There has been so much talk about attendances since the World Cup began.
England vs Samoa at St James’ Park got things off to a brilliant start in front of a sell out crowd and the third highest attendance ever for a World Cup opener with over 43,000 fans in attendance in Newcastle.
Later that day, over 13,000 fans took to Leeds Rhinos’ Headingley Stadium for Australia vs Fiji.
However, only one other game in the opening round reached five figures and that was the game of the round in terms of the closeness of the scoreline as Tonga beat Papua New Guinea at St Helens’ Totally Wicked Stadium 24-18 in front of over 10,000 fans.
Most other games had over 6,000 fans in attendance – the average – but Greece vs France recorded the lowest at 4,000 whilst New Zealand’s first game of the tournament against Lebanon at Warrington Wolves’ Halliwell Jones Stadium only attracted 5,000 with Chief Executive of the tournament Jon Dutton described as “disappointing” especially with the world number one ranked team playing and considering their first game of the 2013 World Cup at the same venue had a crowd of 15,000.
In week two, most attendances have again been around 6,000. England and France was played in front of 23,000 whilst Australia vs Scotland was played in front of 10,000 fans.
The lowest again came from Doncaster at the Eco-Power Stadium as Greece lost to Samoa in front of 4,400 fans.
However, once again the game at the Totally Wicked Stadium impressed in terms of attendance.
Though not the 10,000 fans who showed up for Tonga vs Papua New Guinea, the game again had the third highest attendance of the round with 7,752 as Kristian Woolf’s Tonga side beat Wales 32-6.
