Rugby Australia's debts blow out to almost $89 million after draw-down of PEP facility
Phil Waugh is hopeful that windfalls from the 2025 British & Irish Lions tour and the 2027 RWC will be more than enough to pay back the debt.
The 2011 Six Nations is now into its third round. One of the things, apart from the rugby, that has caught my eye is the growing crowds in Italy for the Six Nations and other Test matches.
At the moment Italy play the majority of their matches out of the Stadio Flamino in Rome, which has a capacity of 32,000 and is the smallest stadia in the Six Nations, currently.
The past two home Six Nations matches the Italians have played against the Irish and Welsh this year have been played in front of full capacity crowds of 32,000.
Yet, this is not the first time they have played in front of capacity crowds at the Stadio Flamino. A casual look in the records show that for their two home Six Nations matches in 2010, they had a 31,876 crowd for the match against England and a full house for the match against the Scots, which they won.
The biggest crowd they had last year was the EOYT against Australia at Stadio Artemio Franchi (capacity: 47,290), where they had 40,127 fans show up.
Not to forget the 80,074 that showed up at San Siro in 2009 for the Italy versus All Blacks match.
A suggestion I would throw out to The Roar readers is for the Italians to play out of Stadio Artemio Franchi, and if they had a big home Six Nations matches against France or England, then perhaps the match could be moved to San Siro.
Do any of the Roarers have other ideas?
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Phil Waugh is hopeful that windfalls from the 2025 British & Irish Lions tour and the 2027 RWC will be more than enough to pay back the debt.
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