The Gallagher Premiership heads to Wales next weekend
Next Saturday the Principality Stadium will enter unchartered territory as it hosts its first ever Gallagher Premiership fixture.
A fortnight ago a crowd of 28,328 were in attendance for Judgement Day but Bristol Bears’ “Big Day Out” against Bath has already bettered that with over 50,000 expected for one of English rugby’s flagship events in Cardiff. Welsh rugby fans have not had much to cheer about in recent times but Bristol’s decision to play one of the biggest Premiership fixtures of the season in Cardiff seems to have resonated with supporters in Wales.
“We have targeted a crowd of around 50,000,” Bristol Bears’ Tom Tainton told WalesOnline. “At the moment we are around the 15% mark for Welsh supporters and we’d expect that to continue to grow.
“Certainly there’ll be a significant proportion of people in that stadium from a Welsh background which is great because we know how passionate Welsh supporters are about rugby.
“We also know they appreciate high quality rugby and when you look at the way Bath have gone this season and what we can look like at our free-flowing best then it should be a great occasion.
“I can talk transparently that we haven’t explicitly looked at it as going after the Welsh market. I think it’s more we want to put on a flagship event and if it appeals to Welsh rugby fans then great.
“It’s an occasion to celebrate rugby that happens to be in Cardiff because of our proximity to Wales and the size of the stadium.
“It goes without saying Welsh rugby supporters are incredibly intelligent and well-connected rugby supporters. If they buy into the project and enjoy the game then the more the merrier.”
This event seems to have captured the imagination of many Welsh supporters who have always found the English Premiership an appealing prospect. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
The quality of rugby will not be in question with table-topping Bath and their outrageously gifted Scottish playmaker Finn Russell going head-to-head with arch rivals Bristol, who are in fourth position and are chasing a play-off place.
All four of Wales’ professional clubs – Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets – will be on tour in South Africa next weekend while this fixture will also provide much needed revenue for the Welsh game.
And Bristol are planning to turn their visit to Cardiff into an annual event.
“The plan is to do it again next season,” said Tainton. “We will be playing a double-header with Bears women next season.
“Certainly based on this season and the success we’ve had so far, this is something we’d absolutely be looking at as a long-term view.
“There’s a big game strategy within the Premiership. We’ve seen Harlequins do it successfully at Twickenham and we’ve seen Saracens do it successfully with the “Showdown” at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.”
Bristol’s “Big Day Out” will have Super Bowl vibes with dance groups on show, rock band Maxïmo Park performing at half-time, an in-bowl TMO and fan cams.
Almost 30 years on from the dawn of professionalism it is only in recent years rugby has begun to think outside the box.
The Bears are very fortunate to have a committed owner like Steve Lansdown but are also a club who think outside of the box. Join WalesOnline Rugby’s WhatsApp Channel here to get the breaking news sent straight to your phone for free
“I think it’s something that is a necessity for rugby to not just sustain itself but thrive because it’s a very different audience which we are trying to appeal to,” said Tainton.
“If you look at our games at Ashton Gate and the demographic of supporters we are going against the grain in that we have a younger audience, we have a great diversity in terms of our demographic with men and women and age range.
“So, we know we have to bring more to the table than just a game of rugby. We’ve got to bring something that is compelling for families but equally it goes without saying the product on the pitch will always be the thing that’s paramount.
“Credit to Pat (Lam) and the team, they do play a brand of rugby which is engaging and entertaining to the neutral supporter.
“But gone are the days where you can capture the imagination of the supporter by what is happening over 80 minutes on the grass. We have to think outside the box and try to appeal to different audiences.
“That’s about bringing everything together, so from arrival and the full event from that experience and the whole family. That it’s safe and inclusive but also very entertaining.
“We are very fortunate here that we have the players and the owners that buy into that vision.”
Wales’ four professional clubs could do a lot worse than take note of Bristol’s strategy. Cardiff have bucked the trend when it comes to big crowds and even had an attendance of over 11,000 for the victory over Munster last week.
But certainly as far as the other three clubs are concerned attendances are not where they need to be in recent years which is in large parts down to a lack of funding and on field success.
But Bristol opened their doors to WalesOnline last week in a way the Welsh club’s would do well to take notice of.
At a time when rugby needs as many eyeballs on it as possible, Bristol understands how to grow their brand off the field, combining savvy marketing ploys with a vibrant and expansive brand of rugby on the field.
But things weren’t always rosy for Bristol who were only promoted back to the Premiership in 2018 but a rebrand along with the move to Ashton Gate has pushed them to new levels. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here.
“I’ve been here for 14 years now and I remember the games in the Championship really well,” Tainton tells WalesOnline.
“We were stuck in a bit of a time warp back in 2015-16 and we didn’t necessarily have the direction or the clarity of vision of where wanted to go.
“I think the rebrand probably served as a bit of a catalyst for a starting point. We have treated it as a bit of a start up model where we’ve taken a very fresh and different approach to how we do things whether that’s data led recruitment, whether that’s how we play on the pitch, whether that’s how Will and his team do off field from a media and comms standpoint.
“But don’t get me wrong there are other club’s in the Premiership who are doing some really fantastic stuff.
“I think the secret to our success is that everyone is onboard with a shared vision, everyone has absolute clarity on where we want to go and the buy-in has come from the very top.
“We’ve been afforded that licence to think outside the box and be a bit maverick with our approach. Hopefully our game at the Principality Stadium will embody all of that and showcase what is great about the club.”
Bristol’s Cardiff showcase is a fresh reminder of what’s possible—and a model Welsh clubs might draw inspiration from.
