NRL sets INCREDIBLE record which highlights huge Super League gap

Ben Olawumi 01 Sep 2024 12:14 PM

Sydney Roosters v Canberra Raiders — An action shot from the Round 26 clash between Sydney Roosters and Canberra Raiders at the Allianz Stadium in the 2024 NRL season

An astonishing 212,725 spectators attended games in Round 26 of the NRL season, setting a new single-round crowd record Down Under and highlighting the huge gap Super League has to contend with in the process.

Canberra Raiders’ pulsating 14-12 win away against Sydney Roosters on Sunday morning (UK time) brought the curtain down on Round 26 of the Australian elite’s season, with 27,239 fans in attendance at the Allianz Stadium.

That was far from the highest attendance of the weekend’s action Down Under, with two games seeing larger crowds.

35,502 watched Manly Sea Eagles’ 34-22 win against Canterbury Bulldogs at the Accor Stadium on Friday, while an absolutely staggering 50,049 were in attendance at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday to watch the Dolphins beat Brisbane Broncos 40-6.

But while the crowd at the Allianz Stadium wasn’t the biggest of the weekend, it officially meant the new single-round NRL attendance record was set – taking he overall tally up to 212,275.

That figure overtakes the previous record of 202,491, which was set just a few months ago in Round 4 of the current campaign!

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NRL sets INCREDIBLE record which highlights huge Super League gap

To put it into context, Super League’s highest-ever attended game, outside of Magic Weekend and the Grand Final, was Catalans Dragons’ clash with Wigan Warriors at the Camp Nou in May 2019.

Evidently a big occasion with rugby league gracing the iconic venue for the first time, that attracted a crowd of 31,555.

So far this season, the biggest single-game attendance in Super League was Wigan’s victory against bitter rivals St Helens at The Brick Community Stadium in Round 17. That night, 20,152 were in attendance.

The average attendance at NRL games so far this year is 20,031, the sort of crowds that most Super League clubs could only dream of.

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