Connacht Rugby do season ticket renewals right

Connacht may be the fourth-ranked province in Ireland right now, but it sounds like their season ticket holders are getting a top class, and very personal, service.

Rugby season tickets are increasingly popular in Ireland but with the recession still biting down on us all, it can take something a little bit special to get fans to fork out their hard-earned cash.

Connacht know that more than most, and they have introduced an extremely innovative way to get their fans to renew for yet another season of Heineken Cup action at the Sportsground.

According to the Connacht website, Johnny O’Connor, John Muldoon, Gavin Duffy, Brett Wilkinson, Mike McCarthy, Michael Swift, Frank Murphy and Adrian Flavin all spent last night giving last season’s ticket holders a call.

The players rang up to talk about pre-season, the upcoming year, and, of course, to remind them that there were still tickets left for 2012-13.

Connacht’s head of marketing Alex Saul said of the move: “We wanted to reconnect with those supporters who had yet to renew their season tickets. It was a really insightful evening for everyone and the players really enjoyed the experience of chatting with the fans.”

Unsurprisingly, a few were not sure the calls were legit. “We had one or two surprised people,” said Saul, “who weren’t sure if it was a prank! The main thing is that everyone had fun and there wasn’t one person who didn’t appreciate the call even if they weren’t in a position to renew. Everyone at the club appreciates how important our supporters are to us and we want to retain and recruit the best of fans, the same as we do with players.”

Some may think it a bit cheesy but we think it’s a great way for the players and fans to interact in a positive way and one which may help the province get supporters for life.

We doubt if any of the other three provinces have to resort to such measures but perhaps the lads in the FAI and GAA could take note of such positive ideas.

Picture from Connacht Rugby website