URC in London: Ospreys can open new frontier for league in capital
Come Friday night, Harlequins’ Twickenham Stoop will be having its usual pre-match bonanza, with a light show building up to the evening’s main entertainment: the rugby. But the London club are not in action at home this weekend, because for the first time a United Rugby Championship (URC) game will take centre stage.
The domestic league featuring clubs from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Italy and South Africa, the URC is one of the big three “European” leagues in rugby.
Ospreys descend on London
And Swansea-based Ospreys will take on Durban-based Sharks in south-west London on Friday as the league looks to get in on the act of hosting one-off matches in the capital.
“When we look at what the successful leagues in the world are doing, where they have moved to the London market like the NFL, it was something we wanted to explore,” Anthony Cole-Johnson, Ospreys commercial director, told CityAM
“Then when you look at the data behind fans that follow the URC in terms of the population of the Welsh and South Africans in London – as well as the Irish – it makes sense commercially to grow our fanbase here.
“The reality with rugby, especially in Wales, is that you tend to not get a big following, apart from the derbies, whereas we thought we would get the best of both worlds in London with the contingents.”
For the match to get the green light, the Ospreys began the process – in February – on getting approval from their opponents, England’s RFU, Wales WRU and the league itself. And despite many star names being away due to the recent World Cup, it is hoped that the novelty of the fixture will be enough to get fans through the turnstiles.
Double trouble
The fixture is expected to see an attendance close to 7,000, which is double what the Welsh region got in their home match against Italy’s Zebre last weekend at the Swansea.com Stadium, which they share with the city’s football club.
“Rugby needs to keep growing its audience and if we can make this work then that would be really interesting,” Cole-Johnson, who was previously at Southampton FC, added.
“What this shows is that if you put on a good show and invest in events and experiences then fans will come and that is the important thing.
“The TV rights aren’t pumping in the money into rugby that they do in football and what you’re seeing in England is the rise of the big game experience [including NFL, MLB, and rugby].
“Sometimes you need to be a little different. If you look at our away shirt [which features a pink and blue insignia], we have been a little bit braver in that space. It is a little bit wild but it has a lot of engagements online and it is something we may do next year.
“When you’re doing a London game you need to try something different. It is a really interesting market and the URC are keen to see what interest there is with us putting a toe into the water. It is a good opportunity.”
So Wales and South Africa clash, kind of, in London this evening. But for a league without an England team present, tonight’s fixture could be the first frontier in the URC gaining a more permanent foothold in the capital.