Ticket sales for Saracens vs Harlequins at Wembley Stadium on Saturday have now passed 75,000 mark.

http://www.saracens.com/ticket-sales-for-wembley-pass-75000/

Congratulations go to Saracens. I think think they're an extraordinary club.

Well played although they wont get the highest ever rugby attendance ever. or even in the last 15 years.

This is GREAT for Rugby.
No other words needed, methinks.

Let's just hope it's a match worthy of 75,000 + going to watch it plus of course a Sarries win.

It's nice to get a big crowd but first and foremost it needs to be a good win and performance in that order from my perspective.

I believe this good 6 nations from England would have helped this match in terms of sales.

I am cautiously optimistic. Quins' England players have been playing very well indeed.

Should be a good game Ashton, Goode and Barritt will want to prove themselves, Robshaw, Brown, Care, Farrell are on fire, Marler and Vunipola in opposing teams will be fun then a few star names who if playing are always fun to watch..Easter, Borthwick, Hodgson, Brown, Johnstone, Brits, Evans..Sarries have always got be favourites at the moment but the Quins trio of care, robshaw and brown may prove the difference !

To be fair to Saracens they have always priced the Wembley tickets incredibly cheaply and offered discount deals on top of that.
http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/london/gl-saracens-1/30209731

£13 for an adult and £5 for a kid.  My conferance footy team charge more than that!!

That's 50000 more than their 2 stadiums combined! That's a very impressive marketing job. I was one of the many who ridiculed Wrays suggestion he'd sell out Wembley in a few years; I am very much eating humble pie, especially as this has been achieved without any xfactor contestants!!

On a serious note though, what happens to those 50000 for all the other games? Genuine question, but how many times has the Stoop and Allianz Park sold out this season?

On a different note, I saw Sarries' offer of a 100% refund if Sarries do the double. Whilst this is unlikely, what a fabulous offer!

Wasn't Stevens on X-Factor (or a charity version). Foden applied to the real thing didn't he.

Most Quins games get over 12000 but I think only the Gloucester game sold out.

Quins usually sell out 90% of their games at the Stoop (rough guess).

This year that's well down, but all that's due to non rugby problems. Mainly changes to the match day, ticket allocation and pricing. Lots of unhappy fans.

HKC it's difficult to turn someone who is a casual rugby watcher (someone who will watch the 6 nations but not much other rugby) into club rugby fans. Plenty of family friends/acquaintances might go to a one off game like this because of the price,occasion,venue but would not go to a club game unless invited.

Not surprising when most of these people prefer to follow one of the top football clubs relatively locally like Arsenal,Tottenham,Chelsea and West ham.

There's so much top class competition from other sports (especially football) something I don't think rugby fans from other places like Gloucester,Bath,Northampton etc understand.

Sarries potentially have a big catchment area - North London,Hertfordshire and Essex but haven't really succeeded in converting people into Sarries fans.

To give you a sense of what I mean - Hertfordshire has a population of over 1.1m compared to somewhere like Northamptonshire of just under 700k. Hertfordshire's closest top rugby club is Sarries. Easily within a hour's drive for most people in the area (to be honest it could be half that for quite a few too).

Yappysnap so you're a bit disappointed with your CEO? Could bring back Mark Evans.


I was emotionally crushed when Sarries lost to Toulouse at Wembley in autumn because the atmosphere was great. It was disappointing to see so many people have to witness a Sarries loss, a win would have been amazing for the club. Not just because for the crucial importance of the game itself (cost us a home quarter final in the HC) but because when you get a big crowd you want a win for the crowd too.

Hence why a win this time round is so crucial. Sarries delivered a decent performance vs Bath, need to bring a big one to the party vs Quins.

I am really excited about this game.Got a lot of respect for Quins and their fans on these boards.  

beshocked wrote:HKC it's difficult to turn someone who is a casual rugby watcher (someone who will watch the 6 nations but not much other rugby) into club rugby fans. Plenty of family friends/acquaintances might go to a one off game like this because of the price,occasion,venue but would not go to a club game unless invited.

Not surprising when most of these people prefer to follow one of the top football clubs relatively locally like Arsenal,Tottenham,Chelsea and West ham.

There's so much top class competition from other sports (especially football) something I don't think rugby fans from other places like Gloucester,Bath,Northampton etc understand.

