Farce de France ticket refund deadline

Disgruntled France and Ireland fans have until February 24 to claim their money back for tickets to the Six Nations match that was postponed from last weekend to March 4.

The game was supposed to have been played on Saturday, but English referee Dave Pearson was forced to postpone the match minutes before the kick-off because parts of the Stade de France pitch were frozen and posed a danger to players.

Dubbing "very regrettable" the postponement that "left thousands of supporters disappointed and frustrated", the Six Nations Council said that the game would now kick off at 15.00 GMT on Sunday, March 4.

Should fans who bought tickets wish to attend the rescheduled match in Paris, their previous ticket will guarantee entry, the French Rugby Federation (FFR) said Wednesday.

Philip Browne, Chief Executive of the Irish Rugby Football Union, said that he had lobbied hard to get the FFR to even refund the tickets for those fans who will not be able to afford the considerable cost of returning to Paris.

"While the timelines are not ideal for supporters, we have pushed hard to get this undertaking from the French Federation to refund ticket costs for Irish supporters who are unable to attend the rescheduled match," he said.

"The team, and the IRFU, hugely appreciate the effort and expense Irish supporters went to in order to be at the match and we hope this gesture will go some way towards making up for the inconvenience they suffered."

The federation laid out the procedure for ticket refunds on its website (http://www.ffr.fr/var/corporate/storage/original/application/75534e5c19736cbdb839d3bfcc8f9c6c.pdf).

AFP