The best rugby supporters in Europe (Top 10)

Top 10 based on the most bums-on-seats (home) in the history of the European Cup

10. RC Toulon – Stade Mayol: Total EPCR home attendance: 711,876 (15,820 capacity)
9. Edinburgh Rugby – Murrayfield Stadium. Total EPCR home attendance: 783,913 (67,144 capacity)
8. Wasps RFC – Ricoh Arena: Total ECPR home attendance: 940,928 (32,609 capacity)
7. Northampton Saints – Franklin’s Gardens. Total EPCR home attendance: 1,171,851 (13,591 capacity)
6. Cardiff Blues – Cardiff Arms Park. Total EPCR home attendance: 1,224,411 (12,500 capacity)
5. ASM Clermont Auvergne - Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin. Total EPCR home attendance: 1,297,558 (18,030 capacity)
4. Ulster Rugby – Kingspan Stadium (formerly Ravenhill). Total EPCR home attendance: 1,383,034 (18,196 capacity)
3. Leicester Tigers – Welford Road. Total EPCR home attendance: 2,200,585 (24,000, expanding to 30,000 capacity)
2. Leinster Rugby – RDS Arena & Aviva Stadium. Total EPCR home attendance: 2,332,992 (RDS: 18,500, Aviva: 51,700 capacity)
1. Munster Rugby – Thomond Park. Total EPCR home attendance: 2,498,244 (25,600 capacity)

http://www.sportsjoe.ie/rugby/its-official-munster-rugby-supporters-are-the-best-in-europe/24471

Surprised that Toulouse hasn't made this list.

Numbers are one thing, noise, colour and sportsmanship is another- and I don't think it'll be considered controversial to give it to Clermont Auvergne on that basis. Does anyone have a bad word to say about them? Amazing fans.

Is that an Irish publication by any chance?

Notch wrote:Numbers are one thing, noise, colour and sportsmanship is another- and I don't think it'll be considered controversial to give it to Clermont Auvergne on that basis. Does anyone have a bad word to say about them? Amazing fans.

I still can't quite pardon them when they booed a Scarlet's great consolation try a couple of years back. Disgraceful behaviour.

Munster and Leinster would be tops. Sure they had their entrance handed to them year after year not like the plucky English and French sides who had to scrap to get into it AND scrap against relegation.

Plus they prioritised the comp over their league and rested players for it. etc.

That Irish Sportsjoe site and Twitter feed is all focused on English soccer. It's obsessed by it.

The Welsh were criticised on here for liking soccer.

Notch wrote:Numbers are one thing, noise, colour and sportsmanship is another- and I don't think it'll be considered controversial to give it to Clermont Auvergne on that basis. Does anyone have a bad word to say about them? Amazing fans.

I'd say putting your hand in your pocket and supporting your team through thick and thin says more.

Chunky Norwich wrote:That Irish Sportsjoe site and Twitter feed is all focused on English soccer.  It's obsessed by it.

The Welsh were criticised on here for liking soccer.

Thanks for that relevant point.

I knew who would be no.1 as soon as I saw who created the article.

Chunky Norwich wrote:Is that an Irish publication by any chance?

Its Irish, but also has a UK edition.

You may have noticed it is based on attendances (i.e., factual). Fair play to Cardiff for getting in there - they would have had a late start in the competition.

Why would anyone be criticised for liking soccer? Bizarre thing to say. It's a free country.

Irish airports are full of people travelling to English soccer games every weekend. I think they are all mad but it's their money.

I also have no time for celebrity culture and arse,factor and all that but I would not cri......
well actually I have criticised people for....

Soaps. Don't get me started....

Each to their own

Sin é wrote:Fair play to Cardiff for getting in there - they would have had a late start in the competition.

They beat Leinster in Lansdowne rd in the semi in 95....... Not that late a start

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

Sin é wrote:Fair play to Cardiff for getting in there - they would have had a late start in the competition.

They beat Leinster in Lansdowne rd in the semi in 95....... Not that late a start

Before the regions were created though when Welsh support would have been more splintered.
I'm shocked that Toulouse isn't in there though!

Sin é wrote:

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

Sin é wrote:Fair play to Cardiff for getting in there - they would have had a late start in the competition.

They beat Leinster in Lansdowne rd in the semi in 95....... Not that late a start

Before the regions were created though when Welsh support would have been more splintered.
I'm shocked that Toulouse isn't in there though!

