The crowd of 85,657 at Monday night’s Richmond v Melbourne MCG blockbuster was the sixth highest home-and-away attendance in the Tigers’ history.
It was the biggest since the 87,043 who attended Richmond’s opening round clash with Carlton in 2009 (Ben Cousins’ debut in Yellow and Black).
The Tigers’ record home-and-away crowd is 92,436 versus Collingwood in Round 4, 1977 on Anzac Day (Tommy Hafey’s first game as the Magpies’ coach against his old club).
Interestingly, three of Richmond’s top-six attended home-and-away games were played on a Monday – that ’77 encounter with the Pies, this week’s match against the Demons, and Round 3 of the 1982 season v Essendon (Easter Monday).
Since the inception of the Anzac Day Eve fixture, the attendances have gone from 58,175 in 2015 to 59,968 in 2016 and soaring to 85,657 this year.
The top six Tiger home-and-away crowds are:
- 92,436 v Collingwood, MCG, Round 4, 1977
- 90,564 v Essendon, MCG, Round 3, 1982
- 88,468 v Essendon, MCG, Round 21, 2007
- 87,043 v Carlton, MCG, Round 1, 2009
- 85,673 v Carlton, MCG, Round 8, 1980
- 85,657 v Melbourne, MCG, Round 5, 2017
