Ebay Asked to Stop Sale of Cup Final Tickets

The Rugby Football League has asked the internet auction site Ebay to withdraw over 100 tickets for the Challenge Cup final at Wembley on August 25. The tickets have been posted since Wigan's semi-final defeat by Catalans Dragons last Sunday.

"The attraction of the new Wembley has seen a massive demand for tickets," said the RFL's communications manager, Craig Spence. "Unfortunately, it appears a number of ticket holders are cashing in . . . by trying to sell their tickets via online auction sites. The terms and conditions for all our match tickets state that they cannot be resold. We're informing them that unless they remove their tickets from sale we will make their tickets void and they will not be entitled to a refund."

With 10,000 tickets allocated to each finalist, thousands of Wigan and St Helens fans bought seats before the semi-finals in case their team reached the first Wembley final since 1999. Almost all of the 55,000 tickets available centrally had been sold before last weekend. The Catalans are likely to take up around 5,000 and have already filled three planes and are close to arranging a train service to London.

St Helens face Hull tonight without Leon Pryce, who is suspended for squeezing the testicles of Bradford's prop Sam Burgess in the semi-final. At Salford, Hull KR expect up to 3,000 travelling supporters as they aim to pull three points clear of the Reds at the bottom of the Super League.