Lions chief executive Rudolph Straeuli has hit back at suggestions that a move away from Ellis Park is needed due to the stadium’s location in a crime hotspot.

Despite the Lions’ solid start to the season, which includes three wins in seven in the Vodacom URC and back-to-back victories in the Challenge Cup, Ellis Park has not been well-attended for home games as was the case during the team’s superb run to three successive Super Rugby finals between 2016 and 2018.

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The Lions played their first home match of the Challenge Cup – a bonus-point victory over Newcastle Falcons – in a nearly empty stadium, with an official attendance of 2,500 fans.

This has led to growing support for the Lions to move away from Ellis Park, which is situated in Doornfontein – a crime-ridden suburb of downtown Johannesburg, adjacent to Hillbrow.

Polled on whether the Lions should relocate to a new stadium as attendance declines and safety concerns mount at Ellis Park, a resounding 86% of readers believe it’s time for a change.

However, in an interview with Sunday newspaper Rapport, Straeuli argued that the stadium experience at Ellis Park is very safe and that the Lions have no plans to find a new home.

“The area around the stadium is not a crime area, it is a poor area,” Straeuli told Rapport.

“If you compare the crime with that at other stadiums, we can definitely say that we have one of the safest stadiums of the teams that play in the United Rugby Championship or Champions or Challenge Cup series.”

Straeuli said that the Lions expected poor attendance during the festive period and said that there aren’t any suitable smaller stadiums nearby with the facilities to host international matches.

“The [Newcastle] match was played on 16 December. There were few people, because most people were already out of town on vacation on the 13th or 14th of December. We are working hard to get more people into the stadium with the next matches in the new year.

“We take it seriously and will see what we can do to improve the spectator numbers.”

Photo: Nokwanda Zondi/BackpagePix