Exclusive: Wembley sales key to rugby league Ashes record crowd hopes
Organisers of rugby league’s Ashes series are targeting a record-breaking opening Test at Wembley Stadium, 103 days out from kick-off.
Rugby League Commercial, which is behind the first Test series against Australia in 20 years, is aiming to break records for Ashes attendances. Previous series were played between Australia and Great Britain, rather than England, but hopes are high.
The highest UK attendance for an Ashes Test came more than 30 years ago, when 57,000 watched an 8-4 Great Britain win at Wembley; the highest ever Ashes Test attendance came in Sydney, where 70,200 watched an 8-6 Great Britain win in 1932.
“We’ve tipped over the 35,000 ticket mark [for Wembley] and fans are usually buying tickets where they’re located [for the other two Tests],” RL Commercial managing director Rhodri Jones told CityAM.
“But for Wembley we see that people have bought from throughout the country, so that provides us with the biggest opportunity to get as big an audience as possible.
“We are allowed to sell up to the 90,000 [stadium capacity]. We opened the upper tier after the Challenge Cup. Being the highest attended UK Ashes is in the background.”
This year’s Ashes could set a British record for a series attendance, which clocked in at a collective 140,000 in 1994.
The Test in Wembley will be followed by potential deciders at Everton’s 52,000-capacity Hill Dickinson Stadium – the new home of the Toffees’ men’s team – and Leeds Rhinos’ 19,700-capacity Headingley.
“By having two sell-outs in the north of England [in Liverpool and Leeds], it gives the opportunity to prioritise and focus on that first Test at Wembley with our marketing now purely focusing on that Test,” Jones added.
“It gives us a chance at breaking records, and potentially a higher attendance than the 2013 Rugby World Cup semi-final double header [67,545]. We have every confidence that we can do it but it will take a lot of hard work.”
Part of that promotion has been a trophy tour, which will call in London on Wednesday to mark 100 days until the Ashes.
Australia have won the last 13 Ashes series, albeit against Great Britain, but England look closer than ever to the world’s best side.
Super League clubs have won the last two World Club Challenges and England last year successfully beat Samoa twice and France once in a strong calendar season.
This year’s Betfred Challenge Cup final, traditionally held at Wembley Stadium, attracted 63,000 fans as Hull KR beat Warrington Wolves 8-6.