SA Rugby gives up pursuit of Lions series fan attendance

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SA Rugby has decided to concede defeat in getting any fans into stadiums during the British & Irish Lions tour, while a new schedule for the series could soon be confirmed.

SA Rugby had asked government’s national Covid-19 ministerial advisory committee to consider filling stadiums with up to at least 10, 000 fans per game for the Boks’ Tests starting next month.

Initially SA Rugby and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture asked the national Covid-19 ministerial advisory committee to consider filling stadiums up to at least 50% capacity during the 2021 British & Irish Lions series.

However, following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that the country would go into level-four lockdown measures due to a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, SA Rugby has thrown in the towel on its hopes of getting fans into any of the tour games.

“We are happy with the government regulations, the current [adjusted] level four,” SA Rugby president Mark Alexander told Sport24 on Monday.

“We will just hold back on pursuing spectators for now because it would be ridiculous to host spectators when we’re in this crisis.

“The Lions tour is not in jeopardy. We’ll continue playing.

“We can’t stop livelihoods. These players are working, but from a spectator point of view, I don’t think we will be able to have spectators.

“I don’t see things drastically changing overnight. We have to make peace with the fact that there won’t be spectators, but the tour will go on, and we’ll have all the games, even the provincial ones.”

Meanwhile, rumours of a rescheduling of the Lions tour have continued, with the Daily Mail reporting that a fresh schedule could be confirmed on Tuesday.

Early reports have suggested that a large portion of the tour could take place in Cape Town as a plan B if required. This is due to a rapid rise in Covid-19 cases in Gauteng, with leisure travel in and out of the province currently prohibited.

According to the Daily Mail, the B&I Lions will play their fixtures against the Lions, Sharks and Bulls in Gauteng as originally scheduled. However, it is reported that the remaining four-week portion of the tour could shift to Cape Town, where the Lions will face the Stormers, SA A and all three Tests against the Springboks.

The full 2021 Lions series was set to look like this:

  • Saturday, 3 July: Emirates Lions vs British & Irish Lions (Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg) KO 6pm (SAT)/5pm (BST)
  • Wednesday, 7 July: Cell C Sharks vs British & Irish Lions (Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg) KO 8pm(SAT)/7pm (BST)
  • Saturday, 10 July: Vodacom Bulls vs British & Irish Lions (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria) KO 6pm (SAT)/5pm (BST)
  • Wednesday, 14 July: South Africa A vs British & Irish Lions (Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town) KO 8pm (SAT)/7pm (BST)
  • Saturday, 17 July: DHL Stormers vs British & Irish Lions (Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town) KO 6pm (SAT)/5pm (BST)
  • Saturday, 24 July: Springboks vs British & Irish Lions (1st Test, Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town) KO 6pm (SAT)/5pm (BST)
  • Saturday, 31 July: Springboks vs British & Irish Lions (2nd Test, FNB Stadium, Johannesburg) KO 6pm (SAT)/5pm (BST)
  • Saturday, 7 Augurst: Springboks vs British & Irish Lions (3rd Test, FNB Stadium, Johannesburg) KO 6pm (SAT)/5pm (BST)

Photo: Getty Images

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Dylan Jack