The Christmas derby round of fixtures in the BKT United Rugby Championship has been confirmed as setting a new attendance record for the tournament.
And there may be another record in the near future as the New Year round looks like breaking it again.
The 19,703 fans who attended the final game of Round Eight in Durban, where the Hollywoodbets Sharks took on the Emirates Lions, pushed the total for the round to 135,747 which surpasses the figure of 123,207 set in R11 last season.
This comes off the back of a record 1.6million total attendance for the 2022/23 BKT URC season which also saw the highest-ever crowd for the league’s Grand Final (56,334) and an all-time high of 37.4million watching across the campaign.
The first seven games of R8 were played across the Christmas weekend with BKT URC champions Munster selling out Thomond Park with 25,600 attending the derby game against Leinster.
Last season’s beaten finalists, DHL Stormers, attracted 39,925 for their derby with the Vodacom Bulls, while Glasgow Warriors sold out their first leg 1872 Cup clash with Edinburgh and Zebre Parma recorded their largest crowd for a league game in Parma since 2014.
In addition, Cardiff Rugby put up the sold-out signs for the game against Dragons, a close to capacity crowd took in Connacht’s visit to Ulster and Scarlets had a season-high number of fans in to add their voices to the West Wales derby against Ospreys.
“This is a major positive not only for the BKT URC but for the sport of rugby,” said URC CEO Martin Anayi.
“Our clubs are innovating and collaborating to grow their crowds and attract new fans to rugby and this fantastic achievement speaks to their work throughout the season.”
“Fans are turning up more often across Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales because of the engaging match-day experiences at our clubs and the competitiveness and jeopardy of the BKT URC. I would also give great credit to our broadcast partners who understand how vital kick-off times are in allowing our teams to maximise their attendances and create memorable occasions.”
“We’ve seen great drama across the festive season and it’s very encouraging to see the interest in BKT URC continue to grow in what is shaping up to be our best season yet.”
All eyes will now be on the final fixture of Round Nine which will be played on January 27 where the Vodacom Bulls host the Emirates Lions at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. The standing total for that round is 119,414 and a crowd beyond 16,334 would break this latest attendance record yet again.
R8 – Attendance by fixture
Ulster v Connacht: 15,365
Glasgow Warriors v Edinburgh: 7,172
Zebre Parma v Benetton: 4,701
DHL Stormers v Vodacom Bulls: 39,925
Cardiff Rugby v Dragons RFC: 12,000
Scarlets v Ospreys: 11,282
Munster v Leinster: 25,600
Hollywoodbets Sharks v Emirates Lions: 19,703
Total attendance: 135,747
Previous best single round attendances:
123,307 – Round 11 of the 2022/23 season
121,117 – Round 21 of the 2017/18 season
117,448 – Round 10 of the 2022/23 season
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