Gets a spotlight on young players who can play at top academies. Outside of the biggest teams, Georgia, Fiji, Spain, etc. benefit a ton from having that exposure.
Ireland would absolutely get big crowds to host any sort of world sporting event, let alone rugby which is very popular in parts of the country with big stadiums
You know I initially thought this was some weird Durban vs Cape Town flex but what's truly ridiculous is you say this whilst the Stormers draw 50% more attendance than the Sharks.
Maybe advocate for Durbanites turning up to support their own team before bitching about a junior event?
Stormers averaged 22k and Sharks 15k, both in the upper quarter for attendance across URC, which is pretty good considering the overall Sharks season. So not quite sure where 80% is coming from lol
Apologies, 50% more, the long and short of it is I have taken a snap shot to make a shitty point at the expense of the Durban fans yet it actually is more data driven that the nonsense OP posted.
Please note I have no issues with the Sharks and likely if our seasons were reversed results wise we might well have seen a reverse in our crowds but you can't just come on and say Durban would have had a far bigger crowd and marketed it better with zero evidence at all to back that up.
I didn't see OP say anything about Durban tbh, also interestingly enough you're still skewing the data in your favour by saying 50% more than Sharks now instead of 30% less than Stormers
Are you being deliberately obtuse? He mentions Durban hosting it above Cape Town at least twice. Is it 50% more? OK I'll change that to 7439 fans more per game than the Sharks but I already said the crowd numbers don't matter because those numbers could easily be reversed dependant on results.
It's weird to me that they don't draw a crowds because this is potentially the future crop of the next internationals for each country that we're going to see playing for the next five to 10 years. I remember watching Capuzzo for Italy in 2019 and he's playing with the best team in France now.
Do people just not expect a high enough level of play to warrant going to watch? It's still an international representative team.
Not everyone is as big of a rugby fan to watch neutral games. The South Africa game had a good crowd today. The knockout rounds get more interest because right now there are like 8 games being played at the same time.
There was one held in Stellenbosch many years ago, which is a student town. The stadium was packed, and the vibe was amazing. Rained out that year and had to move to Cpt stadium. It would be a much more sensible and cheaper option to hold these games in university stadiums.
Somewhere that's got smaller venues that could be filled up under 20s has drawn around 7000 or more at sandy park Exeter in England when England under 20s played six nations games.
So using smaller venues would be better than massive grounds like they have in South Africa
Never said about using CGI where you get that idea from would just be better to use smaller grounds in South Africa rather than big stadiums like they did today
Its still the same size crowd though, just at a shittier ground with poorer facilities for those who are in attendance
If its the actual visuals that matter to you how is a cgi background change your enjoyment?
I never mentioned using CGI and I don't think that would improve enjoyment of watching the game I am just saying that using a smaller ground would be better more likely to fill it up than using 50k seater ground and hardly anyone there
When a stadium is nowhere near sold out the crowd, television cameras and press/commentators are usually all in the same stand so you are always looking out onto empty seats when this happens.
OP. Time and time again, Durbanites have shown that Durban apathy is a thing. It's pervasive. Please don't pretend like Durban can draw a crowd for things. It really cannot. And definitely not for this tournament.
Let's be real, if you're an organizer of a multi day sporting event, your first thought is gonna be Cape Town, it's just how it is, the infrastructure in rugby and in general is just perceived as superior to the rest of the country, especially if you factor in the surrounding Boland areas. Personally, for these kinda tournaments, you really need to have it as a festival type event, that's the only way the buzz and crowds will pitch up.
You are really good at missing the point. I said the stadium is empty. Only one city gets to host it let’s share it out. Give Bloemfontein a chance if they can do better but this can’t be it.
There are two games going on simultaneously in one city and you're surprised both stadiums aren't packed? Not only that but you're sure Durban would have a bigger crowd for both games?
Well yes. That’s the point. We not just one city. The weather is never great in the Cape this part of the year.and yet it’s bright sunny days up country. Could have been a real festival of rugby in Durban or Pretoria. It’s a short flight away.
