City scores with Sevens

IT WAS heartening to see fans out in full cry and packing the stands at Cape Town Stadium for the World Rugby Sevens tournament at the weekend. These have regrettably been scenes that have been experienced far too rarely at this world-class venue.

The interest in the event was apparent when tickets first went on sale and in the days leading up to the Cape Town Sevens tournament that saw people scrambling to find tickets.

It is the kind of event that could prove the antidote for the loss-making stadium – if the city council can find further events of its kind to fill the stadium.

Without doing the proper due diligence though, as the flop of the Cape Town Cup showed in July, an event could drag the fortunes of the stadium down even further.

With the Cape Town Cup, the city had not done its homework and put together a line-up of soccer teams for a tournament that failed to put bums on seats.

The Sevens was a success for a number of reasons , not least because the Blitzbokke reached the business end of the tournament – something the local fans would have looked forward to witnessing.

But those who market the city would have been pleased to see the images of our beautiful stadium, our people and the city being beamed around the world to a global audience.

There is also a great value proposition for the spectator.

Many events seem costly because they are over in a matter of hours.

But with the Sevens tournament, a ticket is effectively a day pass to enjoy as much rugby on the day as you want.