Stefan van der Merwe, chief commercial officer of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union, had never seen so many people at Loftus. Two days later, when the returns came in, his impression was confirmed by the official figure: 51,762. The Pretoria stadium had never been that full.
“You expect that many for the All Blacks, but for Wales?” says Van der Merwe, referring to the first Test on July 2. The stadium’s seated capacity is 50,000, but extra staff hired for the day made up the extra numbers.
Van der Merwe understands the popularity of rugby. “The game is supported avidly by about 10-million fans countrywide and that number grows exponentially when the national team plays,” he says. Nevertheless, he was astonished by the attendance at Loftus, when the Boks beat Wales thanks to a last-minute penalty.
The game is supported avidly by about 10-million fans countrywide and that number grows exponentially when the national team plays
— Stefan van der Merwe
The Test was the first staged since the government ended curbs on spectator numbers imposed during the pandemic.
The biggest Test crowd at Loftus Versfeld until three weeks ago was 48,170 for a match against the All Blacks in 2018. In 1998, with the Boks reigning world champions after their momentous 1995 World Cup victory, only 22,633 pitched up to watch Wales.
The second and third Tests echoed the Loftus attendance numbers — 43,211 fans pitched up in Bloemfontein and 51,346 flocked to the Cape Town Stadium (capacity 58,000) to see the Boks win the series 2-1.
Van der Merwe says rugby Tests have direct and indirect economic benefits for the host city, and estimates the Boks vs Wales match at Loftus brought in about R350m for Gauteng. He cites a study by accounting firm Grant Thornton, which found that a rugby Test against Ireland in 2016 in Nelson Mandela Bay contributed R154m to local GDP, R17.3m of it flowing into low-income households.
Lochner Marais, a professor of development studies at the University of the Free State, says an analysis conducted 20 years ago calculated that a rugby Test in Bloemfontein would bring in R30m-R40m. “Recently, using events like the Cape Town Cycle Race, where there is detailed evidence, we can work out that for a city like Bloem today it would amount to about R120m-R160m,” he tells the FM. Until the accounts come in, these are rough estimates, he says.
Since big rugby in Cape Town moved from Newlands to Green Point it has been easier to measure the economic impact. David Kau, head of communications for the V&A Waterfront, says the increase in business can be seen in the traffic flow. The Waterfront, within easy walking distance of the stadium, has parking for about 7,500 cars.
Major sports events set Cape Town’s tills ringing, says Jacques Moolman, president of the Cape Chamber of Commerce & Industry. “The city puts the value of the Rugby Sevens tournament at about R700m a year to the region’s GDP,” he tells the FM. The Cape Town leg of the Sevens World Series will be held at the stadium in September.
The organisers of the Two Oceans Marathon put the value of the event to the Western Cape economy at more than R600m, while the Cape Town Cycle Tour is estimated to bring in about R500m.
Such events are huge for the city’s tourist industry, which, before Covid, contributed 2%-3.5% annually to the local economy and sustained up to 5% of all jobs, says Kathleen Pretorius, spokesperson for Cape Town Tourism. “The return of in-person events has been cited by the accommodation sector as being the boost the sector has needed on the road to recovery,” she says.
Johan Swart, a local restaurateur, says he met people from Queenstown (almost five hours away) and Douglas (a three-hour drive) who came for the rugby
For Cape Town, with all its obvious attractions, a rugby Test can be just the icing on the cake. For Bloemfontein and Pretoria, and all the other SA Test venues, that is seldom the case.
Bloemfontein, with a population of only 556,000, relies on fans travelling from far and wide to fill its stadium for a rugby Test. Johan Swart, a local restaurateur, says he met people from Queenstown (almost five hours away) and Douglas (a three-hour drive) who came for the rugby.
Johann Coertzen, owner of Die Mystic Boer, a renowned Bloemfontein venue patronised by rugby players as well as fans, says “the usual vibe was there” on the eve of the Test and afterwards, “but it wasn’t quite the same”. He says patrons in the 30- to 40-year-old bracket, who have the most disposable income, just didn’t turn up. (The Springboks lost the Bloemfontein Test.)
Marais says an event like the Test against Wales, no matter how well attended, does not make a huge difference to the city. “Only several events of this kind could add up to doing that,” he says.
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