The Power of Together – The Rugby League World Cup has been the pinnacle of international rugby league since 1954. Now contested every four years, with a series of qualification tournaments leading up to it, RLWC is open to all full and affiliate members of the International Rugby League (IRL).
For the first time, the men’s, women’s and wheelchair competitions will be staged in a single, celebratory event, culminating in an epic finals weekend to crown the champions of each. RLWC2021 is set to be an unmissable event!
RLWC2021 will take place twelve months later than originally planned, but we can’t wait to welcome the greatest athletes into some of the best stadia across England and have a global spotlight shone on Rugby League in 2022.
TicketPlan are the original innovators and market leaders in ticket refund protection and insurance. TicketPlan was established in 1999 enabling ticketing companies, venues and events to provide an added value service to ticket buyers and to develop a new and valuable incremental source of revenue. An ever-increasing number of organisations now trust TicketPlan to provide their ticket insurance and protection facilities.
Partnership
RLWC2021 have focused on making the fan the centre of everything they do in delivering the tournament. Every tournament partner has been carefully selected to ensure that they can contribute to the overall fan experience from initial excitement to attendance and enjoyment of the games themselves.
RLWC2021 were looking to offer fans the confidence to book tickets in advance of the tournament safe in the knowledge that their investments were protected should they be unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances such as accidents or unexpected illnesses.
TicketPlan have been providing the UK, Europe and North America’s leading ticketing companies, venues, events and sports clubs with refund protection and insurance facilities since 1999 and have long been established as the market leaders in this sector.
TicketPlan’s tailored solutions and flexibility in approach were a perfect fit in terms of what RLWC wanted to deliver to their fans and agreed to form a partnership creating a bespoke solution to enable fans to buy tickets to the tournament with confidence.
COVID-19 and overcoming challenges
It became apparent as the pandemic took hold that despite not being readily available, in order to truly provide fans with confidence to book tickets to the tournament, COVID-19 would need to be included within the scope of the refund protection provided.
TicketPlan and RLWC2021 collaborated to reach a landing on a suitable level of cover for the illness among the many other covered reasons whilst keeping the protection at an affordable level for fans.
As more and more ticketing options became available throughout the release schedule, RLWC2021 and TicketPlan further collaborated to deliver a premium protection offering, enabling fans purchasing higher value, VIP and hospitality tickets with the confidence to book in advance while at the same time protect the investment they were making.
With the regrettable but understandable decision to postpone the tournament to 2022 during a period of uncertainty in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic, RLWC2021 and TicketPlan ensured that despite the protection technically ceasing once the tournament was postponed that for those fans looking to carry forward their tickets to the rescheduled dates, that they could also carry forward any TicketPlan protection that they had purchased together with their tickets whilst at the same time conveying this message clearly to fans affordable level for fans.
Moving Forward
RLWC2021 will provide Rugby League fans, sports fans in general and fans attending a major tournament for the first time with incredible entertainment and an experience like no other.
It’s rare that all-encompassing sports celebrations such as RLWC2021 occur on these shores and tournament organisers are working hard to deliver the most fan-centric event to date.
Organisers will continue to work with partners such as TicketPlan to deliver products and services which provide certainty during these uncertain times and enable fans to look forward to the tournament confident that their investments in their tickets are protected should the worst happen and they not be able to attend.
The agility of both RLWC and TicketPlan has enabled these solutions to be tailored further and being there for the fans every step of the way.
Testimonials
Ben Bray – Relationship and Development Director of TicketPlan: “We are incredibly proud to partner with RLWC2021 and provide fans with the confidence to book tickets in advance of what will be a truly spectacular tournament in 2022.
“Shah and the team at RLWC2021 have been incredibly diligent and adaptable in dealing with the challenges that have been presented in delivering the tournament whilst maintaining the fan at the heart of every decision that they’ve taken.”
Shah-Zeib Ahmed – Head of Ticketing at RLWC2021: “In order to deliver a world-class customer experience in both the build-up and the delivery of the RLWC2021, we decided – rightly – to partner together with TicketPlan and help our ticket applicants buy with confidence. The collaboration with Ben and his team has been exemplary and we look forward to delivering the RLWC2021 together with TicketPlan.
“It’s truly been a pleasure collaborating with them to overcome the many curve balls that have been thrown our way throughout the pandemic and to combine to deliver a highly valuable service to fans and we look forward to continuing our fantastic relationship through to the final whistles of all the 3 tournaments.”
Shah-Zeib Ahmed, Head of Ticketing, Rugby League World Cup 2021, will speak on a session entitled ‘Ticketing the Rugby League World Cup’ at 9.30am on Friday, December 3 at TheTicketingBusiness Forum next week in Manchester.
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