Lions fan's desperate bid for ticket

An avid Lions fan desperate to snare a ticket to the series opening match at Eden Park has sent a cheeky classified ad all the way from Canada.

Welshman Paul Dancey, 62, who lives in British Columbia and sells security systems, has his flights to Auckland and accommodation booked, but no ticket for the sold-out match.

So he decided to try his luck by placing an ad in the weddings section of the Herald.

"I was talking to a couple of my mates and somebody said stick it in the obituaries, and I didn't think that'd go down too well."

His unique listing was aimed at anyone with a match ticket who had been unlucky enough to double book their big day with the game.

"If by chance the date of your marriage coincides with the first test match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the British Lions on June 24 at Eden Park and you have a ticket for the match, I would be more than happy to take your place (at the match not the wedding)," the ad reads.

Dancey is willing to part with prized possessions to see the game, with his ad saying he "would even trade one of my Max Boyce albums for a ticket".

The ad was purely speculative, but a clash between a wedding and a major sporting event had arisen in Wales before, he said.

"You hear a rumour, 'Somebody's got a ticket for the game, bit of bad luck they're getting married that day or a bit of good luck he's got a spare ticket so you're able to go to the game because he's getting married'."

Dancey had a similar experience.

"I didn't realise when my wife booked our wedding, we married the day Wales played England in Cardiff."

With his travel plans already finalised, he said that if worse came to worst he would try to split a match ticket with his brother, who already has a ticket and is coming over from Brisbane for the game.

"Maybe he'll go for the first half and I'll go for the second half."

If he fails to get a ticket, he said he'd watch the match in a pub.

"It's not the end of the world."