Supporters
Before the advent of professionalism in the Irish game, provincial rugby games were generally poorly attended. During most of the 1990s, Leinster matches regularly attracted crowds of about 500 to 2,000. The decision to structure the game professionally via the provincial network through centralised player contracts and the subsequent on-field success achieved by Leinster and the other provinces resulted in a significant increase in support within a decade. Leinster had 3,700 season ticket holders in 2006, double the amount of the previous season. Leinster were the best supported team in the PRO12 for the 2006–07, 2007–08 and 2011–12 seasons. Leinster's supporters were named as 'Player of the Month' for April 2009 following their support in the Heineken Cup Quarter Final against Harlequins at The Stoop. Leinster's average crowd numbers have risen considerably in recent years from 3,926 during the first season of the PRO12, to the current PRO12 average of 18,682. Leinster currently have roughly 12,500 season ticket holders.
Leinster hold the record for the biggest PRO12 attendance. On 2 October 2010, Leinster played Munster in the 5th round of the league at the Aviva Stadium, this set a new crowd attendance record for a PRO12 game at 50,645. Leinster won the match 13–9.
The last match at the old Landsdowne Road stadium was against Ulster on 31 December 2006 before it was demolished to make way for the new Aviva Stadium, earning the match the moniker of "The Last Stand". Leinster won the match 20–12, with an attendance of 48,000 – a record at the time. A previous attendance record in the PRO12 was also set at Lansdowne Road, for a game between Leinster and Munster which drew a crowd of 30,000. Leinster's Heineken Cup clash against Munster at Croke Park set a world record attendance for a "club" rugby union game with a crowd of 82,208. The Official Leinster Supporters Club was formally established as a club in 2007.
Read more about this topic: Leinster Rugby
Famous quotes containing the word supporters:
“The opposition is indispensable. A good statesman, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opponents than from his fervent supporters. For his supporters will push him to disaster unless his opponents show him where the dangers are. So if he is wise he will often pray to be delivered from his friends, because they will ruin him. But though it hurts, he ought also to pray never to be left without opponents; for they keep him on the path of reason and good sense.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“The hydra of corruption is only scotched, not dead. An investigation kills and it and its supporters dead. Let this be had.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition. It reduces their supporters to that tractable number which can be managed by the joint influences of fruition and hope. It offers vengeance to the discontented, and distinction to the ambitious; and employs the energies of aspiring spirits, who otherwise may prove traitors in a division or assassins in a debate.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)