Premiership to introduce away ends for rugby fans

Exeter Chiefs fans wave flags during the Premiership Rugby Cup Final against Bath Rugby at Sandy Park — Exeter Chiefs fans during the Premiership Rugby Cup final against Bath at Sandy Park on Sunday - Getty Images/Dan Mullan

Away sections are coming to the Gallagher Premiership with the league set to introduce two trials at the end of April.

Telegraph Sport understands that the trials will take place at two fixtures – Saracens home game against Gloucester on April 19 and Leicester Tigers’ home game against Harlequins on April 26.

Away supporters for Gloucester and Harlequins will have the option to either mix with home supporters as normal or to sit in a designated away section. There is currently no information on how large each section will be or where they will be located in the stadium, with Premiership Rugby set to make an announcement in the coming weeks.

‘The players say they feed off it’

Brian Moore, the former England hooker, discussed the idea in his Telegraph Sport column in October, expressing concern about the prospect of rugby moving away from unsegregated crowds. The trial however will ensure that both options are available.

“Away fans can and will sit amongst the main crowd, this is just giving people a choice,” said a source. “This is not meant to be adversarial. It’ll be done in the right spirit. It’ll be enough fans to make a noise. The players say they feed off it, and it gets more out of the home fans as it creates a back and forth.”

The concept of away sections in rugby union has increased in popularity in recent years, particularly after Harlequins’ Premiership semi-final victory over Bristol Bears in 2021 when a large contingent of Harlequins supporters were packed into the same area of Ashton Gate.

Harlequins fans cheer during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between London Irish and Harlequins at Brentford Community Stadium on April 03, 2022 — Harlequins fans have demonstrated the power of away supporters grouping together - Getty Images/Alex Davidson

Rob Calder, Premiership Rugby’s chief growth officer, discussed the idea of away sections in October. “There are a number of clubs that are very keen to engage on that,” said Calder. “We’ve talked to them about identifying areas and getting the pricing and communication right.”

The Gallagher Premiership is set to return this weekend with a second “Derby Weekend” following the Six Nations, with sales for this season’s Premiership final on June 14 continuing at a record pace. The league hope to sell all tickets for the final by the end of May.

Viewing figures for Premiership matches on TNT Sports continue to increase, rising by eight per cent on average, while stadium occupancy across the league is currently at 81 per cent, marking an increase on previous seasons. That figure currently falls slightly below the league’s target, partly due to attendances not growing as quickly as expected at Leicester Tigers.

Comment: This is not making rugby like football – it is a natural evolution

It should be stressed that this idea is very much at the testing stage and that authorities are treading carefully with how to implement the concept of away sections given how much rugby supporters value being able to mingle amongst each other without any concern.

The trial therefore will offer a best of both worlds situation, with away fans either able to continue sitting wherever they like or to sit with their own supporters. That feels important, because the sport must never lose that quality and hopefully will never do so.

What I would say is having sat next to those Harlequins supporters in Bristol four years ago, the noise was astonishing. Harlequins players who were part of the team that day still talk about it as one of the greatest atmospheres they have played in, which is saying something given it was a fixture played out under Covid restrictions. Sure, the 10th chant of “is this a library” was a bit less interesting, but as a concept it worked brilliantly. Would you have had such an astonishing “Bristanbul” comeback without the noise generated by their fans that day? We will never know

Proving that was not a one-off, when Harlequins went to London Irish in Brentford during Irish’s final season in the league there was a similarly raucous atmosphere created by the Quins supporters grouping together. It was still good-natured with the home supporters, but also created some racket and made it actually feel like a derby.

Supporters have been doing this for away games abroad for years anyway but just in an unofficial capacity, watching their sides pull off incredible results against the Top 14 clubs huddled together and silencing the home bands. Now it just has more of an official feel about it. Giving supporters this option does not necessarily feel like the “footballification” of rugby which many fear, but more of a natural evolution.

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