We did this feature last year, and are doing it again for Super Rugby 2018. Here is a list of attendance stats for home games involving Australian Super Rugby clubs in the 2018 season. The Western Force are hosting their own set of games in World Series Rugby- their attendance numbers can be viewed here.
Please note that in many cases, especially the Waratahs, crowd figures are not officially revealed.
Last updated after Waratahs v Highlanders Quarterfinal game (Attendance 12,067) on July 21, 2018.
Attendances for Sunwolves can be found here (they’re in the Australian conference for 2018)
Melbourne Rebels attendance 2018
Rebels vs Reds 2018 February 23 attendance 10,021 (Rebels 45-19 Reds)
Rebels vs Brumbies 2018 Attendance 9 March 10,061 (Rebels 33-10 Brumbies)
Rebels vs Sharks 2018 Attendance 23 March 8,393 (Rebels 46-14 Sharks)
Rebels vs Hurricanes 2018 Attendance 30 March 16,135 (Rebels 19-50 Hurricanes)
Rebels vs Jaguares 2018 Attendance 14 April 5,538 (Rebels 22-25 Jaguares)
Rebels v Crusaders 2018 Attendance 4 May 11,357 (Rebels 10-55 Saders)
Rebels v Sunwolves 2018 Attendance 25 May 7,853 (Rebels 40-13 Sunwolves)
Rebels v Waratahs 2018 Attendance 30 June 9,208 (Rebels 26-31 Tahs)
Australia v Ireland AAMI PArk 2018 Attendance 29,018 (Australia 21-26 Ireland)
Total Melbourne Rebels Attendance 2018: 78,566
Average Rebels Super Rugby Crowd 2018: 9,821 (78566/8)
Queensland Reds attendance 2018
Reds vs Brumbies 2018 attendance 2 March 11,034 (Reds 18-10 Brumbies)
Reds vs Bulls 2018 attendance 10 March 11,827 (Reds 20-14 Bulls)
Reds vs Chiefs 2018 attendance 21 April 14,002 (Reds 12-36 Chiefs)
Reds vs Golden Lions 2018 attendance 28 April 12,369 (Reds 27-22 Lions)
Reds vs Highlanders 2018 Attendance 26 May 11,729 (Reds 15-18 Highlanders)
Reds v Waratahs 2018 Attendance 2 June 14,452 (Reds 42-51 Tahs)
Reds v Rebels 2018 Attendance 6 July 10,340 (Reds 37-23 Rebels)
Reds v Sunwolves 2018 Attendance 13 July 11,057 (Reds 48-27 Sunwolves)
Attendance at Suncorp for Australia v Ireland- 46,273 (9 June, 2018)
Total Queensland SR Attendance 2018: 96,810
Average Reds Super Rugby Crowd 2018: 12,101 (96,810/8)
ACT Brumbies attendance 2018
Brumbies v Sharks 2018 attendance March 17 8,122 (Brumbies 24-17 Sharks)
Brumbies v Waratahs 2018 Attendance 13,515 March 31 (ACT 17-24 NSW)
Brumbies v Reds 2018 Attendance 7,598 April 7 (Brumbies 45-21 Queensland Reds)
Brumbies v Jaguares 2018 Attendance 8,053 April 22 (Brumbies 20-25 Jaguares)
Brumbies v Crusaders 2018 Attendance 8,215 April 28 (Brumbies 8-21 Saders)
Brumbies v Rebels 2018 Attendance 5,283 May 12 (ACT 24-27 Melbourne)
Brumbies v Sunwolves 2018 Attendance 9,521 June 3 (ACT 41-31 Sunwolves)
Brumbies v Hurricanes 2018 Attendance 6,821 June 30 (ACT 24-12 Wellington)
Total ACT Super Rugby attendance 2018: 67,128
Average Brumbies SR 2018 Attendance: 8,391 (67128/8)
NSW Waratahs attendance 2018
Waratahs vs Stormers 2018 February 24 Attendance 11,087 (Tahs 34-27 Stormers)
Waratahs v Rebels 2018 Attendance: NOT ANNOUNCED (Tahs 51-27 Rebels)
Waratahs v Reds 2018 Attendance SCG 15 April 15,648 (Tahs 37-16 Reds)
Waratahs v Lions 2018 Attendance NOT ANNOUNCED 19 April (Tahs 0-29 Lions)
Waratahs vs Blues Brookvale 2018 Attendance NOT ANNOUNCED (estimated 15,000 according to SMH) 5 May (Tahs 21-24 Auckland)
Waratahs v Highlanders 2018 Attendance NOT ANNOUNCED (Tahs 41-12 Highlanders)
Waratahs v Sunwolves 2018 Attendance 18,059 (Tahs 77-25 Sunwolves)
Waratahs v Brumbies 2018 Attendance NOT ANNOUNCED (Tahs 31-40 ACT)
Waratahs v Highlanders QF 2018 Attendance 12,067 (Tahs 30-23 Landers)
Australia v Ireland Allianz Stadium 2018 Attendance 44,085 (Aus 16-20 Ireland)
Total NSW Super Rugby attendance 2018: 71,861
Average NSW SR 2018 Attendance: 14,372 (71861/5)
What is the highest attendance for an Australian Super Rugby game in 2018
It is the 18,059 crowd who watched the Waratahs vs Sunwolves on 7 July, 2018 (penultimate round of the season). Before that, it was the 16,135 who watched the Melbourne Rebels v Hurricanes game on 30 March. That, somewhat surprisingly, was more than the 15,648 crowd at the SCG for the NSW v Queensland clash on 14 April.
