Lions fans fail to show for historic Barbarians clash in Hong Kong
Promise of 10,000-strong travelling horde off the mark as stadium will be only ‘three-quarters full’
Hong Kong has delivered on its part of the deal in trying to fill Hong Kong Stadium for Saturday’s historic clash between the British & Irish Lions and the Barbarians, rugby chief Trevor Gregory said today. It’s the Lions who have failed to deliver 10,000 fans.
Gregory admitted the absence of overseas British fans would result in the 40,000-seater So Kon Po venue being only “three-quarters full at kick-off”. Only around 26,000 tickets had been sold for the clash between the two iconic sides.
“We have sold the maximum number of tickets we can in Hong Kong. The problem lies in the fact that most of the travelling fans from Britain are going straight to Australia as this is a long tour and it would cost them more to stop over here,” said Gregory, the chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union.
“We are very grateful for the Hong Kong rugby community and the extended community for supporting this match. But there is nothing we can do as far as the overseas fans are concerned,” he said. “At the end of the day, that was out of our control.”
Lions officials had promised 10,000 fans would descend on Hong Kong and were confident it would be a sell-out.
In November 2010, Charlie McEwan, a senior official involved in marketing the Lions brand, said: “There will be a minimum of 10,000 fans from Britain and Ireland following the team to Hong Kong and I don’t expect there to be many empty seats.”