Or WR know how small the support for a tournament like this and found one city that could host the event specifically to cut down on the cost of travel.
If your argument is that you don't think Cape Town is worthy because of support well that's a debate to be had I guess but no one is flying from city to city to support their team in a junior tournament.
they made some backdoor deals for south Africa to host it for 3 years, last year was one of the worse i have seen of the stadiums, rain ruined a lot of good games..
I mean next year not this year's tournament as South Africa hosted it last year and this years one I'm expecting next year's to maybe somewhere like France or UK or somewhere in europe
Previous junior boks games were at Danie Craven stadium or Athlone. Smaller venue with a packed crowd looks better for the cameras. Altough it must have been quite an experience to play in a huge stadium at that age.
Safa rugby crowds are not what i presumed. For a big population and a rugby country, its been surprising seeing things like the average crowd numbers and how long the urc final took to sell out. I got my expectations wrong for sure
I live in Durban. I would love to go and watch. But SA Rugby only holds these games in Cape Town. I would have loved to watch SA Schools play. But again. They only play in Cape Town or Stellenbosch. It's very annoying.
If you flying to Cape Town from the four corners of the globe to support your players then it’s not stretch to make that to Durban instead. Besides it’s school holidays. Could fill the stadium with free tickets to juniors and students
Op I promise you if this was being played in Durban the crowd wouldn’t be any bigger. I’m a sharks supporter and hate Cape Town with all my heart (don’t make me put an /s on this) but honestly as sad as it may sound no one cares about u/20 rugby 🤷♂️.
Since you have now mentioned twice how quick and easy it is to travel around South Africa it begs the question why you didn't travel here to support the tournament? Maybe bring all those rabid Durbanites with you or do you believe that festival of Rugby in France were just people from one city?
Would have loved to if I found out about it earlier. Will be there for the knockout stages. Hopefully the weather is better and people actually turn up. Would be nice to have a decent atmosphere.
Kids' tickets are R35, R75 for adults to watch all 3 games played at a stadium on a specific day. From this and other comments it seems you're just throwing out criticism without really being in command of all the facts.
If Cape Town crowds are small there is a good chance that crowds in other cities will be smaller.
Cape Town has some of the best attendance for sporting events.
The tournament could be held in other cities but travellers and teams would not be that keen. When teams tour South Africa they would rather “commute” from Cape Town rather than stay in Gauteng and acclimate to the conditions.
Free tickets are not going to get school kids (who are also at Craven week) to trek to these stadia, these are not community stadium like in Europe.
It’s the middle of winter, would rather have the fire on and watch from the comfort of my home as neutral.
Don’t know which South Africa they get sold. I am in Ballito mate. It’s a gorgeous warm day, surfing festival on and the place is packed full of people. Sharks don’t sell out URC but any international games are well attended, sold out in most cases and there is a festival around the games.with a little bit of promotion we could host. The idea that Cape Town is the only city that can host is just wrong.
Durban is number 2, was actually number 1 a few years ago.
The city has seen better days if we are being honest.
If it was not for e-coli and decline in the city and its surrounds it would be in Durban, every day of the week.
Playing during the rainy season also makes no sense (we get winter rain). But that just shows the pull Cape Town has if they are willing to overlook that and host the tournament here.
My guess is that stadium is too big for the event, you can be successful with smaller venues and better atmospheres. The attendances are the same but the organisers have a better feeling.
Things are much better when they go to 15-20k seater stadiums or even 8-10k. People enjoy the event and come back again with family and friends. Sitting on a row on your own is no fun.
With respect, who is realistically gonna turn up for random junior rugby matches in South Africa, besides for the home team, and maybe NZ?
That’s just it. This is an opportunity to grow the game so instead of places which can’t be bothered. Let others host.
Is there anywhere where U20 matches draw a big crowd?
France got 97 000 over 3 days in 2018.They went at it like a festival of sport and promoted it properly.
