Bottom line boosted by Irish return
EPCR officials can’t believe the rugby carnival jackpot they have landed this weekend.
It’s a 50,000-plus sell-out in Dublin with another 41,000 expected in Lyon. Quite a healthy change from last year’s drab Anglo-French only experience which only attracted a combined attendance of 38,968 for two semi-finals in the English midlands.
The fighting Irish were clearly missed. ‘That’s a fair statement,’ agreed Vincent Gaillard (below), the EPCR director general who is relieved his second season at the helm has witnessed a much-needed provincial renaissance following the 2015/16 drought.
For the first time in 18 seasons, not a single Irish province reached the European Cup’s knockout stages, sparking fears of an unbreakable carve-up between the better-monied French and English clubs.
‘We started out this season with expectations and hopes that Pro12 in general would be better represented, but especially the Irish provinces. That was our hope on the back of a not so good 15/16 season. It has materialised.’
The combined 110,339 attendance for this term’s qaurter-finals — 76,466 alone passing through the turnstiles in Dublin and Limerick — was a 62 per cent increase on last year’s Irish-free last-eight.
‘It’s shows a better diversity of our three leagues, shows the Champions Cup is a very valid competition. The notion of an Anglo-French dominance has not materialised, which is a good thing,’ said Gaillard
The EPCR-run Champions Cup has been a hard-sell since its inception in comparison to its old ERCorganised predecessor.
The easy criticism has been that the new tournament hasn’t delivered the finances it promised when promoting itself as the more prosperous alternative.
For instance, just two of the desired five tournament sponsors have been recruited, a situation that can’t be allowed continue if the lofty money projections are to eventually add up. Meanwhile the TV rights deals, a four-year period from October 2018, are up for renewal, the UK and Irish tenders having gone out a fortnight ago and the French tenders to soon follow.
With so much to be resolved then to ensure a better future, it’s just as well there has been this timely Irish renaissance, garnering the Champions Cup additional attention and rekindling lapsed demand for match tickets.
‘Yes, it was a slow start as a result of the painful transition and that is not an environment very conducive to bringing in partners. That is behind us now and our focus over the last few years has been to stabilise the environment and bring confidence into the new commercial structure,’ added Gaillard ‘Commercially, have we reached our targets? No, not yet. Will we eventually have five partners? Absolutely. We’re building for the long-term and the announcements will come.’
First things first, though, a weekend of green-tinted rugby celebration, Munster and Leinster poised to make European rugby the mustsee sports spectacle it wasn’t last season.
‘We were all genuinely convinced that last year had nothing to do with the new competition format. It was just a difficult, not so great year for the Irish provinces. Nothing else. There was no single reason to think the Irish provinces wouldn’t come back.
‘The IRFU are hugely excited about the progress and having one of the semi-finals in Dublin. There’s great interest, a very exciting atmosphere building. It [the Irish being back] is a good thing no matter how you look at it.’