British & Irish Lions | Finally! An official request made for 50% attendance in stadiums

After months of discussion and drama around Covid-19 protocols, SA Rugby and the Department of Sports Arts and Culture have officially requested 50% capacity in stadiums for the British & Irish Lions tour.

They drafted a document to request concession to the national Covid-19 Ministerial Advisory Committee. To consider filling the stands to half their capacity.

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Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa officially made the request on Saturday and forwarded it the ministers of finance, tourism and finance.

This is an urgent request to save the economic loss SA Rugby has endured. To preserve the culture and tradition that accompanies this tour.

Since Covid-19 prevented the attendance of any fans at any games, SA Rugby has lost millions. Due to the lack of ticket sales over so many games. The Springboks have also not played for over 18 months now, dropping any potential revenue from these.

Every angle has been covered to ensure the request is as strong as possible.

“We worked hard to ensure that all questions directed at us were answered and the show that we’ve covered every possible scenario should fans be allowed in. We can’t do more than that. Everything is now basically in the hands of the Covid-19 ministerial advisory committee,” a relevant official stated to Netwerk24.

The Springboks could not compete in last year’s Rugby Championship. Their sides have been restricted to playing themselves across four different tournaments – Super Rugby Unlocked, the Currie Cup, SA Preparation Series and Rainbow Cup SA.

The fans crave attendance at live rugby and the atmosphere lost without fans has been evident across all of these tournaments.

Two options were presented in the official proposal.

Option 1 – The entire tour takes place in Johannesburg

There will be fans with the entire series will take place in a safe and secure bio-bubble in Johannesburg. All teams and franchises scheduled to face the British & Irish Lions will play in this bio-bubble.

Option 2 – There will be 2 bio-bubbles

One in Johannesburg and the other in Cape Town, with one match to be played Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

This is the preferred choice at it allows more fans to witness this tour and for tourists to see more of our beautiful country. With matches played across three cities. The original venues for the 3-match series would remain the same – FNB Stadium, Cape Town Stadium and Ellis Park.

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At this point though, I am sure both Springbok and Lions fans will be happy with either option. They will both be relieved that the tour is happening amidst previous fears of it being postponed or played in the UK.

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