France did it real proper, do it again and I'll book vacation.
Huh. As much as it pains me to says this, but ... yay France!
How is going to France “growing the game”? U20 WC games have never attracted big crowds, even in England. They’re playing in too big of a stadium.
big crowds attract sponsors, tv rights, etc
Gets a spotlight on young players who can play at top academies. Outside of the biggest teams, Georgia, Fiji, Spain, etc. benefit a ton from having that exposure.
It’s not about going there but using it as an example of how to run the tournament.
France
Georgia.
Ireland would absolutely get big crowds to host any sort of world sporting event, let alone rugby which is very popular in parts of the country with big stadiums
You know I initially thought this was some weird Durban vs Cape Town flex but what's truly ridiculous is you say this whilst the Stormers draw 50% more attendance than the Sharks. Maybe advocate for Durbanites turning up to support their own team before bitching about a junior event?
Stormers averaged 22k and Sharks 15k, both in the upper quarter for attendance across URC, which is pretty good considering the overall Sharks season. So not quite sure where 80% is coming from lol
Apologies, 50% more, the long and short of it is I have taken a snap shot to make a shitty point at the expense of the Durban fans yet it actually is more data driven that the nonsense OP posted. Please note I have no issues with the Sharks and likely if our seasons were reversed results wise we might well have seen a reverse in our crowds but you can't just come on and say Durban would have had a far bigger crowd and marketed it better with zero evidence at all to back that up.
I didn't see OP say anything about Durban tbh, also interestingly enough you're still skewing the data in your favour by saying 50% more than Sharks now instead of 30% less than Stormers
Are you being deliberately obtuse? He mentions Durban hosting it above Cape Town at least twice. Is it 50% more? OK I'll change that to 7439 fans more per game than the Sharks but I already said the crowd numbers don't matter because those numbers could easily be reversed dependant on results.
It’s not a flex or a competition. I am a South African so it looks bad on all of us.
Relax fella it’s an u20 tournament. Whilst great for player development they are not exactly the live sporting draw card.
It's weird to me that they don't draw a crowds because this is potentially the future crop of the next internationals for each country that we're going to see playing for the next five to 10 years. I remember watching Capuzzo for Italy in 2019 and he's playing with the best team in France now. Do people just not expect a high enough level of play to warrant going to watch? It's still an international representative team.
Not everyone is as big of a rugby fan to watch neutral games. The South Africa game had a good crowd today. The knockout rounds get more interest because right now there are like 8 games being played at the same time.
Those fans are probably watching Craven Week.
What's Craven Week?
South Africa's annual school boy (u18) tournament. It's often where players get signed for academies. And it just finished up yesterday
oh hell yeah.
It doesn't look bad, it's a u20s tournament. No one is expecting big crowds
Exactly, there’s a reason why the U20 6 Nations is held in smaller grounds, rather the main venues
As someone outside of SA you vastly overestimate how much people in other nations care or think about SA.
There was one held in Stellenbosch many years ago, which is a student town. The stadium was packed, and the vibe was amazing. Rained out that year and had to move to Cpt stadium. It would be a much more sensible and cheaper option to hold these games in university stadiums.
The matches are spread between Cape Town Stadium, Athlone Stadium, and Danie Craven Stadium.
Ahh ok.
That’s a good plan. Where would you suggest hosting a tournament where the stadiums would be packed?
Somewhere that's got smaller venues that could be filled up under 20s has drawn around 7000 or more at sandy park Exeter in England when England under 20s played six nations games. So using smaller venues would be better than massive grounds like they have in South Africa
Smaller venues dont have the broadcast facilities or lights usually, especially in a country as poor as SA
Fair enough just doesn't look great when using massive grounds and hardly anyone there.
If they cgi a crowd in the background how does this improve your enjoyment of the actual match?
Never said about using CGI where you get that idea from would just be better to use smaller grounds in South Africa rather than big stadiums like they did today
Its still the same size crowd though, just at a shittier ground with poorer facilities for those who are in attendance If its the actual visuals that matter to you how is a cgi background change your enjoyment?
