Rugby is back but it doesn’t feel like it did before. I think this simply comes down to the empty stadiums. Even if you are watching a game from home you still pick up on the atmosphere of the stadium. I believe the fans and the atmosphere they create plays a massive role in making the game so interesting to watch.  The fans amplify everything that happens on the pitch with how they react. Playing recorded crowd noises is no substitute for a packed out Twickenham singing “Swing low…” whenever England start to build pressure.

Fans have so much of an influence on the game that teams change their tactics dependent on the crowd they are playing against. Take Gloucester Rugby for example, they have a whole stand called ‘The Shed’ which is basically what the name says, nothing fancy its a standing block with a tin roof. This stand in the stadium may not be anything special to look at but it has shaped Gloucester’s game plan.

A picture of ‘The Shed’ at Gloucester Rugby’s Kingsholm Stadium

How does The Shed influence a team?

The Shed are the cheapest tickets you can buy at Kingsholm Stadium. As a result for every home game it is packed out with die-hard Gloucester fans who never miss a game.  They generally aren’t a a quiet bunch. Because of this Gloucester have developed a game plan where in open play they target kicking to the shed side of the pitch because they have the ability to put additional pressure on the fullback. If he drops the ball it wont go unnoticed with a loud cheer and rumble of fans banging on the metal billboards.

Another great atmosphere of the game is Sandy park Exeter where the corners have developed the nickname ‘coffin corner’ because if Exeter have a lineout in the corners the crowd is going to become so loud the defence cant communicate and defend as a unit. This leads to the well drilled Exeter to score basically every-time they enter this territory, where defences die.

Quite simply a full stadium cannot be replaced by one person sat behind a computer pressing play on prerecorded generic sound when he feels best. One thing empty stadiums has done is differentiate between players who are intrinsically motivated and those who thrive of the extrinsic motivation of having a crowd to play for.

Hopefully at some time in the near future Stadiums will be full again without putting lives at risk and the Rugby atmosphere will be back.