Due to unprecedented public interest, the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Sting’s 20-year reunion game will now be a ticketed event.
Organiser Donna Wilkins said news of the game, to be staged at ILT Stadium Southland on July 21, had been greeted with an overwhelming response, forcing a rethink of initial plans to take donations at the door.
“Given the potential demand, we’ve decided to sell tickets to the game to prevent long queues and also ensure people who are travelling some distance know they are actually guaranteed a seat,” Wilkins said.
“We don’t want people to arrive and potentially miss out so pre-sales will provide them with the reassurance they will be able to witness all the fun on court.”
Tickets will cost $15 for adults and $10 for children under 15 years of age with all proceeds going to the Tania Dalton Foundation to support young female athletes in New Zealand across a variety of codes.
Existing Southern Steel VIP Members will have an exclusive opportunity to purchase their tickets to the Sting game with sales starting after the Steel’s ANZ Premiership game against the Pulse on Monday night (July 2). Tickets will be on sale post-game from 9pm to 10pm that night, or from 9am on Tuesday, July 3, to 5pm on Thursday, July 5.
Tickets purchased by VIP members during this time will have access to a reserved area in the Ray Harper Stand for the Sting game.
Tickets will then go on sale to the public from 10am on Friday, July 6. All seating at the game will be general admission.
The reunion will be the first time former Sting players and management have gathered since the franchise’s inception in 1998.
The Sting was heralded as one of New Zealand’s most successful sports teams after winning seven national titles and contesting every grand final during its 10-year dominance of the domestic netball scene from 1998 to 2007 – a feat unrivalled.
Just 42 players ever represented the Sting with a large contingent expected to gather in Invercargill for the reunion. Among the 27 players already confirmed are former internationals Bernice Mene, Lesley Rumball, Adine Wilson, Belinda Colling, Anna Galvan and Natalie Avellino.
