SPORTS LETTERS: Rugby fudge

Sir: I read with interest Mike Rowbottom's "Grand Slam for rugby's corporate hosts," (18 March) on pirate corporate hospitality at Twickenham. While I feel the article was very fair and accurate, I do wish to take issue with the point where you quote Mike Burton as saying, "Why can't the ordinary little chap get a ticket?" I feel it is unlikely that, at anything up to £750 a throw, any `ordinary chap' is going to be receiving any of Burton's tickets.

The only ordinary chaps who he looks after are the ones who wish to benefit from the official allocation given to their club. This allocation is due to the stand the RFU take in limiting the number of tickets they allow to corporate hospitality in order to protect the clubs' interests.

Yours faithfully

ALAN PAYNE

Managing Director, Payne &

Gunter, Middlesex