Super Rugby: Spectator numbers after week four.

REBELS VS FORCE 11902
BRUMBIES VS REDS 17058
HIGHLANDERS VS CHIEFS 17511
REBELS VS BRUMBIES 12092
BULLS VS STORMERS 44272
HURRICANES VS BLUES 10662
REDS VS WARATAHS 35801
CHEETAHS VS SHARKS 20412
KINGS VS FORCE 31882
BLUES VS CRUSADERS 31014
WARATAHS VS REBELS 11206
REDS VS HURRICANES 30995
CHIEFS VS CHEETAHS 11893
BULLS VS FORCE 21285
SHARKS VS STORMERS 31428
HURRICANES VS CRUSADERS 12902
REBELS VS REDS 13179
HIGHLANDERS VS CHEETAHS 6300
BRUMBIES VS WARATAHS 20027
STORMERS VS CHIEFS 37718
KINGS VS SHARKS 45974
BLUES VS BULLS 25112

TOTAL 500625

Yes a bit apathetic from my home town with the Canes having 10 and 12k respectively. Thats gotta be low even for Wellington. Not sure why its not an issue here when the ground holds 35k easily.

There is clearly no problem with support in SA, with only 7 of 22 matches they had 232 000 spectators, near half of the total number.

It is amazing the attendances for SA. I think only France can really compare. The rest seem about on a par with HC attendances

Yeah as much as we love our rugby we just dont have the numbers outside Auckland, which is doing ok here with 25 and 31k for the first two. SA's nmbers are excellent.

The Highlanders 6300 figure jumps out at me. That's about what my side Gwent Dragons gets - we're often talked about as a team that should be scrapped because we can't attract enough supporters. Yet in NZ, with a team containing lots of good players, play good rugby (from what I've seen), in a nation of rugby mad supporters, the crowd is similar. Is that a normal figure for them?

Griff wrote:
Is that a normal figure for them?

No the match was played in Invercargill, one of the smaller cities in the teams catchment area. Watching the match you could see cars passing the fence about twenty feet from the sideline. Small ground.

Thats the other thing about our sides. We share the matches around so some fans get to see the side without having to travel the 2 or 3 hours to the main grounds- The Hurricanes play in Palmerston North and as far as New Plymouth, The Blues in Whangarei etc so there will never be 30k type crowds in those grounds.

Ah ok, cheers Taylorman. Our crowds are low in Wales for a supposedly rugby mad nation!

Some monster attendances there in SA! Would love to go to one of those.

It's not much point comparing these attendances without some context. Greater Wellington (hours drive from the centre roughly) has just under 400,00 people. At the same venue for the first game the stadium had just had a 20/20 game against the poms and a soccer match as part of the Aussie league.
Wgtn used to have great crowds for the super 12 but it has steadily dwindled away.

Still think its poor and its not as if the Phoenix are setting the world on fire. In terms of getting to the game it must be the easiest from a transport factor with all trains and buses ending up at the stadium from virtually everywhere.

It's mainly because we have been pretty cr*p.

Well overall I think it has been rather good, took 2 matches to notch up 500 000 spectators.

What is a big positive for me is that in 7 matches in SA we have had 232 000 spectators, making up nearly half the numbers with a third of the games.

In Australia the Reds lead the charts with over 30 000 spectators per match.

The biggest surprise is the Kings who has had 77 000 spectators in their first two matches. I don't know whether it is just a newby thing and whether it will continue when they start losing by big margins.

Biltong wrote:Well overall I think it has been rather good, took 2 matches to notch up 500 000 spectators.

What is a big positive for me is that in 7 matches in SA we have had 232 000 spectators, making up nearly half the numbers with a third of the games.

In Australia the Reds lead the charts with over 30 000 spectators per match.

The biggest surprise is the Kings who has had 77 000 spectators in their first two matches. I don't know whether it is just a newby thing and whether it will continue when they start losing by big margins.

