Sea of blue will help carry the Stormers and the URC

The storm surges that lash the Atlantic coast in the build-up to the United Rugby Championship (URC) final will do nothing to break the stride of the sea of blue that will descend on Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

The Stormers have ridden a tidal wave of support to a second consecutive home final and the expected full house of 55,000 spectators is vivid proof of their increasing popularity.

That Cape Town have warmed to the competition is perhaps best illustrated by the fact 2022’s final against the Bulls attracted only 31,000 spectators at the same stadium.

What has indubitably helped is the continued success of the home team who just keep on trucking, especially on home soil.

The Lions (last season) and Saturday’s opponents Munster are the only visiting teams to leave Cape Town Stadium with the spoils over the past two seasons. There is no doubt the Stormers grow an arm and a leg when they play in front of their faithful and they get that unwavering support on the back of constant reminders from head coach John Dobson that his team wants to keep a smile on Cape Town’s collective face.

It is a symbiotic relationship that has reaped wonderful dividends as tournament organisers now too can’t stop smiling. The URC keeps pushing barriers with its attendance figures and it is estimated by the  final whistle on Saturday that 1.6-million supporters would have attended matches in the URC.

“A total of 1,424,520 attended the regular season games in rounds 1 to 18 with a further 152,954 coming to the six quarterfinal and semifinal matches,” the organisers said in a statement. “The 55,000 tickets sold for the Grand Final this weekend will see that figure for the play-off games top over 200,000 and set a new overall season record of 1,632,114.”

With fans responding to the appeal of the URC, average attendances have grown to just shy of 10,000 (9,893) per match for the regular season, which is the highest average the league has ever recorded. All 16 teams in the URC experienced an increase in average attendance from the 2021/22 season with overall match attendance up 36%.

The fervent support for the Stormers has of course richly contributed to the bonanza at the turnstiles.

Saturday’s final will be the Stormers’ sixth consecutive knock-out match on home soil and though they in that regard have been the beneficiaries of results going their way elsewhere, they’ve firmly held up their end of the bargain by putting themselves in a position to profit.

“The reward has been there for us as a coaching and management team because of the efforts of these players and their reward was that the stadium sold out in two hours and 26 minutes,” Dobson said.

“It showed how much the local supporters want to be at the stadium on Saturday and how they want to turn that stadium into a sea of blue.

“The support gives me goosebumps, but the players also provide the goosebumps in their dedication and desire to consistently perform for themselves and their support base, which, for me, is unrivalled.”

The Stormers also continued to break their own attendance records that held the title of overall highest attendances for non-final games in the play-offs with their crowds of 44,109 for their quarterfinal win over the Bulls and 47,261 coming through the gate for their semifinal victory over Connacht.