'No complaints': London Irish defend level of support in Brentford
Declan Kidney has insisted that the move of London Irish back to the English capital has been a success even though just two of their eight Gallagher Premiership home matches so far this season have attracted five-figure attendances.
The Exiles are set to welcome a bumper crowd in excess of 13,000 to the Gtech Community Stadium for this Saturday’s annual St Patrick’s party fixture versus Northampton, a number that he claimed was very encouraging even though Saracens’ rivaling game against Harlequins is set to bring more than 50,000 fans to the Tottenham Stadium earlier in the day.
It was during the behind-closed-doors renewal of rugby in the pandemic when London Irish exited their long-term out-of-London home in Reading for a switch back to the new stadium in Brentford that has a 17,250 capacity and is usually sold out for Premier League football.
Rugby at the ground has been a different story, with no fixture yet to attract the sold-out signs, but the director of rugby Kidney claimed the club was on an upward trajectory. Their average attendance during the final season in Reading before the pandemic was 5,832 with a high of 9,259 for a clash versus Bath.
In 2021/22, their first campaign with the turnstiles open in Brentford, London Irish registered an average of 9,370 for the 11 league games they played there, four of the attendances being in excess of five figures – including a rugby record of 15,085 for last year’s Patrick’s party fixture versus the Saints.
Their crowd average so far this season is 8,310 and while that is now set for a generous boost, Kidney defended the numbers that were at recent home games during the Guinness Six Nations, namely the 6,353 there against Leicester just hours after England played Wales in Cardiff and the 5,630 last time out versus Sale just hours before Ireland took on Scotland in Edinburgh.
In 2019/20, these games in Reading versus Leicester and Sale attracted respective crowds of just 5,324 and 3,622, so London Irish have indeed fared much better this past month in Brentford despite the rival attraction of live Six Nations rugby on terrestrial TV.
“The commercial and marketing team have been brilliant,” Kidney enthused. “We were hit with a closed stadium for the first year. You mix that up with some of our own form being a little bit up and down and you are trying to do that [market the new ground] in the middle of a pandemic with all the financial savings that clubs have had to make – we have done really well.
“I know it is where I work but there is a cracking atmosphere and a massive buzz, just whatever way the stadium is built. There is a really good atmosphere and certainly with the two sides Saturday, I’d imagine the ball will be in play a fair bit.
“On those ones [the games versus Leicester and Sale], they are Six Nations weekends and people are a little rugby-ied out; there is too much rugby on the telly then too.”
This Saturday’s Irish match is actually on live TV, BT Sport broadcasting it after coverage of the London derby between Saracens and Harlequins on both that station and ITV, and Kidney is braced to ensure his team performs in front of their biggest home attendance this season.
“When you are on duty you must concentrate on it [the job] but certainly the walk from the car up to it has a whole different atmosphere about it. I love my job but sometimes you feel like putting down the bag and saying, ‘Yeah, I’ll join them for a few hours, that looks a bit of craic down there’.
“It is a whole day experience and the fact that it is a 5:30pm kick-off this year with TV coming in for it, it could be a whole day and night experience. For those people going to it, it’s a great chance to meet friends around London, catch up and have a reason to do it with a match at half-five.
“The set-up was always going to take a year or two, but we are like a mini-Cardiff Arms Park because we are parked right in the middle of a town and there are lots of things for people to do around the place. Anyone who comes, I haven’t heard any complaints yet.”
- Click here to book tickets for Saturday’s London Irish versus Northampton Gallagher Premiership game at Brentford
Comments on RugbyPass
Anna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to comments