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SA board offer free tickets for women's World Cup

Free tickets are being offered for the eighth women's World Cup which is being held in and around Pretoria and gets underway on Tuesday (March 22)

Cricinfo staff
16-Mar-2005
Free tickets are being offered for the eighth women's World Cup which is being held in and around Pretoria and gets underway on Tuesday (March 22). Entry is free for all matches except the final at Centurion, where tickets are just R20 (£1.80).
The free entry offer forms part of a marketing drive by the South African board (UCB) which includes TV adverts and interviews with the women's team during the recent men's series against England. More than 12,000 flyers have been distributed in clubs and schools.
But the marketing push is limited by the relatively low budget of just R5 million (£450,000) - and the organisers have failed to find a sponsor. Cricinfo contributed £40,000 to the World Cup in New Zealand 2000, while Hero Honda sponsored the 1997-98 tournament in India but funding for this tournament has come exclusively from the IWCC and South African donors such as the Lotto. The UCB marketing manager, Ros Goldin, admits that marketing efforts could have been greater.
"We're not doing terribly much marketing," Goldin told BBC Sport. "but that's because there are no sponsors. The bulk of our miniscule marketing budget is going into signage and branding to at least give the games an event atmosphere."