Super Rugby 2026
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There is a major difference between rugby supporters and rugby league supporters in Auckland. If you go to a Wahs game you can yell and scream and you fit right in. Try that at an NPC game at Eden Park and you might even get told to hush a bit. It happened to me years ago, crazy
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I'm not having a go. Auckland FC turned up 2 minutes ago - the Blues/Auckland rugby crowds were poor before then.
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@canefan its going back a couple of years, but when the Drua played here in Whangarei, the Drua fans were great, signing, dancing, was a great atmosphere, but NZ grounds seem to prefer to play shitty music and kept playing it over the top of the crowd creating that faux ambience.
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@taniwharugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
@canefan its going back a couple of years, but when the Drua played here in Whangarei, the Drua fans were great, signing, dancing, was a great atmosphere, but NZ grounds seem to prefer to play shitty music and kept playing it over the top of the crowd creating that faux ambience.
Rugby has no idea how to provide a quality entertainment product, and that starts with the game on the pitch (I'm referring to test footy more than SR). The NH seem less discerning and more loyal, NZ crowds the opposite
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@canefan said in Super Rugby 2026:
@taniwharugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
@canefan its going back a couple of years, but when the Drua played here in Whangarei, the Drua fans were great, signing, dancing, was a great atmosphere, but NZ grounds seem to prefer to play shitty music and kept playing it over the top of the crowd creating that faux ambience.
Rugby has no idea how to provide a quality entertainment product, and that starts with the game on the pitch (I'm referring to test footy more than SR). The NH seem less discerning and more loyal, NZ crowds the opposite
Test rugby really is over officiated when all is said and done.
A lot of the NH refs seem to love the sound of their own voice and the constant stoppages rather than just letting the game flow. Murray mexted phrases it brilliantly, calls those refs litigious.
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@nonpartizan said in Super Rugby 2026:
@canefan said in Super Rugby 2026:
@taniwharugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
@canefan its going back a couple of years, but when the Drua played here in Whangarei, the Drua fans were great, signing, dancing, was a great atmosphere, but NZ grounds seem to prefer to play shitty music and kept playing it over the top of the crowd creating that faux ambience.
Rugby has no idea how to provide a quality entertainment product, and that starts with the game on the pitch (I'm referring to test footy more than SR). The NH seem less discerning and more loyal, NZ crowds the opposite
Test rugby really is over officiated when all is said and done.
A lot of the NH refs seem to love the sound of their own voice and the constant stoppages rather than just letting the game flow. Murray mexted phrases it brilliantly, calls those refs litigious.
its true but "we" dont help, plenty of posts in game threads along the lines "how did the miss that" or calling for cards/penalties when we spot things we dont like
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@Kiwiwomble said in Super Rugby 2026:
@nonpartizan said in Super Rugby 2026:
@canefan said in Super Rugby 2026:
@taniwharugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
@canefan its going back a couple of years, but when the Drua played here in Whangarei, the Drua fans were great, signing, dancing, was a great atmosphere, but NZ grounds seem to prefer to play shitty music and kept playing it over the top of the crowd creating that faux ambience.
Rugby has no idea how to provide a quality entertainment product, and that starts with the game on the pitch (I'm referring to test footy more than SR). The NH seem less discerning and more loyal, NZ crowds the opposite
Test rugby really is over officiated when all is said and done.
A lot of the NH refs seem to love the sound of their own voice and the constant stoppages rather than just letting the game flow. Murray mexted phrases it brilliantly, calls those refs litigious.
its true but "we" dont help, plenty of posts in game threads along the lines "how did the miss that" or calling for cards/penalties when we spot things we dont like
fans are the fucking worst and the last thing any fucking governing organisation should do is listen to them.
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@Old-Alleynians said in Super Rugby 2026:
I'm not having a go. Auckland FC turned up 2 minutes ago - the Blues/Auckland rugby crowds were poor before then.
You'll get no arguments from me on the Auckland front, the NPC is dead there and Auckland themselves seemed to have given up trying to win the thing, we see more academy players running around for them with the established players playing like they don't want to get injured or something.
On the Blues, well, we were very poor in the 2010s which contributed a lot to the downfall of crowds in that era. We were usually out of finals contention by April in those years so yeah, it was hard to attract big audiences back then. What I will say though is that crowds against non NZ competition back in those days were better than what it is now.
Now, its a massive uphill task since the end if covid days. The Wahs returned fulltime to NZ with a huge following, Auckland FC Have added to the market, I haven't even included the Breakers until now so yeah, crowds since 2022 have been on a steady decline, so instead of attracting 15,000 fans or so against non NZ opposition, they're now barely attracting 10 on a good day.
