Rugby League World Cup organisers reveal amazing stat about England vs Samoa attendance

The opening Round of the World Cup has already been and gone, which has been already achieved fantastic success.

3.8 million viewers on the BBC has tuned in to watch the World Cup games including a peak audience for England vs Samoa on Saturday of 1.8 million which had an audience share of 22%.

Meanwhile, we’ve seen some great games such as Tonga vs Papua New Guinea and Cook Islands vs Wales over the last two days.

As the next round of fixtures sit on the horizon, it’s expected that the tournament will only get bigger and better as it goes on.

However, one constant talking point has been attendances. Despite the fact England vs Samoa produced an attendance of 43,119 which is the third highest ever for a World Cup opener.

It was backed up by 13,000 fans at Headingley for Australia vs Fiji as well as a five figure attendance for Tonga vs Papua New Guinea at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens.

However, people continue to question attendances and claim that this is stopping the game from sparking the potential growth of the sport in new areas.

However, an amazing statistic revealed by that the sport is truly growing in new areas such as Newcastle which hosted two games including the opener at St James’ Park and Italy vs Scotland at Kingston Park.

Accumulatively, Newcastle had nearly 50,000 fans attend fixtures but what’s more impressive is that 55% of fans at St James’ Park were from the surrounding area according to organisers.

This demonstrates the growth which is being sparked in new areas by the World Cup.

Jon Dutton noted: “This is what a major event can do for the sport. Partners in Newcastle are delighted.”