Although the Western Force are not in Super Rugby any more, their clash v Fiji at the NIB Stadium attracted 19,466 spectators.
What is the lowest crowd for Australia in Super Rugby 2018
The 5,283 crowd that watched the Brumbies v Rebels game on 12 May, 2018. The second lowest crowd was the 5,538 who saw the Rebels lose to the Jaguares 22-25 on April 14, 2018.
Clubs sorted by average attendance (highest to lowest)
NSW Waratahs (14,372)
Queensland Reds (12,101)
Rebels (9,821)
Brumbies (8,391)
Sunwolves average attendance for 2018 as on 30 June, 2018 is 10,076.
Average attendance for Western Force in World Series Rugby as on 14 July, 2018 is 15,127
For comparison, Wallabies Home Attendances for 2018
Australia vs Ireland Brisbane 2018 Attendance 46,273 (Australia 18-9 Ireland)
Australia v Ireland Melbourne 2018 Attendance 29,018 (Australia 21-26 Ireland)
Australia v Ireland Sydney Allianz 2018 Attendance 44,085 (Aus 16-20 Ireland at Allianz Stadium)
Never thought I’d see a stage when the Rebels had the highest crowd for an individual game in the Australian conference!
That 16,135 crowd must be their biggest in a long, long time! I reckon we’d have to go back to 2011/2012 to see figures bigger than this one at AAMI Park.
The abysmal figures for the Reds are sad to see. Can’t blame the fans, the rugby they’ve played in the last two three seasons has been nothing short of shocking.
Surely the best idea would be to start with a price that fills the stadium and lower the crazy food and drink prices a little. Get families there and inspire kids to play rugby or even some other sport. Build a community around the team. Suncorp is a great stadium and seeing it about 10% full seems crazy. At $30 a ticket and $10 a drink I can only see the already dire numbers decreasing. I would go if it was $10 to get in and $7 a drink and I am sure many others would too. Have a concert before and after it. Once you begin filling the place regularly then start raising the prices?
Seems that Minderoo/Western Force were listening to you Michael.
Thanks to shrugbyblog for making these attendance figures available.
Try emulating the Force crowd attendance in the eastern states. Perhaps your team will survive next year.
Melb Rebels v Swolves given as 7,853
stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/super-rugby/104236491/melbourne-rebels-earn-bonuspoint-win-over-sunwolves-at-home
Thanks mate, has been updated.
Thanks for the update. Sad to see the sorry state of Super Rugby in Australia. Do you know how these these Super Rugby season averages compare to 5, 10, 15 years ago? Are these numbers a recent change (I saw your 2017 post) or a longer term decline?
Fondly remembering big Brumbies crowds in Canberra in the early 2000s…!
There’s been a marked decline in the last five years.
Super Rugby was probably at its strongest in its S12 and S14 versions and the quality got diluted when they expanded to 15 and then eighteen.
For example, when the Reds hosted the Lions in 2012 (the Lions were an absolutely dire team and the Reds were defending champions), there were 31,118 in attendance at Suncorp.
Cue to 2018, when the Reds have been struggling in recent years and the Lions have been finalists for the last two seasons, the attendance for this very same fixture was just 12,369. Numerous other examples.
Australian teams haven’t been performing well in the last few years, which generally means only one representative in the knockout stages.
But when teams don’t perform and games tend to be one sided blowouts, attendances do drop, and Australia has plenty of competing footy codes (AFL, NRL, A-League soccer). Another example are the South African Bulls, with crowds in Loftus dropping dramatically in recent years.
I’m happy to be generous and estimate 9,000 for each of the Warath’s “Not Announced” games including the non-credible estimate by the SMH for the Blues game.
(One does wonder what they are trying to achieve by not providing the attendance records.)
This would make the average about 10,300 which sits very well with me.
I would think that the 16,500 average for the Western Force will at least be met in the game against the Crusaders as there is already a good vibe around town about this game.
Crowd didn’t look good against the Rebels but security relaxed all area restrictions and many enjoyed the game under the stands/close to the food & beverage outlets.
14,200 for the WF v Crusaders game.
Makes and average of >15,000 for the 4 games so far.
Hope we can keep it going for the 3 remaining games so that the “football’ pecking order in WA can be maintained as:
1. AFL
2. Rugby Union
3. Soccer
Attendance at the Rebels v Waratahs match has been reported in a number of places as 9,208.
A bit sad for a show down between Aussie #1 and #2.
How did the Rebels get 16k for the Canes clash, but only 9000 for the Tahs game, and that too at such a crucial point of their season?
Pretty simple, probably half of that 16k were Kiwis living in Melbourne.
Where can we get these stats? I would love to see the raw data.
Fantastic read, thank you. Any chance we can get an update of 2019? Keen to see how the attendance changed as the eyeball test would suggest there’s been a pretty big drop.