The price of a day of watching grassroots rugby
If you want to get in touch with grassroots sport there are few better places than packing into the stands at your provincial rugby ground.
But the costs of an afternoon's entertainment at the footie can quickly mount. The price for admission - let alone a few cold bevvies - can be steep. And its not necessarily the unions you would expect who charge the most.
NATIONAL PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Who has the most expensive seats?
The best seats at Northland's Toll Stadium will this season sell for $50. The top seats at QBE Stadium to watch North Harbour will set punters back $45, while Manawatu Turbos fans will shell out $40 for prime views of their team in action.
In terms of season tickets for the NPC, Northland again sits atop the ladder. The not-insignificant sum of $225 gets a fan a seat to watch the Taniwha play their five games at home - a saving of $5 per matchday on the best seats.
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Entry to the ground for Otago's home games, meanwhile, will cost $25 for adults. As it's a flat rate, there are no cheaper options. For punters just wanting to go to a game - who don't care about having seats on half way - this is the most expensive ground for "cheapest tickets".
Bay of Plenty and Manawatu are the two next dearest for budget minded fans: both teams' stadiums charge adults $20 as their cheapest option. North Harbour charges $18 for their cheapest seat.
Otago's cheapest seats are at least twice the price of those on offer for seven other top-flight teams.
PHILLIP ROLLO
Tasman Makos fans watching an ITM Cup match at Trafalgar Park.
Who has the cheapest seats?
Auckland's tickets are a flat $15 for adults, making their most expensive tickets at least three times cheaper than their two northern neighbours in North Harbour and Northland.
Eight of the 14 top-flight teams offer cheap adult options at $15 or less.
Waikato, Taranaki and Counties have $10 entries to their grounds.
Food and drink at the ground
Perhaps predictably, Auckland and Wellington have the most expensive beers. Eden Park and Westpac Stadium both charge $8 per beer. Northland charges $7.50. At the other end of the spectrum, Tasman, Taranaki and Hawke's Bay rugby offer cold ones for $5 each.
A punnet of hot chips is the great leveller in New Zealand top-flight rugby, with chips at every ground costing between $4 and $5.
A bottle of water at Otago and Waikato costs a whopping $5.50, almost double the $3 charged at Hawke's Bay and Tasman.
At 8 of the 14 NPC grounds, a bottle of water costs more than a soft drink.
Tasman and Taranaki fans, meanwhile, don't have pies at their grounds. Of the teams that do, Auckland charges the most at $6.
Cheapest day out - adult
We've put together the cost of one cheapest matchday ticket, a beer and hot chips to give a common "day out" price.
The average price of this measure is about $25.60.
The same deal at Otago, however, would run you as high as $37.
At Tasman, you could be entertained, fed and have a beer, all for just $19. For $37 (the Otago comparison) at a Makos' game, you could get a ticket, plus three beers and three punnets of chips - if you wanted.
Cheapest day out - adult and child
We added the cost of taking a child to the rugby by combining the cost of an adult day out with a kid's ticket, a soft drink and an extra punnet of chips.
Otago again tops the ladder here, where it would cost $54.50 for an adult-child day out.
Less than half the price of their southern neighbours, an adult and child could have a feed and catch a game of rugby in Tasman for just $25.50 - with kids free to the ground with an adult, and much cheaper food and drinks prices.
