Rugby League: Kiwis rush to snap up free Warriors tickets

Sydney-based Cantabrian Catrina Woodward admits she is more of a supporter of rugby union than league.

But that didn't stop her from being among thousands of expatriate New Zealanders who rushed to get free tickets today to see the New Zealand Warriors battle Cronulla for a place in the National Rugby League grand final.

The Warriors' major sponsor, Vodafone, bought 10,000 cheap seats and made them available to anyone who could produce a New Zealand passport at a Ticketek booking office in Australia.

Normal prices for the preliminary final at Telstra Stadium on Sunday range from $A45 ($NZ53) to $A15 ($NZ18).

In downtown Sydney, Woodward waited patiently in line for 90 minutes to get her maximum quota of four tickets.

The first 3000 on offer disappeared just as Woodward had inched her way to near the head of the queue, forcing a 50-minute delay as the next batch was made available.

A Crusader fan who moved to Australia with her husband last year, Woodward said she probably wouldn't have gone to the match if it weren't for the free seats.

"We had looked at it, but we saw the tickets were $A45 and decided it was too expensive," she said.

"But this is just awesome. It will be the first time I've watched a big league match live and it will be great to be with 10,000 other Kiwis."

The 27-year-old personal assistant said good-natured trans-Tasman sporting rivalry was the norm between her and her Australian colleagues at work and "there's always a bit of give and take".

But she felt the NRL's placement of a newspaper advertisement bemoaning the prospect of the New Zealand team making the grand final went one step too far.

"I was pretty annoyed about that - it was a pretty horrible thing to say," she said.

"The Warriors mightn't be Australian, but they've still worked pretty hard to get where they are. They had some shocking seasons, but they've been brilliant over the past couple of years."

Warriors chief executive Mick Watson said the 10,000 seats were snapped up within two hours.

Club chairman Eric Watson followed up by putting an extra 5000 free tickets on the table, bringing the total to 15,000.

Watson had intended to make an additional 10,000 tickets available but Ticketek became deluged with requests, slowing their system and forcing them to halve Watson's allocation.

"None of this would have been possible if it wasn't for Eric Watson and Vodafone managing director Tim Miles," Mick Watson said.

"Two of New Zealand's leading businessmen have put a stake firmly in the ground, deciding they refuse to sit back while Australians lead an anti-Kiwi campaign.".

Meanwhile, an NRL spokesman said a crowd of about 40,000 was expected at the 80,000-capacity ground.

- NZPA