Rugby World Cup 2015 biggest in history, but will it help rugby union shed its elitist image?
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Updated 24/09/2015 at 12:20 GMT
An astonishing television audience of 20million viewers apparently watched Scotland’s match with Japan lending credence to the claims that this Rugby World Cup is the biggest in history.
Rugby World Cup opening ceremony
Image credit: Reuters
Here are some of the key facts:
- A record 2.35 million tickets have been sold for the event six days after host nation England began the tournament before 82,000 fans against Fiji at Twickenham
- 100,000 more tickets have been sold in England than the previous record holder France in 2007 with corporate sales outstripping the 2012 Olympic Games in London
- 89,019 for New Zealand against Argentina at Wembley Stadium is record attendance for a World Cup match
- Rugby World Cup a biggest ratings winner than the X Factor with 10-15m expected to watch England’s matches with Wales and Australia over next two Saturday nights
- Only 14 matches have tickets available, only one has limited availability in highest priced categories
- Corporate packages remain on sale at £2,495 per person, but are predicted to sell out – an increase of 50 percent on similar packages sold at the London Olympics
- Tournament turnover expected to rake in £100m
- Average ticket price of £104.17 makes Rugby World Cup 2015 the most expensive sports event in history
Who will win the Rugby World Cup?
Is this good news for rugby union?
Yes and no. There is obviously an appetite for rugby in the UK and Ireland, and staging the tournament in England was always likely to prove hugely popular in a part of the world where the sport was born. The timing of the tournament and its exposure on ITV also seems ideal coming in the alternative year to the Olympics or a major football tournament such as the European Championships or a World Cup finals. What remains of concern is the notion that rugby union can become a sport for all when it is showing no obvious desire to reduce the costs of attending some of these matches. Some will argue that football is equally as costly, but then it is not in need of growing the national sport. Surely the idea of a World Cup is to sell rugby union to the masses?
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New Zealand players perfrom the Haka before their Rugby World Cup match against Argentina
Image credit: Reuters
Ticket prices too high
The price of tickets for the matches render it impossible for many fans of the sport to attend, and that in itself is a shame. People with money can obviously afford to go along, but those less well off who like rugby union can’t. Until prices are reduced, rugby union will struggle to shake off its imagery as a sport for those with plenty of disposable cash. Some folk are flogging briefs up to 44 times their face value via ticketing agents, who have not been reeled in by the government despite pleas from Chris Bryant, the shadow culture secretary, that fans were being "ripped off left, right and centre”. Will the fans who can afford such sums care? No sport in England has more privately-educated players than rugby union.
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Japan fans celebrate as their team stun South Africa at the Rugby World Cup
Image credit: Reuters
Real rugby fans continue to lose out
When you consider it would cost £50 for a baby to attend an England match, you get the general picture. Real rugby fans are the ones to lose out. It will be interesting to see what Japan, fresh from their unforgettable success against South Africa, charges their public to attend these matches in 2019. Trying to avoid ripping off people would be a good place to start if rugby union really wants to become the outstanding minority sport behind football in this country. You cannot truly measure the growth of a sport by how much money it revels in after a major event.
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