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@mariner4life said in Super Rugby 2026:
@Kiwiwomble said in Super Rugby 2026:
@nonpartizan said in Super Rugby 2026:
@canefan said in Super Rugby 2026:
@taniwharugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
@canefan its going back a couple of years, but when the Drua played here in Whangarei, the Drua fans were great, signing, dancing, was a great atmosphere, but NZ grounds seem to prefer to play shitty music and kept playing it over the top of the crowd creating that faux ambience.
Rugby has no idea how to provide a quality entertainment product, and that starts with the game on the pitch (I'm referring to test footy more than SR). The NH seem less discerning and more loyal, NZ crowds the opposite
Test rugby really is over officiated when all is said and done.
A lot of the NH refs seem to love the sound of their own voice and the constant stoppages rather than just letting the game flow. Murray mexted phrases it brilliantly, calls those refs litigious.
its true but "we" dont help, plenty of posts in game threads along the lines "how did the miss that" or calling for cards/penalties when we spot things we dont like
fans are the fucking worst and the last thing any fucking governing organisation should do is listen to them.
cant stand em
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damn fans, they ruined fandom
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Boy, you fans sure are a contentious lot
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@Dan54 said in Super Rugby 2026:
@African-Monkey said in Super Rugby 2026:
@frugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
@Duluth said in Super Rugby 2026:
@frugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
I think there should be more teams and the larger ones should be broken up. There should be more opportunities for players to play close to their home.. that makes for a more tribal competition with more interest.
I find this quite fascinating. Have recently been in the UK, and the sheer density of population/football teams in London is incredible, and it goes back to your first point.
Why is it, that Auckland, a city of 1.5m, struggles to support two Super Rugby teams, given rugby is our national game?
Sydney is about 2x as big and they support 9 NRL teams.
Is it better to look at the population of rugby fans as opposed to actual population?
I think a ranking of average crowd size for the 14 NPC sides + the 5 Super Rugby sides would be interesting.
Auckland also has The Wahs and Auckland FC to compete with, and with a cost of living crisis, rugby is bring squeezed out by rival codes. Compare that with the population of the Canterbury region which is about 700,000 currently and growing and has ONE professinal sports team. Lets see how they cope once they eventually get a league team down the track. There's no competition currently in the South Island and the crowds down there are still pathetic most of the time.
Sydney is also not 2 times as big, it has a population of 5.5 mil.
Yep bang on AM, it's pretty different when you look Sydney has population of whole of NZ .
Problem is getting that 5.5 mill to stadiums involves a fair bit of travelling.
Brisbane las about double pop of Auckland doesn't it, and has one of each code , I think, with a couple of teams in surrounding cities? My main take is travel and of course w got a lot of people who these days quite enjoy the convenience of sitting on couches?If you count the Goldy and Sunshine Coast (and you should) then Brisbane is over 3.5 million
And while there's been rationalisation in this millennium, if your region/ suburb had a NRL team, you had a stadium which was "reasonably" well serviced by public transport. Or certainly better than driving which is an act of self loathing.
Australia is also much more willing to waste taxpayer funds on infrastructure.
The other issue is while Australians generally support winners, my experience is there's a considerable discrepancy between codes when their team sucks. Rugby appears to be the worst- "fans" stop attending when their team sucks and are amazingly ignorant of the laws.
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@frugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
@Duluth said in Super Rugby 2026:
@frugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
I think there should be more teams and the larger ones should be broken up. There should be more opportunities for players to play close to their home.. that makes for a more tribal competition with more interest.
I find this quite fascinating. Have recently been in the UK, and the sheer density of population/football teams in London is incredible, and it goes back to your first point.
What's really impressive in England at the moment is some sides in the National League, Nation League North/South and the Isthmian League (the 5th, 6th and 7th tier) pulling in paying crowds of over 5000.
Take a bow supporters of Carlisle, Notts County, Oldham Athletic, York City, Southend United, Torquay United and Dulwich Hamlet
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@canefan said in Super Rugby 2026:
Rugby has no idea how to provide a quality entertainment product
I think that comes from its amateur roots.
Even when all sports were essentially amateur, rugby was the "most" amateur.
Fundamentalist almost.
Marketing a "commericial" product was way down their priorities list. Probably never even crossed their minds.One thing the NH (West Euro) sure has is population density.
Most people think of China when they think of population, but Western Europe is the most densely populated part of the planet.
That creates all sorts of economies that can be taken advantage of.
Because of that Euro rugby might even be doing worse than us at growing the game . . . relatively.
Increasing fan participation/financial investment in the game etc.