I think it is just because they haven't had Super Rugby yet. They are only around 1 million people so doubt they will get the numbers say Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria gets on a regular basis. Last time I was on Ellis Park there wasn't that many supporters either. So I think that once the novelty wears off and they keep losing they will struggle to get more supporters than the Lions.

SA has a bigger population base but for me one of the major advantages in their favour is that they have day time matches. Who the f wants to go to Dunedin in a night game in the depths of winter. Not fn me!

Night time rugby for television audiences annoys the f out of me. The quality of the rugby suffers and alienates the games from kids. Parents are wary of taking their children to night games. In Spain, it's a similar story with the football league. All the Atletico games seem to be on a Sunday at 10pm. Crazy scheduling!

Yes it was refreshing watching the Blues on sunday avo in the bright sunlight. Good game and refereshing change. Not good viewing for kids in NZ thats for sure. All games 7.30 or 9.30 pm, or 3am and 6am on a sunday morning.

Agree - hate taking the kids to a night match - its alright at this time of the year but in a couple of months 9.30pm in Wellington will be crappy

Matches really can start at 9:30pm? Must be for the global TV audience, I guess?
Normally, I would say that's crazy. I would think that start time would keep away a fair few thousand.

Nah 9:30 is when the game finishes. But my kids are young and their normal bedtime is 8pm. After a game its about 10pm when we get home and of course the little beggars want something to eat...........

The little cuties wanting something to eat after getting back home is normal. I used to promise mine a snack, but only with the proviso they go to bed straight away afterwards. Never really worked.

9:30 is normally not too late for a match to end. Your kids are still real young, eh? I still can't get mine to go to sleep, and the ones at uni don't seem to sleep at all.

The attendance numbers in NZ appear to show that people will turn out for the bigger matches.
Would be better with some bigger crowds, though. The numbers for SA are real impressive.

In SA our games also ends around that time in the later slot. But I would much rather go to a morning game on a Saturday as in Gauteng we only have decent public transport to the stadiums till 20h30.

I was actually referring to the tv viewing audience. Our earliest televised matches are 7.30pm. Then 9.30pm from Oz. Then 3 or 5am in the morning from SA (which I call 'late')

In NZ during the winter we never see a live sxv match in daylight. Thats not good for kids to follow their fave sides at all.

Why no afternoon matches in winter?

Supposedly because European audiences are more likely to be awake early morning than the other early morning. Not me! I don't have kids.

doctor_grey wrote:Why no afternoon matches in winter?

Been that way for years Doc. The Blues Bulls game was the first match, test or sxv, home or overseas that I have watched live during daylight for probably 10 years from memory. May have been a couple of others. All our local tests and sxv are 7.30pm kick off and all overseas matches except maybe those from Argie are during the night.

Never knew that. I was raised with 3:00pm Saturday kickoff, which now has morphed into 1:00pm, 2:00pm, 3:00pm, 4:00pm, 5:00pm, 6:00pm, 7:00pm or 8:00pm. Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. And it moves from week to week.

I should think in winter it would be more comfortable for players and supporters to play the games in the afternoon. Which, of course, means the 7:30pm must be for tv.

I know, all other games around the country are typically Saturday morning- schools or afternoon- clubs etc. Anything televised is at 7.30p.m. We're used to it and its actually a good slot for tv- after dinner at home or going to the match for a night out (except, as Ngan says, for kids).

I miss the Saturday avo tests though- they were there pre-pro era. We seem to have to wait ages- must be hard for the players to wait all day.

The Friday slot is good though, perfect start to a weekend.

I'm sure the canes had an afternoon match last year (about 4pm) and it was great to take the kids to. A real novelty. Mind you they mostly just want to eat chips and donuts and be taken to the toilet anyway so....

nganboy wrote:I'm sure the canes had an afternoon match last year (about 4pm) and it was great to take the kids to. A real novelty. Mind you they mostly just want to eat chips and donuts and be taken to the toilet anyway so....

Gotta start 'em somewhere ngan...theory is the rugby will subconsciously seep in through a subtle form of osmosis...they'll thank ya for it later on...keep it up!