Thomond Park Stadium Access Statement

Thomond Park Stadium Director John Cantwell issued a statement today regarding Stadium Access. We would like to acknowledge that there were a number of issues that arose regarding access into Thomond Park stadium at last Saturday’s Match against Leinster. We, Munster Rugby and Thomond Park Stadium, would like to apologise to anyone who was inconvenienced and affected by this. There were a number of contributing factors, however following a review over the weekend and today we have identified that the automated access procedure (automated Turnstiles) are creating a bottleneck which is contributing to a significant proportion of the problem. We have therefore decided not to use the automated turnstiles for the next two matches in Thomond Park Stadium and will revert to staff operated hand held scanners controlling access through the turnstiles. This decision has been taken in order to improve the efficiency of access on match days whilst we undertake a full review of the automated system both internally and with our suppliers. We would continue to ask all Supporters to arrive at Thomond Park at least one hour before kick off time for the next two matches to ensure that all ticketholders are processed in an orderly and efficient manner. John Cantwell, Thomond Park Stadium Director Filed by J. Kiernan 7 April 2009