Just sooooo many f'n people jammed in there, we cant notice it. -
@sparky said in Super Rugby 2026:
@frugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
@Duluth said in Super Rugby 2026:
@frugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
I think there should be more teams and the larger ones should be broken up. There should be more opportunities for players to play close to their home.. that makes for a more tribal competition with more interest.
I find this quite fascinating. Have recently been in the UK, and the sheer density of population/football teams in London is incredible, and it goes back to your first point.
What's really impressive in England at the moment is some sides in the National League, Nation League North/South and the Isthmian League (the 5th, 6th and 7th tier) pulling in paying crowds of over 5000.
Take a bow supporters of Carlisle, Notts County, Oldham Athletic, York City, Southend United, Torquay United and Dulwich Hamlet
You live therw, would you say it's a flow on efect with so many locals being priced out of going to premier league games now?
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I think there are a number of things going on.
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Clearly some fans are disillusioned with the Premier League because the clubs are global brands rather than community-based institutions. VAR, rapid turnover of players, coaches and owners are turned off some fans.
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Watching Premier League football at £70 a ticket, plus expensive food and travel is an expensive hobby during a cost of living crisis. Non-league tickets are more like £10-£12. The pandemic has made folks enjoy local entertainment more.
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In non-league football you can interact with players who live and work part-time locally. (My next neighbour for many years played for a National League South club). Add to that the role of volunteers in keeping the clubs going, there is much more of a community spirit and identity.
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The games and leagues at semi-pro/amateur level are genuinely much less predictable. YouTubers and podcasters have made non-league football accessible to a new generation of young fans.
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@African-Monkey said in Super Rugby 2026:
@sparky said in Super Rugby 2026:
@frugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
@Duluth said in Super Rugby 2026:
@frugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
I think there should be more teams and the larger ones should be broken up. There should be more opportunities for players to play close to their home.. that makes for a more tribal competition with more interest.
I find this quite fascinating. Have recently been in the UK, and the sheer density of population/football teams in London is incredible, and it goes back to your first point.
What's really impressive in England at the moment is some sides in the National League, Nation League North/South and the Isthmian League (the 5th, 6th and 7th tier) pulling in paying crowds of over 5000.
Take a bow supporters of Carlisle, Notts County, Oldham Athletic, York City, Southend United, Torquay United and Dulwich Hamlet
You live therw, would you say it's a flow on efect with so many locals being priced out of going to premier league games now?
i would say thats definitely a part....but the standard is also much better, when wimbledon came through the leagues we only went semi pro in championship south i think and didnt go full pro until promotion to the league (this was only 2010), now i believe theyre full pro right through the championship
@antipodean said in Super Rugby 2026:
@Dan54 said in Super Rugby 2026:
@African-Monkey said in Super Rugby 2026:
@frugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
@Duluth said in Super Rugby 2026:
@frugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
I think there should be more teams and the larger ones should be broken up. There should be more opportunities for players to play close to their home.. that makes for a more tribal competition with more interest.
I find this quite fascinating. Have recently been in the UK, and the sheer density of population/football teams in London is incredible, and it goes back to your first point.
Why is it, that Auckland, a city of 1.5m, struggles to support two Super Rugby teams, given rugby is our national game?
Sydney is about 2x as big and they support 9 NRL teams.
Is it better to look at the population of rugby fans as opposed to actual population?
I think a ranking of average crowd size for the 14 NPC sides + the 5 Super Rugby sides would be interesting.
Auckland also has The Wahs and Auckland FC to compete with, and with a cost of living crisis, rugby is bring squeezed out by rival codes. Compare that with the population of the Canterbury region which is about 700,000 currently and growing and has ONE professinal sports team. Lets see how they cope once they eventually get a league team down the track. There's no competition currently in the South Island and the crowds down there are still pathetic most of the time.
Sydney is also not 2 times as big, it has a population of 5.5 mil.
Yep bang on AM, it's pretty different when you look Sydney has population of whole of NZ .
Problem is getting that 5.5 mill to stadiums involves a fair bit of travelling.
Brisbane las about double pop of Auckland doesn't it, and has one of each code , I think, with a couple of teams in surrounding cities? My main take is travel and of course w got a lot of people who these days quite enjoy the convenience of sitting on couches?If you count the Goldy and Sunshine Coast (and you should) then Brisbane is over 3.5 million
And while there's been rationalisation in this millennium, if your region/ suburb had a NRL team, you had a stadium which was "reasonably" well serviced by public transport. Or certainly better than driving which is an act of self loathing.
Australia is also much more willing to waste taxpayer funds on infrastructure.
