London. – Rugby World Cup 2015 organisers, England Rugby 2015 and Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) on Tuesday announced record-breaking engagement at the halfway point of the Pool stage, as total match attendance approaches the 1 million mark.
The fantastic Tournament atmosphere and compelling Rugby is capturing the hearts and minds of fans nation and worldwide, with official Fanzones full to capacity, #RWC2015 trending globally on all match days, and TV viewing figures reaching record levels.
Rugby World Cup 2015 is on track to be the biggest Rugby World Cup to date, and total match attendance figure to date has reached 972,921, helped by two record-breaking attendances at Wembley. 89,267 fans attended the Ireland v Romania match at Wembley Stadium, surpassing the previous weekend’s record breaking Rugby World Cup crowd of 89,019.
The most competitive Tournament to date, it is not just the top teams that are attracting the attention. Playing in front of packed stadia, teams including USA, Georgia, Japan and Namibia have received strong support with Romania playing in front of 140,000 fans across just two pool matches.
The official Fanzones throughout England and in Cardiff have seen fans keen to soak up the match atmosphere and feel part of the international event, with 378,000 visitors to date passing through the doors since opening. Brighton’s Madeira Drive Fanzone set the standard during Japan’s electrifying 34-32 Pool B win over South Africa which saw 20,000 fans visit the Fanzone to enjoy the action. The Cardiff Arms Park Fanzone atmosphere was electric as Welsh fans relished their team’s 28-25 defeat of host nation England. Leicester, Manchester, Milton Keynes and Newcastle will all be opening up their Fanzones to fans in the coming weeks as Rugby World Cup 2015 comes to their area.
Rugby World Cup Limited has confirmed the Tournament has attracted some of the highest broadcast audience figures around the globe, including in Japan, the host nation for Rugby World Cup 2019. The 20 million audience in Japan for Japan v Scotland represents the second-highest ever national TV audience in Rugby World Cup history, behind the 20.7million viewership for the Rugby World Cup 2007 France v England semi-final. In the UK, a peak audience of 9.4 million UK viewers tuned in to host broadcaster ITV’s coverage of the Rugby World Cup 2015 Opening Ceremony and kick-off match between Fiji and England on September 18. The England v Wales match was watched by an average of 10.4 million viewers, the largest rugby audience in the UK since the 2007 final.
Overall, Rugby World Cup 2015 is shaping up to be one of the most spoken about sports events on the planet with social media activity on track to surpass the total volume achieved across the whole of New Zealand 2011 by the end of this weekend. The official Rugby World Cup App, available at rugbyworldcup.com, has already been downloaded by more than 2 million fans. The digital content offering, delivered in four languages, has seen more than 18 million visitors to rugbyworldcup.com and 1 million uses of the official #RWC2015 hashtag as it has trended globally on all match days, and video views on social platforms in excess of 60 million.
World Rugby Chairman, Bernard Lapasset, said: “Rugby World Cup 2015 is proving to be a very special and record-breaking global celebration of rugby that has fan experience at heart. This is already the most talked about Rugby event ever on social media and the most talked about sporting event of 2015 in the UK, and there is no doubt that the unforgettable moments are inspiring new audiences around the world to get active and get into Rugby.”
England Rugby 2015 Managing Director, Stephen Brown, said: “We’re delighted that fans new and old have taken Rugby World Cup 2015 to their hearts, and are embracing all the excitement, drama and passion that comes with hosting such an exciting world-class event on home soil. We are thrilled to secure two Rugby World Cup record breaking attendances within the first two weeks of the Tournament and approach a total of 1 million fans enjoying such compelling rugby in our match venues. There is a true celebration of rugby taking place across the country, and to see nearly 400, 000 fans pass through our Fanzones on matchdays and non matchdays, really reflects the reach of this event. We’re confident that this is just the start and with a limited number of tickets for some great matches still on sale at tickets.rugbyworldcup.com fans can still be part of the action.”
Fans are being urged to snap up the remaining tickets via official channels so as not to miss out on the spectacle. Tickets are still available at tickets.rugbyworldcup.com and travel and hospitality is available at hospitality.rugbyworldcup.com
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