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15:42 GMT, Friday, 2 January 2009

Poor crowds disappoint Scarlets

Parc y Scarlets

Scarlets chief executive Stuart Gallacher has admitted concerns over the number of fans attending the new Parc y Scarlets stadium in Llanelli.

The £23m, 15,300 capacity arena opened in November, since when the average home gate has been 7,700, the region having planned for a minimum of 9,200.

"We probably have a core support of 7,500-8,000, we need to get the floaters," Gallacher told BBC Sport.

The largest stadium crowd to date has been 8,436 against Munster in November.

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The region has to hit a target maximum crowd of 11,250 before health and safety rules will allow them to try to fill the stadium to its full capacity.

"It's not easy at the moment to achieve that," admitted Gallacher.

"The scheduling of the Christmas games was a little bit unfortunate for us.

"We had the Blues on the Saturday before Christmas - which is traditionally a poor day - evening kick-off, and then... the Dragons evening kick-off on New Year's Day on a bitterly cold evening.

"If we'd had the Ospreys [at home] over Christmas we would certainly have been selling out."

"Apart from attendances, everything else commercially is way past budget"
Stuart Gallacher

Gallacher acknowledges that some poor Scarlets displays have played their part in the low crowd levels, but remains hopeful for the future.

"It's a combination of things - let's be honest, we know we haven't been playing well," he said.

"We have a fabulous new stadium, but we've got to put some results together.

"It's a tough commercial world out there at the moment with all the financial and economic pressures that are around.

"It's going to be difficult for all of us, but we remain positive... we have the facility now.

"Apart from attendances, everything else commercially is way past budget... corporate hospitality boxes, merchandise are all well past what we have in the business plan."

Gallacher is hopeful that showpiece games in January against Stade Francais and the Barbarians will introduce more people to the Parc y Scarlets experience.

"My message to all the family is come and try it," he said.

"If you haven't been to Parc y Scarlets you'll have a fantastic day."



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