The turnout from fans in Australia for the Swire Shipping Fijian Drua home games was not up to expectations, said Fijian Drua chief executive officer Brian Thorburn.
“Really disappointed with the support in Australia. The crowds that we had in the matches were all less than three thousand. Ranging from 1100 for a couple of them, to 1200 and then to two to two and a half thousand for another couple of them,” Thorburn said.
The outgoing CEO of the Drua franchise said the low numbers could have been due to a number of reasons. “We started from the fact that we don’t have a natural audience in Australia rather than Fijian fans and there are a limited number of experts there. We were competing against other rugby games between Australian franchises. We didn’t get as many as he had hoped.”
However, Thorburn went on to say the fans who showed up did make their presence felt.
“We are grateful to all those who showed up. The boys really appreciated them. Surprisingly it was just a wonderful atmosphere. The noise that was made felt like it was five or ten thousand people in the ground.”
The Fijian Drua host the Chiefs in their last match of the season at 3pm next Saturday at Lautoka’s Churchill Park.
