Magners League Official Website : Celtic Crowds on the Increase

Barry Williams lifted the Celtic League trophy in front of a capacity crowd at The Gnoll

Celtic Crowds on the Increase

29 March 2005, 9:09 pm

By Janet Farmer

After a weekend when a capacity crowd celebrated the Neath-Swansea Ospreys lifting the Celtic League title at the Gnoll, further good news emerged with the fact that on a ‘like for like’ basis compared to last year, attendances have increased by over 9% in the Celtic League this season.

After 20 rounds of Celtic League games, over 424,000 people have watched the 100 matches, whereas for the equivalent games last year, the crowd figures totaled 389,000.

Of particular good news is the story from Wales where gates are up almost 18% in all, whilst in Ireland the figures have increased by 8%.

There have been 3 five figure crowds recorded in the Celtic League so far this season - at The Gnoll, Neath, for the visit of the Llanelli Scarlets on Boxing Day and for the title decider against Edinburgh last weekend. In addition 10,500 people packed into Rodney Parade for the Newport Gwent Dragons game against Cardiff Blues on 27th December.

The best supported Celtic League team continues to be Ulster who are attracting on average 6,500 people through the turnstiles to their games at Ravenhill.