Kings Park helps break attendance record
NEWS: Another new record has been set by the United Rugby Championship, with the league setting an all-time high for single-round attendance.
The 19,703 fans who attended the final game of Round Eight in Durban on Saturday - where the Sharks lost 18-20 to the Lions - pushed the total for the round to over 135,747.
That surpasses the figure of 123,207 set in Round 11 last season.
This comes off the back of a record 1.6-million total attendance for the 2022/23 URC season - which also saw the highest-ever crowd for the league's Final (56,334), while an all-time high of 37.4-million watched across the campaign.
The first seven games of Round Eight were played across the Christmas weekend - with URC champions Munster selling out 25,600 against Leinster, last season's beaten finalists, the Stormers, attracted 39,925 for their derby with the Bulls, Glasgow Warriors sold out their first leg 1872 Cup clash with Edinburgh, while Zebre recorded their largest crowd for a league game in Parma since 2014.
In addition, Cardiff 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 URC, but for the sport," Martin Anayi, URC CEO, said.
"Our teams are innovating and collaborating to grow their crowds and attract new fans 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 teams and the competitiveness and jeopardy of the 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 attendance and create memorable occasions.
"We've seen great drama across the festive season and it's very encouraging to see the interest in 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 Bulls host the 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.
Round Eight – Attendance by fixture
Ulster v Connacht: 15,365
Glasgow Warriors v Edinburgh: 7,172
Zebre v Benetton: 4,701
Stormers v Bulls: 39,925
Cardiff v Dragons: 12,000
Scarlets v Ospreys: 11,282
Munster v Leinster: 25,600
Sharks v 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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