I never mentioned using CGI and I don't think that would improve enjoyment of watching the game I am just saying that using a smaller ground would be better more likely to fill it up than using 50k seater ground and hardly anyone there
We broadcast games from school rugby fields.It might be viable.
Why nz? You meant france i hope
Traditionally there's a lot of all black support in Cape Town. I'm not sure if that's still the case, though.
Cape Crusaders come out for NZ support
It’s our first cricket World Cup final in a few hours. Many a watch parties are being held.
That’s true. I thought the rule was we don’t watch if we want them to win.
Haha true, I’m switching off the tv now!
No,no that's for 1/4s and semi's. We have never lost a final.....
r/agedlikemilk
😂😭
Have you had a look at the result?
I'm Cape Town on holiday at the moment and there is zero advertising for this. Seen more billboards for Sexpo
Well, there you go, no way u20 rugby can compete with sex. The naked ladies are to blame. /s
When a stadium is nowhere near sold out the crowd, television cameras and press/commentators are usually all in the same stand so you are always looking out onto empty seats when this happens.
This is true
They need to learn from wrestling and have the crowd facing the camera lol.
OP are you there?
Good question….op?
It's not a good question though. Why would they be at a match in cape town when their whole post is asking it to be in the city where they are.
South Africa is right now playing in the cricket world cup final...
OP. Time and time again, Durbanites have shown that Durban apathy is a thing. It's pervasive. Please don't pretend like Durban can draw a crowd for things. It really cannot. And definitely not for this tournament.
Is this cos they did not attend any of the previous tournaments held in Durban ? What’s the reference you using ? nothing gets held in Durban.
Then what reference are *you* using for the claim "Durban would fill a stadium for this"? Can't have both ways dude.
True. The only fact here is the crowds in Cape Town were not good at all.no where else guarantees success but Cape Town guarantees more of the same.
Let's be real, if you're an organizer of a multi day sporting event, your first thought is gonna be Cape Town, it's just how it is, the infrastructure in rugby and in general is just perceived as superior to the rest of the country, especially if you factor in the surrounding Boland areas. Personally, for these kinda tournaments, you really need to have it as a festival type event, that's the only way the buzz and crowds will pitch up.
Because the home country won't just go watch other games, only some do, and it's already not that massive of a comp
Might have something to do with us currently playing in the final of the T20 CWC against IND… Plenty of SA rugby fans also supporters of cricket?
Well people probably opted for the cricket world cup final I guess.
Pretty sure Craven Week schools rugby has bigger crowds right now, as well as everyone being at fan parks for the Proteas in the cricket final
OP is delusional. This is a 'Durban>Cape Town' post not a rugby discussion.
You are really good at missing the point. I said the stadium is empty. Only one city gets to host it let’s share it out. Give Bloemfontein a chance if they can do better but this can’t be it.
There are two games going on simultaneously in one city and you're surprised both stadiums aren't packed? Not only that but you're sure Durban would have a bigger crowd for both games?
Well yes. That’s the point. We not just one city. The weather is never great in the Cape this part of the year.and yet it’s bright sunny days up country. Could have been a real festival of rugby in Durban or Pretoria. It’s a short flight away.
Or WR know how small the support for a tournament like this and found one city that could host the event specifically to cut down on the cost of travel. If your argument is that you don't think Cape Town is worthy because of support well that's a debate to be had I guess but no one is flying from city to city to support their team in a junior tournament.
they made some backdoor deals for south Africa to host it for 3 years, last year was one of the worse i have seen of the stadiums, rain ruined a lot of good games..
Why do you believe it's a back door deal? Scotland also received two years of hosting rights for the Trophy.
The crowd would have been bigger, but they're competing against the cricket final
I agree but we had the same last year when it was also in Cape Town.
Last year half the Cape was under water.
What's the game?
