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Crowds: Increasing challenge in Super Rugby

Printed From: Lionsworld
Category: Rugby Competitions
Forum Name: Super Rugby
Forum Description: Super Rugby
URL: http://www.lionsworld.co.za/forumnew/forum_posts.asp?TID=8678
Printed Date: 26-Jun-2024 at 2:23pm
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Topic: Crowds: Increasing challenge in Super Rugby
Posted By: Transvaal
Subject: Crowds: Increasing challenge in Super Rugby
Date Posted: 10-Feb-2020 at 1:30pm
https://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/SuperRugby/crowds-increasing-challenge-in-super-rugby-20200210" rel="nofollow - https://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/SuperRugby/crowds-increasing-challenge-in-super-rugby-20200210

Excessive tinkering with the format, too many teams, the mass migration of southern-hemisphere players to juicier deals on the other side of the equator ... many of us have pretty much accepted already that Super Rugby's heyday in the late 1990s is unlikely to be repeated.

But there is also increasing, deeply worrying confirmation in the early stages of this year's competition that attendances only continue to slide, tournament wide.

The completion of two rounds means that the majority of sides have now played at least one home fixture - in South Africa only the Bulls are an exception - and the portents are extremely poor for any turnaround in stadium interest in 2020.

It is a sad day for old-timers, really, when a gate of 27 301 for a Stormers v Bulls fixture on a sun-soaked Newlands evening is trumpeted as healthy: keep in mind that it is highly likely to have been the last "north-south" tussle of its kind at this level at the doomed ground, so that should have been an extra lure.

That it was significantly better than their opening-match figure of below 19 000 against the Hurricanes a week earlier was also reason only for very tempered optimism.

One thing I will say about Cape Town: if the Stormers stay on a winning roll, the attendance should go northward accordingly, even if they aren't playing the most exhilarating rugby - that was certainly the case for good chunks of the Allister Coetzee coaching tenure, when crowds of 40 000 or more were fairly commonplace.

But don't expect a major buzz at Loftus now, considering the Bulls' nought-from-two start and rank lack of attacking potency as things stand: the visiting Blues won't exactly have the Pretoria public flocking there in droves in just under a fortnight.

There is a chance that the Sharks' gates will perk up a bit if they, like the Stormers, continue largely on winning ways and return from their overseas tour still very much at the races: a good likelihood, it seems, especially with a renewed commitment in their ranks to vibrant, ball-in-hand rugby.

Alarm bells will be ringing at Ellis Park, however, where a pitiful 4 800 souls - you read that right - turned out for the Lions' first home date with the Reds.

Yes, there'd been torrential rain and some road-closures and the like in the hours beforehand, but the game itself ended up largely being played in fairly benign conditions, so the weather hazards serve only as a limited excuse.

In Australia, the Waratahs will be barely less bleak: they chose to play their opening home game at Newcastle rather than Sydney, perhaps hoping for an atmosphere at a smaller venue; instead they got a franchise-low (apparently) figure of just below 7 500 against the limited Blues, who they duly lost by 20 points to.


It's not a great way to pay the bills, is it?



Replies:
Posted By: Transvaal
Date Posted: 10-Feb-2020 at 1:31pm
So daar was maar 4800 mense by die park Saterdag, maar ek dink nie die skrywer besef dat dit die hele eerste helfte wel gereen het nie, dit het eers in die 2de helfte opgehou


Posted By: Vaal Leeu 3
Date Posted: 10-Feb-2020 at 3:02pm
Dink hierdie is al baie gese maar feit bly staan dat Ellispark se area maar dodgy is. Ek is nie gemaklik om my gesin daarheen te vat nie. Ja daar is ander opsies om daar te kom maar dan sit mens steeds met die sosiale problems. My laaste game op Ellispark wat ek gaan kyk het wou n dronk ou wat oor my kar se bonnet geval het terwyl ek stilstaan my bykom en die laaste Loftus besoek het geindig met my wat vir my twee klein kinders moet verduidelik hoekom die afrikaanse ooms die engelse oom wat gesteel het so slaan. Nee wat, stream of dstv in my die sitkamer bly maar die beste


Posted By: TunaLion
Date Posted: 10-Feb-2020 at 4:23pm
Die area is dodgy ja, maar die polisie is darem by elke straathoek. As mens ook 'n parking ticket vooraf koop, weet mens darem die kar is veilig en veral die seisoen parkeer kaartjie is baie goed, want mens hoef dan skaars 50m te loop. Ek was ook nog nooit in enige geveg of enige so iets nie, hou gewoonlik tot myself en my vriende/familie en almal anders los ons uit.


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Go LIONS!!!!!


Posted By: Vaal Leeu 3
Date Posted: 10-Feb-2020 at 6:55pm
Is goed as jy jou by jou eie mense skaar en ander los jou uit. Dit het al ongelukkig vir ons anders uitgewerk. Maar doen jy wat vir jou lekker is en dan doen ek wat vir my lekker is en werk


Posted By: TunaLion
Date Posted: 10-Feb-2020 at 10:42pm
Originally posted by Vaal Leeu 3 Vaal Leeu 3 wrote:

Is goed as jy jou by jou eie mense skaar en ander los jou uit. Dit het al ongelukkig vir ons anders uitgewerk. Maar doen jy wat vir jou lekker is en dan doen ek wat vir my lekker is en werk


Eish, ek was seker maar net baie lucky gewees. Ek moet by sê dat ek seker maar net nog seker 8 keer op die park was oor die span van 17 jaar wat glad nie gereeld is nie.


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Go LIONS!!!!!


Posted By: TunaLion
Date Posted: 10-Feb-2020 at 10:45pm
Originally posted by Transvaal Transvaal wrote:

So daar was maar 4800 mense by die park Saterdag, maar ek dink nie die skrywer besef dat dit die hele eerste helfte wel gereen het nie, dit het eers in die 2de helfte opgehou


Ek dink ook die nommers mag dalk nie heeltemaal akkuraat wees nie. Ek het by 'n hek ingegaan waar die masjientjie nie gewerk het nie en hulle my en my meisie net deurgelaat het nadat ek ons kaarte gewys het. So daar was seker nog paar mense so deur. Seker obviously nie duisende/honderde nie, maar seker 'n hele klompie afhangende van hoeveel nie gewerk het nie.


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Go LIONS!!!!!


Posted By: Goue Leeu
Date Posted: 11-Feb-2020 at 5:48am
Gaan baie Leeus ondersteuners Saterdag nodig hê op die Park, anders voel dit weer of ons 'n weg game het.



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