Varsity match attendance

[toofast2live]

I went to the varsity rugby match a few weeks ago and was staggered by the attendance - about 20,000. I'm sure I recall regular attendances in excess of 40,000 in the olden days, but does anyone know the highest ever attendance?

[PinkDalek]

I went to the varsity rugby match a few weeks ago and was staggered by the attendance - about 20,000. I'm sure I recall regular attendances in excess of 40,000 in the olden days, but does anyone know the highest ever attendance?

This article, from 1995, suggests that the anticipated 70,000 back then would have been a record:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/the- ... 25162.html

I haven't searched further.

[Hallucigenia]

I was staggered to see attendance had dropped to as few as 20000-odd, having been to several where there must have been close to 60,000. Given the restrictions on the number of days that Twickenham can be used, I'm sure the RFU are dropping heavy hints about moving somewhere else. But it was always a big day out for the City, and in the current environment I guess it's hard to justify spending money on something so obviously blokeish and Oxbridge-y.

I would guess that the 1990s represent the high-water mark for attendance, as a combination of Twickenham's capacity being bigger (although not a lot bigger than in the terrace days) versus the decline in interest since the millennium.