The Warriors finished this year’s NRL season in fourth - earning a home playoff for the first time since 2008. Tickets for Saturday’s game against the Knights at Mt Smart have been the most sought-after in the country, selling out in less than an hour. A Warriors member who’s beenthere “since day one” missed out - but all was not lost, as Will Toogood reports.
Since 1995, the only home games Smith has missed were when he was on sabbatical as a teacher. To make up, he’s been to both grand finals the Warriors have played in, published and edited Rugby League Times, become a life member of the Auckland Rugby League Referees’ Association and can tell you play-by-play how the Warriors were robbed in their first game.
“If I’ve been in the country, I’ve been at the game and I don’t know how many other people could say that.”
As a member, Smith had assumed he’d easily get a ticket. He logged on to buy but was told by the system that he “didn’t exist”. A secondary option to enter his birthday gave him the same message. Smith had commitments, and by the time he got home later that day, the tickets were sold out.
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The NRL have jurisdiction over tickets sold for playoff games. Members had pre-access but were unable to get their exact seats. Members were sent codes by the NRL to access the pre-sale, but Smith claims he can prove he never got one.
Robin Smith and his son Jaxon travelled to Newcastle for the opening match of the Rugby League World Cup.
Smith contacted the Herald saying he’d tried to reach the NRL but to no avail. Always striving to use the power of the Fourth Estate for good, NZ Herald Sport went straight to the source.
The NRL then became Robin’s Batman - asking for his details so they could be passed to its ticketing team - then a spokesperson announced: “The NRL has been in contact with the patron and supplied tickets for the game”.
Smith said he got the call from the NRL and that it made his day.
“I just got the call and they’ve sent two tickets by email! Great news. Thank you and thank you NRL.”
Smith says he knows his preparation could have been better and while he’s not trying to have a crack at the club or NRL “it’s the principle”.
“I don’t want to drop the Warriors in it.”
Faith and loyalty are the principles imprinted on the Warriors club DNA and Smith says he has shown both throughout his 28 years as a member.
”Here’s a classic example of somebody who is loyal to the bitter end. Remember that DB one?”
Warriors fans have been through thick and thin, more often thin than thick - but Smith reckons he’s never lost the faith.
“I was one of those people at Mt Smart, they called it Ericsson then, when there’s only 6000 other people there when it was pissing down with rain and no one wanted to come to the games because the Warriors were at their absolute low.”
Being a member for as long as Smith has comes with advantages. Over 20 years he has inched closer and closer each season to what he calls “the best seat in the house”.
“Exactly halfway, halfway up the main stand. It’s taken me 20 years of buying tickets and moving box by box, code by code, moving to that position, taken me 20 years to get there.”
Instead of his usual best-in-house seat, Smith was going to have to venture in to the underworld of second-hand tickets, saying that’s been his modus operandi when attending games overseas.
“I just stand outside and wave my hands around and hope someone comes along. Hoping that when I get to the game, there will be people who got six tickets and only five turned up.”
In the tale of Smith and the tickets, a happy ending was what we got. The ending to the Warriors fairy tale season is still to be told.
Will Toogood is an online sports editor for the NZ Herald. He has previously worked for Newstalk ZB’s digital team and at Waiheke’s Gulf News, covering sport and events.
Warriors v Knights: 6pm, Saturday – Alternative Commentary Collective on SKY Sport 9