Their stats like those of Llanelli carry through into the Regional teams.

Would the lack of Toulouse not indicate a flaw in the stats?

Are those figures not skewed slightly by number of home quarter-finals, if the 'home' semi-final is counted etc.

Chunky Norwich wrote:That Irish Sportsjoe site and Twitter feed is all focused on English soccer.  It's obsessed by it.

The Welsh were criticised on here for liking soccer.

It was commented on that for a nation that proclaims its first sport to be Rugby, it was odd that most fans preferred to watch soccer.

Also the thread title is a bit misleading as it has nothing to do with 'Best Rugby Supporters' and it is purely to do with 'Biggest Average Attendances' these two things are not necessarily the same thing.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Are those figures not skewed slightly by number of home quarter-finals, if the 'home' semi-final is counted etc.

Jaysus man. Don't get him started on Munster always getting an away semi, we'll be here all day.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Also the thread title is a bit misleading as it has nothing to do with 'Best Rugby Supporters' and it is purely to do with 'Biggest Average Attendances'  these two things are not necessarily the same thing.

The best rugby supporters for going to games then.

Its not average attendance - its total attendance over the history of the competition.

Sin é wrote: for a nation that proclaims its first sport to be Rugby

Fair enough. I've always disagreed with it. 3 times as many people here play football than rugby.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Are those figures not skewed slightly by number of home quarter-finals, if the 'home' semi-final is counted etc.

Jaysus man. Don't get him started on Munster always getting an away semi, we'll be here all day.

There is probably a few teams there who wouldn't have made the Top 10 without the help of meeting Munster in a semi in France!

Sin é wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Also the thread title is a bit misleading as it has nothing to do with 'Best Rugby Supporters' and it is purely to do with 'Biggest Average Attendances'  these two things are not necessarily the same thing.

The best rugby supporters for going to games then.

Its not average attendance - its total attendance over the history of the competition.

Still not best supporters though is it. The best attending supporters are the ones who travel to away games surely? And how many of the attendances are actually fans of the teams (Toulon, Munster, Blues etc) and how many are travelling support?

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Sin é wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Also the thread title is a bit misleading as it has nothing to do with 'Best Rugby Supporters' and it is purely to do with 'Biggest Average Attendances'  these two things are not necessarily the same thing.

The best rugby supporters for going to games then.

Its not average attendance - its total attendance over the history of the competition.

Still not best supporters though is it.  The best attending supporters are the ones who travel to away games surely?  And how many of the attendances are actually fans of the teams (Toulon, Munster, Blues etc) and how many are travelling support?

I'd say Munster fans would win the travelling fans one as well.

Toulon's fans don't travel. I don't know how well the Cardiff fans travel.

Sin, what I meant is of 2.5m attendees, how many of those would have been away fans travelling (10%, 15%, 40%)?

Although I would say in the Euro comps that Munster and Leinster do definitely have very good travelling support.

More of something seems to be a measure of quality in Ireland. A bizarre concept.

Chunky Norwich wrote:More of something seems to be a measure of quality in Ireland. A bizarre concept.

True. Because all 6.5 million of us feel that it is. It's spooky.

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

Chunky Norwich wrote:More of something seems to be a measure of quality in Ireland. A bizarre concept.

True. Because all 6.5 million of us feel that it is. It's spooky.

I don't see any of you disagreeing on this thread yet.

Chunky Norwich wrote:

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

Chunky Norwich wrote:More of something seems to be a measure of quality in Ireland. A bizarre concept.

True. Because all 6.5 million of us feel that it is. It's spooky.

I don't see any of you disagreeing on this thread yet.

With what now?

Chunky Norwich wrote:More of something seems to be a measure of quality in Ireland. A bizarre concept.

Chunks its about 70m in revenue (average of Euro 25 a ticket) - most tickets are about Euro 40. Then you have the jersey sales .....

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Sin, what I meant is of 2.5m attendees, how many of those would have been away fans travelling (10%, 15%, 40%)?

Although I would say in the Euro comps that Munster and Leinster do definitely have very good travelling support.

Average about 1,000 per game I'd say (based on what is sent back). The French don't travel at all. And then you have Munster fans buying up their tickets as well (one guy who happened to be on holiday in Biarritz when the tickets went on sale famously bought about 60 tickets for people on Munsterfans!)

Once Munster is involved - the French teams usually move to a bigger stadium.

