This surely seals it, a record attendance at a Balkrishna Industries Limited (BKT) United Rugby Championship (URC) match in Croke Park (Dublin, Ireland) fully 15 seasons on from a record attendance at a Champions Cup game.
‘THE IRISH TIMES’ stated that Leinster Rugby and Munster Rugby may be the fiercest of rivals but as a result they can jointly take a bow for they can legitimately claim to have the biggest rivalry in world club rugby.
Headquartered in Mumbai, India, the Balkrishna Industries Limited (BKT) is a leading manufacturer in the Off-Highway tire market. Since its founding in 1987, the BKT has successfully focused on specialist segments such as agricultural, construction and industrial vehicles as well as earthmoving, port and mining, and gardening applications. As a result, BKT has developed into a global player in the Off-Highway tire industry with a sales volume of 1.2 billion US dollars.
BKT stands for ‘BKT Tires’ (Balkrishna Industries Limited, an Indian multinational company that manufactures off-highway tires) which is the current title sponsor of the United Rugby Championship (URC) meaning the league is officially referred to as the ‘BKT United Rugby Championship’ due to this sponsorship deal.
Dublin (Ireland)-based the United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland (UK), South Africa, and Wales (UK). For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in South Africa and the BKT United Rugby Championship in the competition’s other territories, the split branding mirroring the format previously adopted in Super Rugby. The Championship represents the highest level of domestic club or franchise rugby in each of its constituent countries.
New South Wales (Australia)-based the Super Rugby is a men’s professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan and South Africa.
The 82,300-capacity Croke Park is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) fans and the locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association.
Dublin (Ireland)-based the Gaelic Athletic Association is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organization focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, Gaelic handball, and rounders.
Leinster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial club rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship (URC) and the European Rugby Champions Cup.
Leinster plays their home games primarily at the RDS Arena although the larger games are played in the Aviva Stadium when the capacity of the RDS is insufficient.
The 18,500-capacity RDS Arena is a multipurpose sports stadium owned by the Royal Dublin Society (Irish philanthropic organization) and located in the Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge, Ireland.
The Aviva Stadium, also known as the Lansdowne Road or Dublin Arena, is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity to hold 51,711 spectators.
The Munster Rugby is one of the professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup.
The 25,600-capacity Thomond Park is a stadium in Limerick in the Irish province of Munster. The stadium is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland) and serves as the home facility of the Munster Rugby. Few games of the Munster Rugby are also held in the 8,008-capacity Musgrave Park in Cork, Ireland.
The European Rugby Champions Cup is an annual rugby union tournament organized by the European Professional Club Rugby. It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a predominantly European league.
Lausanne (Switzerland)-based the European Professional Club Rugby is the governing body and organizer of the two major club rugby union tournaments: The European Rugby Champions Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup (annual rugby union competition).
‘THE IRISH TIMES’ further stated that Saturday evening’s (October 12th) near 81,000 attendance underlines the above point smashing the previous URC record of 68,262 that attended the ‘Judgement Day’ (an annual Welsh Rugby Union event that takes place at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff) Welsh double header at Cardiff’s (UK) 74,500-capacity Principality Stadium back in 2016.
Sure, the world record attendance for a club game remains the 83,761 crowd at the competitively priced Premiership game (the top level of English rugby union) between the Saracens (English professional rugby union club based in North London, England) and the Harlequin F.C. (a professional rugby union club based in South-West London) at the 90,000-capacity Wembley Stadium (Wembley, London) in May of this year, but those examples were one-offs.
Leinster-Munster attendances have consistently dwarfed all others over the last two decades. The Blues (New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland)-Crusaders (New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch) Super Rugby final of two years ago drew 45,000 to the 60,000-capacity Eden Park in Auckland, but since then the biggest attendances at derbies in New Zealand, where rugby is the country’s number one sport, have been in the low 20s.
Last season’s two Glasgow Warriors (a professional rugby union side from Scotland, UK)-Edinburgh Rugby (a professional rugby union team from Scotland) derbies attracted 7,172 at the 4,765-capacity Scotstoun Stadium in Scotstoun, Scotland, and 37,381 at the 67,144-capacity Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland, and 20,167 were at the Judgement Day double-header. French club rugby is booming but is more diverse and spread out and there is no head-to-head which could consistently compare to Leinster-Munster.
Perhaps the closest are the South African derbies between the Bulls (South African professional rugby union team based in Pretoria) and Stormers (a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town). Two seasons ago, the attendances at the 51,762-capacity Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa, and the 55,000-capacity DHL Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa, were 41,000 and 30,000, respectively, while last season they were just over 50,000 and 39,925, respectively.
