Attendance Record Broken as BKT URC Sets All-Time High for a Single Round

Another new record has been set by the BKT United Rugby Championship today with the league setting an all-time high for single-round attendance.

The 19,703 fans who attended the final game of Round 8 in Durban, where the Hollywoodbets Sharks took on the Emirates Lions, pushed the total for the round to over 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) while an all-time high of 37.4million watched across the campaign.

The first seven games of R8 were played across the Christmas weekend with BKT URC champions Munster selling out 25,600 against Leinster, last season’s beaten finalists, DHL Stormers, attracted 39,925 for their derby with the Vodacom Bulls, Glasgow Warriors sold out their first leg 1872 Cup clash with Edinburgh while 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.

Commenting on this latest milestone, Martin Anayi, United Rugby Championship CEO, said: “This is a major positive not only for the BKT URC but for the sport of rugby. 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 R9 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