Poor crowd turnouts in South Africa for European fixtures under the spotlight

South African clubs hosted two European clashes for the first time in a historic opening weekend when the Lions hosted Dragons in a Challenge Cup fixture and the Sharks hosted Harlequins.

The Sharks registered a win after going down to 13-men and the Lions drew with Dragons but it was the jarring emptiness of the large stadiums in South Africa that stood out to viewers back in Europe.

An image shared by RugbyInsideLine on Twitter showed the towering stands at Ellis Park empty of spectators and holding massive banners for the clash against the Welsh club.

A spectator at the ground shared a video which summed up the atmosphere at the game where individuals can be heard clearly due to the echo around the mainly empty stadium.

He wrote: "Ellis Park absolutely pumping. I can actually hear Kobus Wiese doing commentary whilst sitting on the grandstand."

Other South African fans called for the Lions to give up playing at Ellis Park so they could fill a smaller ground that will bring some atmosphere for those in attendance.

@Springboks no crowd again?? Why even play at Ellis Park @URCOfficial @ChampionsCup— Brian Roos (@brian_roos) December 10, 2022

Although it was a European clash, both clubs reside in the URC so the fixture between the Lions and the Dragons was not a unique one.

The Sharks clash against Premiership club Harlequins in Durban drew a bigger crowd of nearly 13,000, but they were all mainly seated in one stand.

Despite a furore over France's scrumhalf Antoine Dupont's comments about the European Cup no longer being the same with South African involvement, the crowd turnout in Durban was low for the historic first for South Africa.

Discussion over whether South Africa's high capacity stadiums should be reserved only for Springboks fixtures gathered more traction, while agreement seemed to be reached that the Lions should no longer play at Ellis Park.