South Africa’s franchises look set to again play their part in setting a new United Rugby Championship match day attendance record for the 2024/25 season, but one local team that needs to get their fans to step their game up are the Emirates Lions.
Last season the URC saw a 3% rise in overall matchday attendance with a total of 1,69 million people (11,200 per game) attending matches in Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales.
But since debuting in the competition’s 2021/22 season the Lions have not been able to fill their 63,000-seater Emirate Airline Stadium.
When they faced the Stormers this past Saturday, it was expected that the City of Johannesburg would show up but only 22,410 people decided to pitch.
And from how pockets of spectators were scattered throughout the red-painted seats inside the Emirates Stadium it looked nothing close to even 20,000.
Meanwhile, up the road (Pretoria) the Lions’ Jukskei neighbours the Bulls reported an attendance of 34,827 spectators inside a 51,000-seater Loftus Versfeld Stadium for their clash against the Sharks.
In this season’s opening-round game against Ulster, just over 2,000 people showed up to watch the Lions win 35-22 while 3,542 fans showed up the following weekend to see them maul Edinburgh 55-21.
However, for the Stormers’ first home game of the URC season, 28000 people showed up at DHL Stadium to watch the Cape side beat Munster 34-19, while their 28-17 loss to Glasgow Warriors at Danie Craven Stadium a week later was also played out in front of a close to sold-out crowd as 12,976 supported crammed into the 16,000-capacity venue.
Criminal Elements
But the low attendance at an iconic stadium that saw the Springboks win their first World Cup title back in 1995, is not because of the Lions team dishing up bad rugby.
In all honesty, the Joburg side plays an exciting attacking brand of rugby that last season saw them just miss out (9th) on a playoff spot, while this past weekend’s win against the Stormers has kept them in the race for the top eight.
Speaking to some Lions fans who regularly attends homes games about why they can’t seem to fill their stadium, on of the main reasons that gets pointed out is the high crime rate – especially spectators getting mugged or their parked vehicles broken into – is why not many are keen on making the trip to the stadium situated in Johannesburg’s Doornfontein suburb.
One Lions fan said:
The stadium is unfortunately down the road from Hillbrow, of which the latter, in turn, has drug addicts, vagrants and other criminal elements roaming the streets.
On match day they try their luck with folks not used to the smash and grab. Some SA citizens are trusting folk, and they sometimes get mugged.
As a Lions supporter who regularly attends games I can tell you our Union spends a crap load of money on security [in and around the stadium] and especially when it is a derby game against the Bulls, Stormers and Sharks.
For some supporters, it is also cheaper to watch the game in the comfort of their own homes than spend a small fortune on matchday tickets and extras (food and beverages).
Take it to the Townships
Some have suggested that the Lions should probably look at taking some of their home games – especially against overseas teams – to other stadiums like the Orlando Stadium in Soweto to try and grow their fanbase.
But sponsors Emirates might have a huge problem with such a move from Lions bosses.
Meanwhile, other South African-based teams that are looking to get into a European competition, the Lions’ struggles to fill their stadium could become a huge bargaining chip when the rights to take part in the URC get renewed.
One such team is the Boland, who have already made their intentions clear of playing against the big boys, with African Rainbow Capital buying a chunk of the Cape Winelands-based team’s professional arm in 2023.
