Weekend Attendance Record for Australian Super Rugby

The combined attendance figures for the three Super Rugby matches played in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney over the Anzac Day weekend have delivered the highest aggregate Australian crowds ever recorded for a single round of the competition in its 15-year history.

The NSW Waratahs played to a record regular season crowd of 40,271 at ANZ Stadium in downing the Brumbies on Saturday; the Queensland Reds attracted 30,259 to Suncorp Stadium for their victory over the Stormers on Friday night; and the Western Force declared a sellout attendance of 19,279 after their stunning upset over the Crusaders at ME Bank Stadium the same evening.

A total of 89,809 people attending the three matches live â the largest figure for a weekend of Super Rugby matches in Australia.

The next best aggregate crowd is 79,157 on the second weekend of May in 2003, just months before Australia hosted the Rugby World Cup as defending champions from 1999.

On that 2003 weekend, NSW posted a crowd of 31,775 for their match with the Chiefs, the Brumbies took on the Crusaders in front of 25,279 at Canberra Stadium and the Queensland Reds had 22,103 watch their clash with the Highlanders.

The new landmark created at the weekend is a massive 13% increase on the previous record.

While there were only three Australian teams in the competition until the Western Force was granted entry for the 2006 season, there were numerous occasions when the Reds, Waratahs and Brumbies played home games on the same weekend.

As Australian Rugby Union Managing Director and Chief Executive John O'Neill stated âthe crowd figures at the weekend, just days after we announced a new broadcast deal that will help us bring an expanded Super Rugby competition to the Australian market from next year, are wonderful.

"However, we need to keep our feet on the ground. There is a lot of work for our game to do. One weekend, as satisfying as those crowd numbers are, should not have anyone crowing too loudly.

"We need to bring people back to the game in even greater numbers and, importantly, on a consistent basis. We want them watching Super Rugby and Tests in the stadiums and on TV. Attendances and ratings are two key indicators of a game's health and we are not going to pretend our challenges are gone - far from it.

"But what these crowd figures do show is that the interest in our game is there providing we can deliver on field success and entertainment. At the weekend it was unprecedented interest. We have never exceeded the 80,000-mark for Super Rugby games in Australia on the one weekend.

"This weekend we had almost 90,000 people through the gates. It is also no coincidence we have three teams vying for finals positions with three rounds to go.

"The Queensland Reds, who have undoubtedly led the revival in Australian Rugby this year, are sitting inside the top four. They are the fairytale story of 2010 and the way they have played the game has everyone talking.

"Their crowds have almost doubled from where they were several weeks ago. It is a credit to what they are delivering in terms of winning and winning with style."

8th March 2010 - CASH-STRAPPED QUEENSLAND LOOKS TO ARU