Match Attendance in the Magners League.

[Jockstap]

Why is it that every time a match is played in Wales the Stadiums are half empty? I can understand empty stadiums in Scotland as there is relatively little interest in the sport, but I gather Rugby is a religion in Wales. All of the Irish teams bar Connacht manage nearly a full house every game and rugby is Ireland's third sport. Can anybody explain the reason for this because it really makes for a **** poor game atmosphere and does the Magners no favours in helping it evolve.

 

[Bullitt]

Time of day (Friday evenings and sundays), relative success, travel difficulties, the recession & lack of interest compared to the HEC will all be factors.

 

[dullonien]

There are a number of reasons, but there should be better crowds. The regions seem to manage an average of around 9-11 thousand. Although this season has seen a decline for the Blues and Ospreys to 7-8 thousand. Refelects their poor form though. The new larger stadiums may also be making it seem like few people. Remember the Ospreys play in a 25,000 seater, the Blues in a 30,000 seater and the Scarlets in a 17,000 seater. It's just the Dragons left with a reletively small ground, and there's plans to redevelop there also.

As Mite said, the games aren't played at very good times for the supporters. However it's the same in Ireland, and Munster and Leinster get much better crowds. Success is the difference there though.....

 

[An Tarbh]

Crowds should be up this year as there's no midweek matches planned, they would have certainly hit the Welsh sides' attendance over the last few seasons.

 

[Jockstap]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dullonien @ Sep 26 2009, 07:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

There are a number of reasons, but there should be better crowds. The regions seem to manage an average of around 9-11 thousand. Although this season has seen a decline for the Blues and Ospreys to 7-8 thousand. Refelects their poor form though. The new larger stadiums may also be making it seem like few people. Remember the Ospreys play in a 25,000 seater, the Blues in a 30,000 seater and the Scarlets in a 17,000 seater. It's just the Dragons left with a reletively small ground, and there's plans to redevelop there also.

As Mite said, the games aren't played at very good times for the supporters. However it's the same in Ireland, and Munster and Leinster get much better crowds. Success is the difference there though.....[/b]

Ulster hasn't had much success in recent years either, but they draw a crowd every time.

 

[An Tarbh]

Ulster's crowds haven't been anything to write home about, most times they were only getting about 7 or 8 thousand bar the interpros. I know there was the redevelopment going on but even the season before they were only filling Ravenhill for the interpros.

 

[munstermuffin]

Lads ye talk about big stadiums in Wales been factor ..... Thomond Park 26000 and Munster never have it empty like Welsh Regions :huh:

Think it down to fact teams aren't performing well but also scheduling agreed.

As in constantly getting Friday nights or Sunday 1o'clock games in H'Cup is hard to compete against especially when there so much TV coverage these days and nobody can deny comfort of watching at home

 

[MunsterMan]

I'd put it down to the games being live on terrestrial telly, poor scheduling (awkward kick offs as well as kick offs clashing with Welsh club rugby), and of course lack of success.

 

[dullonien]

Dont think Ulster get any more supporters than the Dragons do to their games, and Conacht get significantly less. You've gotta remember that all the Welsh regions are squashed in the South of Wales, meaning probably 1/2 of Wales' (already small) population live 1 1/2 hours plus from the closest one. For example, getting to Parc Y Scarlets from Aberystwyth would take 1 1/2 hours minimum if we include parking etc. This means with games not kicking off untill after 7 and finishing close to 9 o'clock, potential supporters from Aberystwyth wouldn't be home till 10:30 - 11:00.

There are also no direct rail links further North of Carmarthen, meaning a group of young lads are dependant on a parent etc. Another example from Aberyatwyth, it takes over 3 hours to get from Aber to Cardiff on the train (often closer to 4 hours), and even longer to Swansea, Llanelli etc. This is because we have to go out of Wales to Shrewsbury (North-East) before heading back (South-West) to Cardiff. It requires 1-2 changes, and quite often massive delays along the way due to maintenance etc. We've got Lord Beeching to thank for all this, as he was the one who closed all the rail links between Aberystwyth and Carmarthen. It would be nice if the Government realised this and re-opened this rail link (it's only 40 or so miles), instead of opening high speed rail links so Londeners can get go Paris in 2seconds! Most of the railway track is still there, it's been turned into a cycle track. Buses are also a no-no, there'd be no way of getting home!

This is the whole reason behind the plans to develop a North Wales region, to tap into the thousands of potential fans North of Aberystwyth and also the player base. It still leaves the Aberystwyth area in a bit of no mans land though.

 

[An Tarbh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (munstermuffin @ Sep 26 2009, 02:54 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Lads ye talk about big stadiums in Wales been factor ..... Thomond Park 26000 and Munster never have it empty like Welsh Regions :huh:

Think it down to fact teams aren't performing well but also scheduling agreed.

As in constantly getting Friday nights or Sunday 1o'clock games in H'Cup is hard to compete against especially when there so much TV coverage these days and nobody can deny comfort of watching at home[/b]

there was only 15k there for the Cardiff match, so that's hardly full.