Numbers are one thing, noise, colour and sportsmanship is another- and I don't think it'll be considered controversial to give it to Clermont Auvergne on that basis. Does anyone have a bad word to say about them? Amazing fans.

Personally I thought they were some of the worst fans who have visited TP since I've been going to matches there.

They were the only away fans I can remember who insisted on making a racket before a kick and kept it up throughout the match. USAP fans did the same a few years ago but quietened down once faced with the reaction from the home crowd.

Toulouse fans on the other hand were pure class before, during and after.

Clermont Auvergne fans are great. Went to Saint Etienne stadium they were brilliant.

I would say they are the best home fans.

On the other hand they are not great travellers.

Ulster,Munster and Leinster - all impressive travellers.

Went to the HC final a few years ago as a neutral to see Leinster vs Ulster at Twickenham - great atmosphere.

Clermont Auvergne fans are great. Went to Saint Etienne stadium they were brilliant.

I would say they are the best home fans.

On the other hand they are not great travellers.

Ulster,Munster and Leinster - all impressive travellers.

Went to the HC final a few years ago as a neutral to see Leinster vs Ulster at Twickenham - great atmosphere.

Sin é wrote:  3. Leicester Tigers – Welford Road.  Total EPCR home attendance: 2,200,585 (24,000, expanding to 30,000 capacity)
  (25,600 capacity)


Surprised that Toulouse hasn't made this list.

Leicester have had 54 Home Pool matches and 7 home qfs - so 61 home matches. To have that level of Home Attendance would take an average of 36k per game. As for many of those games capacity was 16.5k, and now 24k I suggest the numbers are complete an utter Love sacks.


Perhaps they counted Toulouse correctly. Or forgot them?

Surprised Connacht didn't also scrape into that 'top 10'.

LondonTiger wrote:

Sin é wrote:  3. Leicester Tigers – Welford Road.  Total EPCR home attendance: 2,200,585 (24,000, expanding to 30,000 capacity)
  (25,600 capacity)


Surprised that Toulouse hasn't made this list.

Leicester have had 54 Home Pool matches and 7 home qfs - so 61 home matches. To have that level of Home Attendance would take an average of 36k per game. As for many of those games capacity was 16.5k, and now 24k I suggest the numbers are complete an utter Love sacks.


Perhaps they counted Toulouse correctly. Or forgot them?

Your numbers are wrong LT. You are assuming that the home gate is made up completely of home fans which is patently not the case. This of course makes the figures even more unbelievable.

Of course "Home" games could include semi-finals and finals in a team's home country which might explain the discrepancy?

Therefore the luck of the draw for semi and final would skew the figures massively.

MunsterMac wrote:

Numbers are one thing, noise, colour and sportsmanship is another- and I don't think it'll be considered controversial to give it to Clermont Auvergne on that basis. Does anyone have a bad word to say about them? Amazing fans.

Personally I thought they were some of the worst fans who have visited TP since I've been going to matches there.

They were the only away fans I can remember who insisted on making a racket before a kick and kept it up throughout the match. USAP fans did the same a few years ago but quietened down once faced with the reaction from the home crowd.

Toulouse fans on the other hand were pure class before, during and after.

So because they have a different tradition about their place kicks they're bad fans?

The Great Aukster wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

Sin é wrote:  3. Leicester Tigers – Welford Road.  Total EPCR home attendance: 2,200,585 (24,000, expanding to 30,000 capacity)
  (25,600 capacity)


Surprised that Toulouse hasn't made this list.

Leicester have had 54 Home Pool matches and 7 home qfs - so 61 home matches. To have that level of Home Attendance would take an average of 36k per game. As for many of those games capacity was 16.5k, and now 24k I suggest the numbers are complete an utter Love sacks.


Perhaps they counted Toulouse correctly. Or forgot them?

Your numbers are wrong LT. You are assuming that the home gate is made up completely of home fans which is patently not the case. This of course makes the figures even more unbelievable.

Of course "Home" games could include semi-finals and finals in a team's home country which might explain the discrepancy?

Therefore the luck of the draw for semi and final would skew the figures massively.

Regardless, the numbers are bull then.

The numbers must be bull, otherwise how would the Blues be in there, I go to watch them almost very home game, and they are lucky to be pulling in 7000 part game, surely the likes of Ospreys and Scarlets are getting higher than that, and half of the the French and English sides.

Unless they are including pre regionalism games before 2005 as well, the regions have only been around for ten years, so that is most likely why.

