Home fires are lit as ‘phenomenal’ Leinster fans sell out 82,300-capacity Croke Park
40,000 tickets gone within hours for Champions Cup game at GAA HQ
It has been 15 years since Champions Cup tournament organisers EPCR have seen anything like the demand for Leinster’s semi-final clash with Northampton Saints at Croke Park on May 4, as it was announced that the game at the 82,300-capacity stadium was sold out after the public sale yesterday.
In 2009, Leinster and Munster’s seismic last-four clash set a then record attendance for a club rugby match, with 82,208 supporters descending on Croke Park for Leinster’s 25-6 win that altered the course of the biggest rivalry in Irish rugby. With the Aviva Stadium unavailable due to works there ahead of the Europa League final, there were fears that Leinster would not get a big enough crowd befitting of next month’s game.
Concerns lingered over EPCR’s pricing strategy, with the organisers in charge of running the semi-finals and finals of both the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, rather than Leinster themselves.
After Leinster’s quarter-final win over La Rochelle last weekend, head coach Leo Cullen urged EPCR not to “rip off ” fans by charging over-the-top prices, which was an issue for last year’s semi-final win against Toulouse, when 46,823 turned up, as opposed to an expected sell-out. The Aviva’s capacity is 51,700.
However, it appears lessons have been learnt in terms of pricing the semi-final tickets fairly this year, with the immediate surge for demand proving far greater than many people’s expectations.
Tickets for the semi-final were on average €10 cheaper than prices last year, with the cheapest available adult ticket costing €18 and junior tickets costing €10. Earlier this week, around 9,000 tickets went to what has been described as “venture holders” – not for public consumption, in other words.
Leinster took up an allocation of 20,000 tickets, which were immediately snapped up by the province’s seasonticket holders.
Given the travel and costs involved in getting to Dublin, Northampton were never going to be able to match that, but the Saints took 2,000 tickets, with a decent travelling support set to make the journey in a fortnight.
Tickets went on general public sale yesterday, with almost 40,000 sold yesterday morning. That means a minimum of 75,000 tickets have now been sold for the eagerly-awaited showdown, which has fast become the hottest ticket in town. As things stand, the only remaining tickets are those that are being held for EPCR’s corporate use, sponsors, VIPs and media.
With that in mind, there is an expectation that 80-81,000 people will attend the game, which would go very close to the attendance in 2009.
It has also thrown up the unusual scenario whereby the Croke Park attendance for the semi-final is set to considerably bigger than the 62,027 that can be accommodated for next month’s Champions Cup final at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
Leinster fans have already turned out in huge numbers for their side’s round of 16 win over Leicester (40,775) and last weekend’s dethroning of defending champions La Rochelle (50,055). Speaking about the Croke Park sell-out, Cullen paid tribute to the Leinster fans. “It’s fair to say we were blown away by the support last week at the Aviva, so to hear this news is pretty phenomenal. We are very appreciative,” Cullen said from Johannesburg, where Leinster are preparing to take on the Lions in the URC today.
For four-time champions Leinster, a potential knockout run from the familiar surrounds of the Aviva Stadium and a heaving Croke Park, to the state-of-the-art Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, would make the “drive for five” all the sweeter, if they can finally get their hands on their first Champions Cup since 2018.