Half a million fans have attended World Cup games as nine matches break records including at Leeds Rhinos & Wigan Warriors
Picture by Paul Currie/SWpix.com - 15/07/2021 - Rugby League World Cup 2021 - London, England - The Paul Barriere Rugby League World Cup, The Women's Rugby League World Cup and The Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup at a photocall at the Emirates Stadium, the Home of Arsenal Football Club - Trophy Tour, Men's, Women's and Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup trophies
As the Rugby League World Cup comes to a close, many are reflecting on the tournament as a whole.
There is a big focus on things like attendances as well as TV audiences as fans hope to see the tournament help the sport grow and entice new fans.
The Rugby League World Cup organisers have released some fantastic outstanding records achieved by the tournament including the number of fans who have attended games in the tournament as a whole.
They have confirmed that half a million, 500,000, fans have walked into stadiums to watch games as part of the tournament.
Meanwhile, nine individual games have broken or helped break records.
The semi-finals at the Emirates and Elland Road contributed to the highest ever aggregate attendance for semi-finals whilst Wigan Warriors’ DW Stadium was home to the highest attendance in Rugby League World Cup quarter-final history.
Leeds Rhinos’ Headingley Stadium has helped create two records. The highest ever attendance in the Northern Hemisphere for a women’s rugby league clash as well as contributing to the highest accumulative opening day attendance along with St James’ Park.
Meanwhile, the Cooper Box Arena has broken records every time it has hosted games.
Here is a full list of the individual records achieved by games:
- The women’s opener in Headingley set a northern hemisphere record for a rugby league match.
- At the Copper Box Arena, the world record for attendance was broken at each of the three wheelchair matches held there with 3,847 people in watching England’s Wheelchair team defeat Ireland, increasing the record which was set just a few days before in the opening double header on Thursday 3 November.
- The England v Samoa match in Newcastle and Australia v Fiji in Leeds was the highest ever cumulative opening day in a RLWC in the northern hemisphere.
- The attendance at the DW Stadium in Wigan breaking the all-time record for a Rugby League World Cup Quarter-Final match as 23,179 people passed through the turnstiles in Wigan.
- The men’s semi-finals were the highest ever aggregate attendance at over 68.5k