But the Leinster-Munster rivalry has morphed into a phenomenon. The 40 meetings since the 2005-2006 Champions Cup Semi-Final at the now demolished 48,000-capacity Lansdowne Road Stadium in Dublin, excluding the five matches held behind closed doors during the lockdowns, have attracted over 1.25 million at an average of 31,380. After Saturday evening’s (October 12th) encounter, that average will increase to 32,500-plus since 2006.
Off the pitch, the two provinces (read Leinster and Munster are also provinces in Ireland) have facilitated each other’s wishes and Leinster have swelled their budget by regularly moving their home clash with Munster and one European pool game to the Aviva Stadium. Had they drawn La Rochelle (a French professional rugby union club based in La Rochelle, France) at home in the pool stages this season, they would have moved that tie to Croke Park as well, but their annual home meeting with Munster remains a standout marquee fixture.
Deducting the cost of hiring the stadium at roughly €300,000 from the IRFU, the 45,000-plus attendances have equated to circa €1.3 million in gate receipts for Leinster. Given similar costs in hiring the Croke Park from the GAA, it’s likely that this game will generate an additional €500,000 to €600,000 (circa €1.8/1.9 million).
But it wasn’t always like this.
While there was an intense Leinster-Munster rivalry among the players and at the club level with five-figure crowds a regular occurrence in the 90s, it took a while for this to be transferred to the supporters of the two provinces.
Back on August 21st, 1998, when the Thomond Park was being upgraded for the 1999 World Cup, Munster hosted Leinster at Garryowen’s (a rugby union club from Limerick, Ireland) 1,500-capacity home ground Dooradoyle. Accounts vary as to the attendance but if anyone tells you they were there, take it with a good dollop of salt.
David Wallace (Irish retired rugby union player who played for Munster), who was a replacement for Munster, and Liam Toland (an Irish former rugby union player and current analyst who played for Munster), who was at the game, reckon there were 200 in Dooradoyle on that sunny Saturday afternoon.
Leinster won 24-18, thanks to tries by Girvan Dempsey (an Irish former rugby union footballer who played at full back for Leinster and Ireland) and Shane Horgan (Irish former rugby union player who played wing or center for Leinster and Ireland) – neither of whom had yet been capped by Ireland – and 14 points from Alan McGowan (former Irish rugby union player who played fly-half for Leinster Rugby). After three successive defeats to Munster and an opening day loss to Ulster Rugby (a professional rugby union team from Ireland), Leinster’s need was greater.
“Nothing concentrates the mind like impending doom,” said the then Leinster Manager Jim Glennon afterwards.
The following season Munster completed a double over Leinster en route to retaining the interprovincial title with 31-20 and 30-13 wins at the 5,000-capacity Temple Hill in Cork and Donnybrook.
The rivalry has long since outgrown Dooradoyle, Temple Hill and the 6,000-capacity Donnybrook Stadium in Donnybrook, Ireland, but given how much money this game has consistently generated, especially for the coffers of Leinster, Munster and the IRFU, it’s a wonder it took so long for the penny to drop, as it were.
The first inkling that this auld rivalry (a longstanding competition between people, businesses, or organizations that want the same things or are in the same area), the first of 170 meetings dates back to 1877, might have something special about it came with the inaugural Celtic League Final at the old Lansdowne Road in December 2001 when 35,000 attended.
Leinster had won one of the previous eight, but despite Eric Miller’s (a former Irish rugby union and Gaelic football player) 26th-minute red card and Munster leading 15-6 early in the second half thanks to tries by Anthony Foley (former Irish rugby union player and Head Coach of Munster) and John Kelly (a retired Irish rugby union footballer who played for Munster), Leinster responded with tries by Gordon D’Arcy (retired Irish rugby player) and Shane Horgan to win 24-20.
Even then, though, the IRFU didn’t twig they had an untapped golden goose in their backyard, nor did the provinces or the league organizers. Far from Leinster-Munster clashes, let alone double-headers, being enshrined in the seasonal fixture list, they didn’t meet at all in 2002-2003. You couldn’t make it up.
Just as irritatingly, the Irish frontliners were regularly kept back from Leinster-Munster clashes for fear that they might be injured. Thereafter, though, they met twice per season in Donnybrook and Musgrave Park in front of 5,400 to 8,000 attendances before a 2005 Celtic League Semi-Final drew 13,500 to the old Lansdowne Road.
Temperatures rose in the 2005-2006 season after Leinster avenged a 33-9 hammering in Cork by beating Munster 35-23 in a cracking New Year’s Eve clash, their first at the RDS, in front of 14,135 fans.
