It's Dublin - Thats Final!

With support from Irish Tourism, Dublin City Council, title sponsors Heineken and broadcast partners RTE, he gave an insight into why Dublin was chosen as the final venue in September and underlined the fact it will still be played in the Irish capital.

This is what he had to say...

WHY ERC PRE-CHOSE THE FINAL VENUE

Two years ago, taking on board the exceptional growth of the tournament and the desire to create a stage that the Heineken Cup final now deserves, as well as developing what is the shop window of the event, ERC took a very brave decision to announce the Millennium Stadium as its venue for the 2002 Heineken Cup final before the start of the competition.

I don't think anybody could argue that that was a fantastic sporting event and, following on from that great success, ERC was very keen to continue with its policy of pre-selecting a final venue in order to give everyone connected with the tournament a true focal point.

WHY DUBLIN?

Dublin was chosen because ERC was seeking a major European capital city in which to host the Heineken Cup final, a venue that is attractive to tourists and which has a proven track record in hosting major sporting events. Equally important was the fact that Dublin, and Ireland as a whole, has a very strong and supportive sporting public which takes a huge interest in major events. We also took into account the huge contribution that Irish sides have made to the on-going success of the Heineken Cup.

We announced our decision that Lansdowne Road would host the eighth Heineken Cup final last September. It was well received and supported by everybody at the time. In fact, the only criticism we received about our decision was that Lansdowne Road might not be big enough for the event.

WHY WE AREN'T MOVING TO FRANCE?

We have received a large number of contacts from within our organisation and from all over France about the venue for the final. We have also had communications from as far as Japan and Australia concerning our decision to keep the final in Dublin. We thank everyone for their interest. It shows just how much public ownership has been taken of the Heineken Cup final.

But ERC ultimately is the body that must decide these matters and having considered very carefully all aspects of our decision we believe that the right course of action is to confirm our previous decision that the eighth Heineken Cup Final will be played in Dublin on 24 May.

We have to consider our commitments to our sponsors, to the city authorities in Dublin, with whom we have worked so closely since September when we announced Lansdowne Road as the final venue and who are determined to turn the event into a major success for everyone, and to those 6,000 fans who bought tickets when they went on sale in January, as well as the 1200 hospitality packages already sold.

THE MOOD IN FRANCE

There is no doubt that French supporters have dreamed of this moment and they are ecstatic at the prospect of one of their teams returning to the top of the pile in European professional club rugby. French teams have contested five of our previous seven finals, but the title hasn't gone to France since Brive beat Leicester in 1997.

With their great enthusiasm has come a passion to see the first all-French final in the Heineken Cup played on French soil. Yet it wasn't until around 5.00pm last Sunday that there was any thought of the final being played anywhere else other than Lansdowne Road.

We have listened very carefully to what has been said and our Chairman, Jean-Pierre Lux, has fielded the full weight of France's expectations for the final. But, having confirmed our decision to keep the final in Dublin, the French clubs have accepted our decision and are now preparing to come to Dublin in large numbers.

WHAT ARE WE DOING FOR THE IRISH FANS?

There is obviously a feeling of deep disappointment among Irish rugby fans that neither Munster nor Leinster has reached the Heineken Cup final. Our first reaction in presenting this final to the Irish fans was that the event could arguably become the victim of the outstanding success of Irish rugby this season on both the European club and international fronts.

But that should in no way detract from the quality of the occasion on 24 May, nor does it in any way diminish our confidence that the Irish sporting public will get behind Dublin's great opportunity to showcase itself as a city capable of hosting major events.

We have already put in a lot of groundwork with our commercial partners and the city fathers here in Dublin and we will be building on that in the as the match between Perpignan and Toulouse approaches on 24 May.

We are launching a national radio campaign next week featuring three Irish rugby greats - the man who knows what it's like to hold aloft the Heineken Cup at Lansdowne Road, Ulster's David Humphreys; the Munsterman who knows all about the agony of reaching the Heineken Cup final and seeing the ultimate prize go to someone else, Mick Galwey and the Dubliner who hopes to be crowned a European champion on 24 May, Trevor Brennan.

We have a national newspaper campaign running from this weekend and I am delighted that our title sponsors, Heineken, are running a TV campaign to promote the final alongside their already highly praised poster and in-house campaigns.

The Dublin authorities are also throwing their support fully behind the final and you will notice flags and banners going up around the city to heighten awareness of this major event.

TICKET PROMOTIONS

We have adjusted our expectations on the attendance at the final and, after consulting with the IRFU, we have decided to reconfigure Lansdowne Road along the lines of the soccer internationals that take place there. This means we will be installing touchline seating which will reduce the capacity to 40,000. It also means our customers will have better facilities on the day.

We have introduced a number of attractive ticket packages, which are outlined in a separate release, and we are starting our final push to fill Lansdowne Rod comfortable in the knowledge that almost 20,000 tickets have already been snapped up.

As well as the 6,000 that were bought within three hours in January by the general public, we also have 5,000 committed to ERC, our commercial and broadcast partners. Toulouse have asked for an initial allocation of 10,000 tickets and Perpignan have taken a first draft of 2,000.

Tickets go on sale today from Ticketmaster and are available at all their outlets and via their website. Once again, full details can be found on the hand-out.

We have also made available, via the four IRFU Branch offices, 500 schools tickets that are priced at 5 euros.

THE HEINEKEN CUP FINAL, 24 MAY - PERPIGNAN V TOULOUSE

Toulouse have been chasing the Heineken Cup ever since they won it in its inaugural year. It is the title they coveted most and, judging by the scenes after their semi-final win over Munster when the team carried around the stadium the advertising hoarding saying '24 May, Dublin', they are looking forward to coming to Ireland later this month.

Perpignan showed to the Irish rugby public just how good a side they are by becoming the first team to beat Leinster in the tournament this season in the semi-final at Lansdowne Road. They will return full of confidence.

It promises to be a game, and an occasion, not to be missed.

JEAN-PIERRE LUX, ERC CHAIRMAN added...

It seems quite some time since I announced to the rugby world that we would be playing the final in Dublin on May 24.

For the record, it was at Welford Road, Leicester, on September 30 last year - some 213 days ago - and our decision was well received by everyone at the time.

Since telling the clubs, fans and other interested parties in the tournament, that all roads in the 2003 Heineken Cup would lead to Dublin, much work has gone into ensuring our main event will be yet another spectacular rugby occasion.

We have certainly got two great teams in the final. Toulouse and Perpignan proved that last weekend by beating the top two Irish sides, Munster and Leinster Lions, and their traditional rivalry will provide the final with an unique experience.

It will be the first time we have had two teams from one country in the Heineken Cup final and it will be fascinating to see who comes out on top.

The quality of the finals has grown tremendously since Toulouse won our first title in 1996 and I am confident we can build on the successes of recent seasons on May 24 when we will witness one of Europe's major sporting events being staged in the heart of one of Europe's best loved capital cities.

I have been coming to Dublin since I was a player in the French side many years ago. Lansdowne Road is a great place to play and Dublin is a superb place to visit. I'm sure the players and fans of both Toulouse and Perpignan will have a weekend to remember for the rest of their lives.

I would like to thank our commercial partners, and particularly our title sponsors Heineken, the Irish Rugby Union and the Dublin authorities for making such an effort on behalf of tournament. It seems to me that everyone wants to turn May 24 into a major success. Now it is over to the people of Dublin, and rugby fans up and down Ireland and across Europe, to embrace this wonderful fixture and join the party.