The other issue is while Australians generally support winners, my experience is there's a considerable discrepancy between codes when their team sucks. Rugby appears to be the worst- "fans" stop attending when their team sucks and are amazingly ignorant of the laws.
i remember being shocked when i first came over and their was a mid season mid table game between Richmond and Carlton...ie both having average to shit seasons and very little to play for....90k people
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@mariner4life said in Super Rugby 2026:
Aus rugby crowds are shit because there are either 14 people there, or a bunch of kiwis. AFL crowds are great, even 65,000 mouth-breathing Carlton supporters yelling "BAAAALLLL" every minute is an upgrade.
The Lions are good because they bring the Poms.
So basically you don't like is us kiwis at rugby mariner??
But in general I agree us and Aussies And there been plenty at tests I been at in Aus, do tend to be quiet.
I agree Lions crowds are great, and their supporters in most sports are bloody fun, look at cricket they same there, often supporting losing team, so jsut get pissed and have fun?
The AFL from what I have seen is great fun, not that I have been and only watched a few games on TV (like when Lions won first championship), it's actually a game if there was no rugby in Aus I would of followed, especially before league etc. -
@Kiwiwomble said in Super Rugby 2026:
@African-Monkey said in Super Rugby 2026:
@sparky said in Super Rugby 2026:
@frugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
@Duluth said in Super Rugby 2026:
@frugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
I think there should be more teams and the larger ones should be broken up. There should be more opportunities for players to play close to their home.. that makes for a more tribal competition with more interest.
I find this quite fascinating. Have recently been in the UK, and the sheer density of population/football teams in London is incredible, and it goes back to your first point.
What's really impressive in England at the moment is some sides in the National League, Nation League North/South and the Isthmian League (the 5th, 6th and 7th tier) pulling in paying crowds of over 5000.
Take a bow supporters of Carlisle, Notts County, Oldham Athletic, York City, Southend United, Torquay United and Dulwich Hamlet
You live therw, would you say it's a flow on efect with so many locals being priced out of going to premier league games now?
i would say thats definitely a part....but the standard is also much better, when wimbledon came through the leagues we only went semi pro in championship south i think and didnt go full pro until promotion to the league (this was only 2010), now i believe theyre full pro right through the championship
@antipodean said in Super Rugby 2026:
@Dan54 said in Super Rugby 2026:
@African-Monkey said in Super Rugby 2026:
@frugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
@Duluth said in Super Rugby 2026:
@frugby said in Super Rugby 2026:
I think there should be more teams and the larger ones should be broken up. There should be more opportunities for players to play close to their home.. that makes for a more tribal competition with more interest.
I find this quite fascinating. Have recently been in the UK, and the sheer density of population/football teams in London is incredible, and it goes back to your first point.
Why is it, that Auckland, a city of 1.5m, struggles to support two Super Rugby teams, given rugby is our national game?
Sydney is about 2x as big and they support 9 NRL teams.
Is it better to look at the population of rugby fans as opposed to actual population?
I think a ranking of average crowd size for the 14 NPC sides + the 5 Super Rugby sides would be interesting.
Auckland also has The Wahs and Auckland FC to compete with, and with a cost of living crisis, rugby is bring squeezed out by rival codes. Compare that with the population of the Canterbury region which is about 700,000 currently and growing and has ONE professinal sports team. Lets see how they cope once they eventually get a league team down the track. There's no competition currently in the South Island and the crowds down there are still pathetic most of the time.
Sydney is also not 2 times as big, it has a population of 5.5 mil.
Yep bang on AM, it's pretty different when you look Sydney has population of whole of NZ .
Problem is getting that 5.5 mill to stadiums involves a fair bit of travelling.
Brisbane las about double pop of Auckland doesn't it, and has one of each code , I think, with a couple of teams in surrounding cities? My main take is travel and of course w got a lot of people who these days quite enjoy the convenience of sitting on couches?If you count the Goldy and Sunshine Coast (and you should) then Brisbane is over 3.5 million
And while there's been rationalisation in this millennium, if your region/ suburb had a NRL team, you had a stadium which was "reasonably" well serviced by public transport. Or certainly better than driving which is an act of self loathing.
Australia is also much more willing to waste taxpayer funds on infrastructure.
The other issue is while Australians generally support winners, my experience is there's a considerable discrepancy between codes when their team sucks. Rugby appears to be the worst- "fans" stop attending when their team sucks and are amazingly ignorant of the laws.
i remember being shocked when i first came over and their was a mid season mid table game between Richmond and Carlton...ie both having average to shit seasons and very little to play for....90k people
Yeah it's quite funny in Perth. The Eagles are obviously going through a massive rebuild and their fans have been mocked for not getting behind their side in tough times......I went to their last game of the season against the Swans and they still got 37,000, and their fans have been described as fairweather fans lol as they only won 1 game all season.
Imagine the state of NZ super rugby crowds if one of our teams were on a run like the Eagles are currently on!