The Great Aukster wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

Sin é wrote:  3. Leicester Tigers – Welford Road.  Total EPCR home attendance: 2,200,585 (24,000, expanding to 30,000 capacity)
  (25,600 capacity)


Surprised that Toulouse hasn't made this list.

Leicester have had 54 Home Pool matches and 7 home qfs - so 61 home matches. To have that level of Home Attendance would take an average of 36k per game. As for many of those games capacity was 16.5k, and now 24k I suggest the numbers are complete an utter Love sacks.


Perhaps they counted Toulouse correctly. Or forgot them?

Your numbers are wrong LT. You are assuming that the home gate is made up completely of home fans which is patently not the case. This of course makes the figures even more unbelievable.

Of course "Home" games could include semi-finals and finals in a team's home country which might explain the discrepancy?

Therefore the luck of the draw for semi and final would skew the figures massively.

What I assume they have done is taken all the home attendances and just added them up since the inception of the tournament. I doubt very much if they went into who was a home fan and who wasn't. So, the attendance figures are comparable.

LordDowlais wrote:The numbers must be bull, otherwise how would the Blues be in there, I go to watch them almost very home game, and they are lucky to be pulling in 7000 part game, surely the likes of Ospreys and Scarlets are getting higher than that, and half of the the French and English sides.

Unless they are including pre regionalism games before 2005 as well, the regions have only been around for ten years, so that is most likely why.

This is just European rugby, not pro12.

Notch wrote:

MunsterMac wrote:

Numbers are one thing, noise, colour and sportsmanship is another- and I don't think it'll be considered controversial to give it to Clermont Auvergne on that basis. Does anyone have a bad word to say about them? Amazing fans.

Personally I thought they were some of the worst fans who have visited TP since I've been going to matches there.

They were the only away fans I can remember who insisted on making a racket before a kick and kept it up throughout the match. USAP fans did the same a few years ago but quietened down once faced with the reaction from the home crowd.

Toulouse fans on the other hand were pure class before, during and after.

So because they have a different tradition about their place kicks they're bad fans?

Not bad fans - you just appreciate it when they adopt the stadium's custom of silence for the kicker (which all the other French fans did).

Unless the decision goes against them and its a free for all like in the Aviva...

munkian wrote:Unless the decision goes against them and its a free for all like in the Aviva...

Don't get confused between the way traditions are upheld in different stadiums with different fans. Thomond Park and the national stadium could barely be more different.

The numbers are complete bull.

We have had 20 seasons of Europe, and bearing in mind the first two tournaments you only played a team once, not home and away, the maximum Home Pool Games is 57 (54 for English clubs).

So even if a team got a home 1/4 final every single year that is a maximum of 77 home games.

Munster would have to AVERAGE 32k to pull in those numbers quoted in the OP if they had played 77 games.

What on earth are Edinburgh doing at number 9?! You can die of loneliness (and cold) in Murrayfield
Where are the likes of Sarries and Bath?

Best fans I've eve encountered are probably Leicester. The number of intelligent rugby fans compared to the sheer number of fans is tremendous. Honourable mentions to Northampton. Had some amazing experiences there. Bath never been so great though.

Worst: I found the Leinster Dublin rugby experience terrible (sorry Leinster fans I know you are not all like that but my experience was as unfriendly as they come). Also, some of the Munster fans that travel are extremely brash. They seem convinced they quote the right laws, but are actually just talking bullsh1t.

Had a great time with Ulster fans in Llanelli during the 2003 final game, they were ok.

Sin é wrote:This is just European rugby, not pro12.

Well if that is the case then the Cardiff Blues should definitely not be there, they have not existed since the start of European rugby, they have only been in existence for 12/13yrs. So those figures are actually WRONG.

LordDowlais wrote:

Sin é wrote:This is just European rugby, not pro12.

Well if that is the case then the Cardiff Blues should definitely not be there, they have not existed since the start of European rugby, they have only been in existence for 12/13yrs. So those figures are actually WRONG.

See also Clermont.

Notch wrote:So because they have a different tradition about their place kicks they're bad fans?

No, because they refuse to respect the traditions of their hosts they certainly aren't the best fans.

Would you go into another person's house and put your feet up on the table even though you know your hosts would deplore such behavior regardless of what you get up to in your own house?

Saracens, Sale, Northamption, Leicester, Toulouse, Toulon, Leinster, Ulster, Ospreys and practically everyone else, no such problem.