Sarries potentially have a big catchment area - North London,Hertfordshire and Essex but haven't really succeeded in converting people into Sarries fans.
To give you a sense of what I mean - Hertfordshire has a population of over 1.1m compared to somewhere like Northamptonshire of just under 700k. Hertfordshire's closest top rugby club is Sarries. Easily within a hour's drive for most people in the area (to be honest it could be half that for quite a few too).

Yappysnap so you're a bit disappointed with your CEO? Could bring back Mark Evans.


I was emotionally crushed when Sarries lost to Toulouse at Wembley in autumn because the atmosphere was great. It was disappointing to see so many people have to witness a Sarries loss, a win would have been amazing for the club. Not just because for the crucial importance of the game itself (cost us a home quarter final in the HC) but because when you get a big crowd you want a win for the crowd too.

Hence why a win this time round is so crucial. Sarries delivered a decent performance vs Bath, need to bring a big one to the party vs Quins.

I am really excited about this game.Got a lot of respect for Quins and their fans on these boards.  

I'm not surprised, Saracens are the team most people seem to love to hate, and they certainly didn't do temselves any favours under Venter and Co in terms of PR maybe even turning off an entire generation of potential fans. The move to Allianz Park is a positive move however.

Jimpy I would say that Leicester rival us in terms of teams people love to hate if you can call peoples' reaction to us that. Especially with Cockerill in charge. Let's be honest the club that Venter wound up the most was Leicester.


To be honest I think most casuals are indifferent to Saracens which is the crucial thing. I would say our lack of tries and gameplan has been more off putting to these people plus perhaps the perception that we are a "South African" club. A wrong perception but something that people still believe.

Sarries are working to change perceptions with the players in the England side,U20s etc and of course Allianz Park. It takes time of course but I am cautiously optimistic we can grow.

beshocked wrote:Jimpy I would say that Leicester rival us in terms of teams people love to hate if you can call peoples' reaction to us that. Especially with Cockerill in charge.  Let's be honest the club that Venter wound up the most was Leicester.


To be honest I think most casuals are indifferent to Saracens which is the crucial thing. I would say our lack of tries and gameplan has been more off putting to these people plus perhaps the perception that we are a "South African" club. A wrong perception but something that people still believe.

Sarries are working to change perceptions with the players in the England side,U20s etc and of course Allianz Park. It takes time of course but I am cautiously optimistic we can grow.

Not a South African club, but a club with tangible and (for many) uncomfortably close South African connections.

Jimpy fair enough if you feel that way. I think Sarries are moving away from that personally with the stadium,players on England duty but I can see why you might believe that.

I just find it odd that some fans don't find a club chock full of foreigners like London Irish or Bristol (they will be more so next season) unappealing but do with Saracens.

beshocked wrote:Jimpy fair enough if you feel that way. I think Sarries are moving away from that personally with the stadium,players on England duty but I can see why you might believe that.
I just find it odd that some fans don't find a club chock full of foreigners like London Irish or Bristol (they will be more so next season) unappealing but do with Saracens.

I do and I don't, but clearly, lots of people most definately do, and there's part of the problem. Perhaps the difference is that the perception was (and it's probably nearer to the truth than is comfortable) that Saracens SA connections and let's face it, 'abundance' of SA players (at one time) smacked of a club trying to buy success, because before that, they were right off the radar. So it worked to a point, but not everyone was happy about it.

Jimpy depends what you define buying success. I would hardly say that for example the profile of players signed has been anything like Toulon.

I don't see an aggressive attempt by Johann Rupert and his South African investors to turn Saracens into a London South Africa, not yet anyway. A South African friendly club yes but not dominated by them.

When they first joined the club I was nervous but so far I have been happy with the South African investors - particularly helping acquire Allianz Park.

To be honest I don't think Saracens have been very successful attracting South Africans to games either.

Will be interesting to see what the make up of the crowd is vs Quins.

beshocked wrote:Jimpy depends what you define buying success. I would hardly say that for example the profile of players signed has been anything like Toulon. I don't see an aggressive attempt by Johann Rupert and his South African investors to turn Saracens into a London South Africa, not yet anyway. A South African friendly club yes but not dominated by them.

When they first joined the club I was nervous but so far I have been happy with the South African investors - particularly helping acquire Allianz Park.

To be honest I don't think Saracens have been very successful attracting South Africans to games either.

Will be interesting to see what the make up of the crowd is vs Quins.

Oh I agree, but at one time, a large proportion of Saracens' signings were South African, you had a mini-Boks going on there.