Guess how many people attended the recent Oktoberfest in Munich, the famous annual pilgrimage for people with a sense of fun and a collective thirst to quench? Admittedly the event spanned a fortnight but the figure is still pretty remarkable. There were 7.4m visitors – a record – with around a quarter of them travelling from overseas.
Now imagine even a tenth of that congregation coming together for a like-minded three-day festival in London. Endless access to quality beer, the chance to make instant new friends and, if desired, plenty of fancy dress options (lederhosen not compulsory). With top-quality sporting entertainment also on tap.
Let’s hear it for Glastonbury’s oval-ball cousin: Ruckfest, if you will. It’s not the worst idea in theory. Nor is it is hard to see why the organisers of rugby’s Nations Championship fancied rearranging the existing autumn fixture furniture to create a grand end-of-year finale.
For all the scheduling hassles that complicated the July Test window – England, for example, covered 26,000 miles and played on three different continents in three weeks – it is the financial success, or otherwise, of the run-in that will make or break the concept. Which makes the next month a big deal for international rugby union. The Six Nations chair, Ronan Dunne, is describing it as “arguably the most significant evolution in the sport since rugby turned professional”.
In addition, a compelling series of games, reaching a crescendo in late November, would further whet appetites before next year’s World Cup in Australia. But if casual interest is modest and teams and unions pay mere lip service to the idea of spreading the gospel, it will be much ado about very little. Let’s hope that booking a high-profile BRIT award-winner, whose identity is due to be publicly unveiled on Wednesday, to headline the half-time show helps interest-wise, with around a third of the weekend’s tickets still available.
They are not giving them away: adult seats for the final Sunday double-header will set you back between £175 and £280 per ticket. Add accommodation, travel, food and drink and it doesn’t leave much for dirndl rental. Nor does it help that no one will know which nations will be involved on which days until the previous Sunday.
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