 

[An Tarbh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dullonien @ Sep 26 2009, 11:32 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Dont think Ulster get any more supporters than the Dragons do to their games, and Conacht get significantly less. You've gotta remember that all the Welsh regions are squashed in the South of Wales, meaning probably 1/2 of Wales' (already small) population live 1 1/2 hours plus from the closest one. For example, getting to Parc Y Scarlets from Aberystwyth would take 1 1/2 hours minimum if we include parking etc. This means with games not kicking off untill after 7 and finishing close to 9 o'clock, potential supporters from Aberystwyth wouldn't be home till 10:30 - 11:00.[/b]

Ulster average about 9k for their home league matches while the Dragons only get about 6k. Ulster should be doing a lot better in fairness as they still play the majority of their home games on Friday nights which is what the fans want, still though their crowds haven't fallen as that's what they averaged when they won the league 4 years ago.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (An Tarbh @ Sep 26 2009, 12:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

there was only 15k there for the Cardiff match, so that's hardly full.[/b]

True but it's a far cry from the 6 or 7 thousand who were going to the same game only a couple of years ago. Leinster and Munster are getting more fans through the gate than ever before because they're marketing games far better than they used to. Both teams will hold open training sessions and autograph signings away from their usual supporter base. Leinster and Munster are all over the TV and radio trying to sell season tickets. Every Bank of Ireland you walk into advertizes the Leinster "blue magic" experience. Every Toyota dealership is adorned with images of Paul O'Connell, Doug Howlett and Ronan O'Gambler. Are the Welsh regions being so proactive in getting their "brand" recognised by the masses?

Wales have no problem getting 70,000+ fans into the Millenium Stadium for home games. They create an atmosphere in the ground far above that of any other stadium in world rugby. The Welsh regions should be trying to tap into this hardcore fan base to a greater extent than they currently do.

 

[Thingimubob]

What you;ve gotta remember is that in the Blues case that they're still going through ''hmmm...new stadium'' phase. Not all the fans are that happy with the new stadium, and miss the Arms Park, especially the terraces. I'm still in school and last season and teh season before you'd have pretty much my most of my year going to a Blues match, and I'd always see loads of people from the years above/below, and that's just my school where most students don;t even live in Cardiff! But now we're put off by 1) no terraces with great atmosphere, and we can't move around to see different people and 2) the fact that they've changed the junior tickets from u18 to u16, so now we have to pay £20 for a normal ticket rather that a £4 Junior Terrace ticket. Even if it was u16 in the Arms Park, we wouldn;t have had to pay £20, it's just daft.
I haven;t even been to the new stadium yet because I've either been working or can't afford it.

 

[Bluemoon]

Yeah there are no concession prices at the new stadium on matches. Only junior and adult. 20 quid for a student ticket is madness. 8 of my friends were going to go from uni, expecting a tenner most but they;re going to go to the pub instead.

Cardiff Blues have to compete with the bluebirds aswell. If the Blues aren't playing well, fans will not go for the price they have to pay. Game scheduling is important, but not as important as pricing.

Is this not an issue in Ireland? (or England?).

 

[An Tarbh]

for Leinster there's a reduction on season tickets if you buy them before a certain date and there's Tier 1 prices for the Interpros and HEC pool matches and Tier 2 prices for the other ML matches. I think there's a tenner of a difference between the prices of the tickets.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (An Tarbh @ Sep 26 2009, 01:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

for Leinster there's a reduction on season tickets if you buy them before a certain date and there's Tier 1 prices for the Interpros and HEC pool matches and Tier 2 prices for the other ML matches. I think there's a tenner of a difference between the prices of the tickets.[/b]

That's accurate. A couple of years ago they adopted Stade Francais' pricing structure when they played Ulster in Lansdowne Rd (tickets started at E5 for the first 10,000 sold, E10 for the next 10,000 and so on) so they aren't averse to some promotions. I assume they'll do the same next season and move a couple of games (Munster and maybe Ulster) to the new Aviva Stadium. All this has lead to them increasing season ticket sales from 1,500 three years ago to close to 11,000 today.

My season ticket cost around E350 for 12 games but it also comes with a discount card (10-20%) for a lot of stores and some other benefits.

 

[munstermuffin]

I may be wrong in this is well but another reason may be that Leinster(with 12counties) and Munster(6 Counties) have a wider range of fan-base and that goes hand in hand with marketing aspects. As in only person I see in rugby mags and that constantly is Nigel Owens (Underarmour) and he a ref for crying out loud.

But with regards for Munster only having 15k against Cardiff the reasons for that were:
-Game started at 7.05 on a Friday evening
-Weather was scorching and alot went away for weekend (Good weather is rare here)
-Timing meant alot from Cork couldn't make it where as on Saturday they would attend

Like vs Dragons the game is sold-out and could have sold many more tickets.

Just think Munster and Leinster market more and offer concessions and perks that make it beneficial for fans.

 

[An Tarbh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (munstermuffin @ Sep 26 2009, 06:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I may be wrong in this is well but another reason may be that Leinster(with 12counties) and Munster(6 Counties) have a wider range of fan-base and that goes hand in hand with marketing aspects. As in only person I see in rugby mags and that constantly is Nigel Owens (Underarmour) and he a ref for crying out loud.

But with regards for Munster only having 15k against Cardiff the reasons for that were:
-Game started at 7.05 on a Friday evening
-Weather was scorching and alot went away for weekend (Good weather is rare here)
-Timing meant alot from Cork couldn't make it where as on Saturday they would attend

Like vs Dragons the game is sold-out and could have sold many more tickets.[/b]

You'd hope so it's only at Musgrave Park for heavens sake.

 

[feicarsinn]

What was the attendance for the Edinburgh last night does anyone know? It seemed up on their usual figures but I suppose thats to be expected when you're top and the European champions are coming to town. Still like a ghost town though.

 

[An Tarbh]

5761, 3 thousand up on last years fixture and even bigger than the HEC pool match.