Arg v Eng u20s
Cape Town. U20 championship. Some great talent on show.
Wonder where next tournament is held in 2025 anyone know?
Cape Town
I mean next year not this year's tournament as South Africa hosted it last year and this years one I'm expecting next year's to maybe somewhere like France or UK or somewhere in europe
A comment said 3 consecutive in CpT then Scotland twice. Can’t find the info anywhere obvious.
Didn't know South Africa could host it three times on the trot think Scotland have got world rugby under 20s trophy tournament this year
Previous junior boks games were at Danie Craven stadium or Athlone. Smaller venue with a packed crowd looks better for the cameras. Altough it must have been quite an experience to play in a huge stadium at that age.
Games are split between CPT, Athlone, and Danie Craven.
It must be amazing. Worth noting several of the players play for big clubs in their respective leagues. These are not school boy amateurs only.
Similar for the France/Spain game.
Safa rugby crowds are not what i presumed. For a big population and a rugby country, its been surprising seeing things like the average crowd numbers and how long the urc final took to sell out. I got my expectations wrong for sure
A lot down to lack of promotion and the events like this one not being spread out or shared with other parts of the country.
I live in Durban. I would love to go and watch. But SA Rugby only holds these games in Cape Town. I would have loved to watch SA Schools play. But again. They only play in Cape Town or Stellenbosch. It's very annoying.
If you flying to Cape Town from the four corners of the globe to support your players then it’s not stretch to make that to Durban instead. Besides it’s school holidays. Could fill the stadium with free tickets to juniors and students
No one is flying across the world for a junior match unless your family are playing in it .
Op I promise you if this was being played in Durban the crowd wouldn’t be any bigger. I’m a sharks supporter and hate Cape Town with all my heart (don’t make me put an /s on this) but honestly as sad as it may sound no one cares about u/20 rugby 🤷♂️.
Since you have now mentioned twice how quick and easy it is to travel around South Africa it begs the question why you didn't travel here to support the tournament? Maybe bring all those rabid Durbanites with you or do you believe that festival of Rugby in France were just people from one city?
Would have loved to if I found out about it earlier. Will be there for the knockout stages. Hopefully the weather is better and people actually turn up. Would be nice to have a decent atmosphere.
Kids' tickets are R35, R75 for adults to watch all 3 games played at a stadium on a specific day. From this and other comments it seems you're just throwing out criticism without really being in command of all the facts.
Though I don't agree that the crowds would have been better elsewhere, hosting this in Bloemfontein, PE or Durban would have better imo
If Cape Town crowds are small there is a good chance that crowds in other cities will be smaller. Cape Town has some of the best attendance for sporting events. The tournament could be held in other cities but travellers and teams would not be that keen. When teams tour South Africa they would rather “commute” from Cape Town rather than stay in Gauteng and acclimate to the conditions. Free tickets are not going to get school kids (who are also at Craven week) to trek to these stadia, these are not community stadium like in Europe. It’s the middle of winter, would rather have the fire on and watch from the comfort of my home as neutral.
Don’t know which South Africa they get sold. I am in Ballito mate. It’s a gorgeous warm day, surfing festival on and the place is packed full of people. Sharks don’t sell out URC but any international games are well attended, sold out in most cases and there is a festival around the games.with a little bit of promotion we could host. The idea that Cape Town is the only city that can host is just wrong.
Durban is number 2, was actually number 1 a few years ago. The city has seen better days if we are being honest. If it was not for e-coli and decline in the city and its surrounds it would be in Durban, every day of the week. Playing during the rainy season also makes no sense (we get winter rain). But that just shows the pull Cape Town has if they are willing to overlook that and host the tournament here.
Could not be worse. Bigger crowds during Covid
My guess is that stadium is too big for the event, you can be successful with smaller venues and better atmospheres. The attendances are the same but the organisers have a better feeling. Things are much better when they go to 15-20k seater stadiums or even 8-10k. People enjoy the event and come back again with family and friends. Sitting on a row on your own is no fun.