ii]
Happily
on this occasion, our team delivered[iii].
Don’t say there are no parallels or lessons
to be learned.
©Michael McSorley 2018
[i]
Belfast Telegraph 13 March 2018 page 3 Ian Begley: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/rugby/six-nations/tickets-for-irelands-grand-slam-bid-on-sale-for-4k-36698954.html
[ii]
Belfast Telegraph 16 March 2018 p 12 Martin O’Brien: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/tomorrow-ireland-will-come-together-as-never-before-for-st-patricks-day-and-the-rugby-wouldnt-it-just-be-great-if-it-was-like-this-all-the-time-36710160.html
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