By now the Ronan O’Gara (Irish former rugby union player)-Felipe Contepomi (Argentine Coach and rugby union player) rivalry was in full swing but all changed utterly when two tribes went to war in the Heineken Cup Semi-Final at the old Lansdowne Road in the ensuing April. Leinster went into the game as slight favorites after an epic 41-35 quarter-final win in Toulouse three weeks previously, whereas Munster had labored to a 19-10 victory over Perpignan (French professional rugby union club).
Technically, Leinster had home advantage but come that sunny Sunday in April, the Munster invasion turned the ground into a sea of red. After so many near misses, Munster and their vintage pack, the Peter Stringer (Irish former rugby union player)-O’Gara axis and their supporters, simply couldn’t countenance the thought of Leinster reaching their Holy Grail (a thing that is eagerly pursued or sought after) before they did.
Munster won 30-6 with tries by Denis Leamy, O’Gara and Trevor Halstead en route to sealing their first Heineken Cup by beating Biarritz Olympique (a French professional rugby union team) on an emotional day in Cardiff in three weeks later.
Though they might be loath to admit it, the best thing that ever happened Leinster was Munster. That semi-final was a day of awakening.
“It galvanized me, and our coaching staff,” the former Leinster head honcho Mick Dawson said subsequently.
Added Dawson, “They said we weren’t good enough on the pitch and we said we weren’t good enough off the pitch.”
There was another wake-up call the following October when the provinces met for the next time in the fifth round of the Magners League on a Friday night in Lansdowne Road.
Recalled Dawson, “We’d sold 12,000 tickets for the match. We had a meeting on the Monday with all the stewards and we asked ‘how many walk-ups do you think we’ll get?’ We were told that we wouldn’t get more than 5 or 6,000 people walking up. About 35,000 people turned up. We had to let almost 10,000 in for nothing. It was mayhem and suddenly we had to look at our whole operation as to how we were going to handle these big matches – ticket sales, security, health, and safety – because we had never experienced anything like this before.”
Leinster’s day of reckoning came when the sides met again in the 2009 Heineken Cup Semi-Finals in front of a then world record crowd of 82,208 at Croke Park. The 50-50 breakdown resembled a blue and red checkerboard.
Munster, twice champions in the previous three seasons, were the hot favorites but for Brian O’Driscoll (Irish former rugby union player for Leinster) and the home-grown galacticos, reinforced by Ricky Elson, Isa Nacewa, CJ van der Linde and Chris Whitaker, there was no turning back, least of all when Johnny Sexton replaced Contepomi.
Nothing concentrates the mind like impending doom all right.
Munster had won 12, drawn two and lost five of the previous 19 clashes, and from 1990-1991 to 2009-2010, the Limerick and Cork clubs won 17 of the first 20 All-Ireland League (AIL) titles.
Starting with that day, Leinster has won 29 of the last 38 meetings, while their clubs have won nine of the last dozen AIL titles. Where Munster was bulk suppliers up to and including the 2009 Grand Slam, Leinster have since filled that role.
In many ways, the best thing that happened the rivalry in recent times was Munster’s 16-15 URC semi-final win at the Aviva Stadium two seasons ago courtesy of that late Jack Crowley drop goal en route to ending their 11-season trophy drought.
A rivalry doesn’t stand up very well to the description if the same team keeps winning. It has surely inspired their fan base to travel on Saturday and anecdotal evidence suggests that the novelty value of Munster’s first venture to Croke Park since that day in May 2009 has swelled ticket sales.
The return of so many Irish frontliners last week – and the unveiling of RG Snyman (South African rugby union player who plays as a lock for Leinster and the South Africa national team) – for their first game since the epic second Test win in Durban also saw a spike in ticket sales.
Fresh plot lines help, as does six weeks to sell the game. And to think that a huge audience will also be watching on RTÉ (Irish public service broadcaster). A quarter of a century on from Dooradoyle, it’s come a long way all right.
Leinster vs. Munster in Numbers
- 170 – The amount of times the two sides have met since the first clash in 1877 with Leinster winning 109, Munster winning 50 and 11 draws;
- 1,355,200 – The total number of spectators at the last 40 matches since the 2006 Heineken Cup Semi-Finals excluding the five games behind closed doors during the lockdowns; and
- 31,380 – The average attendance at those 40 games.
In 2014-15, Heineken’s title sponsorship of the tournament came to an end and the tournament officially became known as the European Champions Cup, or simply the European Cup.
Continue to follow Coliseum for latest updates on venues business news. Coliseum is dedicated towards building the best global community of sports and entertainment venue executives and professionals creating better and more profitable venues.
Become a member of the only Global Sports Venue Alliance and connect with stadiums, arenas and experts from around the world. Apply for membership at coliseum-online.com/alliance and make use of the 365Coliseum Business.