South African Rugby has always enjoyed a passionate following from its loyal supporters around the Republic.
Rarely is it possible to get tickets to a Springbok game anywhere in the country. Yet, one area that has at times not looked great optically has been at provincial level.
Playing their games in giant stadiums such as DHL Stadium (55,000 capacity), Hollywood Kings Park (54,000), Ellis Park (62,567) and Loftus Versfeld (51,762). Thus, when even a decent crowd of 15,000-20,000 pack into the Stadium it looks rather empty.
Whilst it is wholly unrealistic to expect these stadiums to fill up for fixtures against sides such as the Scarlets, Edinburgh or Zebre, the question has been is there an alternative.
Take for example the Stormers games in Stellenbosch this season. They had a real feeling of being an event in line with America’s infamous Friday Night Lights style football games.
Although shifting games to smaller grounds for run of the mill league games could make the action look better on TV. One thing is for sure, when the big stadiums are full it makes for a heck of a spectacle.
One such moment was the DHL Stadium which had over 40,000 pack in to watch the Stormers march on to the semi-finals with a dominant win over the Bulls.
South African fans, how would you feel about shifting regular games to smaller stadiums for regular season and saving the big stadiums for crunch games? Let us know in the comments, is this a possibility.
Crowd at the Stormers Bulls game was absolutely electric
by u/BallsToTheWallNone in rugbyunion
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