Welcome, once again, to the Weekend Edition.
This week, I’d like to take a look at the Super Rugby crowd numbers one of our forum members originally posted in 2019. I’ve added the last five years as best I could, but with limited information and the Waratahs moving around to different grounds, it’s been difficult piecing things together. Also, I may just be plain wrong in some cases. Remember that crowd numbers were understandably lower during the COVID pandemic.
Reds (from 2005 all home games at Suncorp)
2003 – 18,425* (home games at Ballymore)
2004 – 19,730** (5 home games at Ballymore and 1 at Suncorp)
2005 – 18,130
2009 – 18,647
2010 – 22,826
2011 – 33,253
2012 – 34,479
2013–31,836
2014 – 28,489
2015 – 21,780
2016 – 16,605
2017 – 15,115
2018 – 12,101
2019 – 11,351
2020 – 9,075
2021 – 18,699
2022 – 13,713
2023 – 12,582
2024 – 14,527
Brumbies (the consistently best performing Aust team – all games at Canberra/Bruce/GIO Stadium)
2003 – 21,536
2004 – 21,450
2005 – 22,895
2009 -17,160
2010 – 15,520
2011 – 13,303
2012 – 14,419
2013 – 14,247
2014 – 12,410
2015 – 12,445
2016 – 12,135
2017 – 9,886
2018 – 8,391
2019 – 8,798
2020 – 4,716
2021 – 7,396
2022 – 7,568
2023 – 9,213
2024 – 8,025
Waratahs
2003 – 30,521
2004 – 34,500
2005 – 33,739
2009 – 22,430
2010 – 20,204
2011 – 20,493
2012 – 20,936
2013 – 16,949
2014 – 19,500
2015 – 22,415
2016 – 20,322
2017 – 14,499
2018 – 13,511
2019 – 13,690
2020 – 5,265
2021 – 5,170
2022 – 8,265
2023 – Too small a sample size
2024 – 12,615
What can we take from my rubbery figures?
If you look like you can win Super Rugby punters will come and watch. The Brumbies in ’04, the Reds in ’11 and the Tahs in ’14 all had good average crowds and kept those crowds in the year after.
Making the finals and being consistent isn’t enough. The Brumbies have been Australia’s most consistent club without being outstanding for 20 years. In fact, they haven’t played in the final since that win in 2004. These days, they can’t seem to draw a crowd for a home quarter final, and I’m not sure why. Are the fans disillusioned with never getting the big prize? Is it the weather in Canberra in June? Whatever it is, they draw no extra fans for a final than they do for a regular season game.
Crowd numbers are recovering after COVID, but being a genuine contender would help immensely.
Tappe Henning On Scrums
It’s unusual for South African rugby to believe they are being persecuted or picked on. So when they said they thought that their scrum was being unfairly being targeted by World Rugby’s new law my ears immediately pricked up. As I searched for this new affront to this humble rugby nation, I found an article quoting Tappe Henning (checks notes, a South African) claiming that the decision to no longer allow a scrum from a free kick had nothing to do with the Springboks decision to take a scrum from a fair catch during last year’s World Cup.
The former South African referees boss claims the law change, due to come into effect on 1 July, is all about the spectacle and the blight of teams calling for another scrum after a collapse and has nothing to do with the amazing awesomness of Springbok rugby.
“A free kick from a scrum, which is a technical infringement, brings another scrum, then another scrum. We’ve had occasions where both teams – when attempting to get scrum dominance – would select another scrum from a free kick. “It is something spectators don’t enjoy and they have spoken about it. World Rugby has done research about how many times that happens in a game. The decision was based on that, it wasn’t based on one team or one decision.”
“Scrums and mauls create space – bringing 16 players into a small space and leaving space out wide. It is an integral part of the game that should remain. It is what makes rugby union different from other sports – not just the contest for the ball, but also the set-piece contest – like rugby league and other sports similar to our game. We have to make some adjustments to make it more attractive, but a good scrum and a good maul is also attractive. We, the purists. would like to see that stay in the game and we support that. However, those resets are becoming irritating, even for the purists. We are protecting that and it remains in integral part of the game. I believe it will never disappear from the game.”
Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you in the comments.
