John Dobson has applauded the Stormers faithful for their loyal support as Cape Town Stadium is close to a sellout for the crunch URC North-South derby on Saturday.
The Stormers continue to draw massive crowds and speaking with TimesLIVE ahead of the rescheduled round-one showdown against the Vodacom Bulls, Dobson expressed his gratitude for the support.
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The Stormers are comfortably the best supported team in South Africa when it comes to stadium attendance, and they are also among the top two in the URC.
Saturday’s match is expected to draw a packed house in the shadow of Table Mountain with 45 000 tickets sold by Thursday. It was a similar situation with the final home game of 2024, a dramatic win against the Sharks.
“We sold out for the Sharks game on December 28, and we’ll sell out this week. It’s about 55,000, and that’s great,” Dobson said. “We take some pride in the fact that we are the one franchise [that does not cover seats with sponsors’ branding].”
The Cape outfit’s loyal following is remarkable given their struggles this season. The 4-5 Stormers are in 12th spot, but currently top the SA Shield, having won two of three matches against SA rivals while the third-placed Bulls lost to the Sharks and beat the Lions.
“We would have sold out twice in five weeks for league derbies, and that’s brilliant,” Dobson said. “I think we are the best-supported team in the URC in terms of match attendance. We just need to get better results.”
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
