With only one day to go before the 2019 Rugby World Cup (RWC) kicks off in Japan, local bar and restaurant owners are readying themselves for a massive increase in beer sales over the next six weeks.
A Bloomberg news article reports that an estimated 400 000 foreign tourists will be visiting the country to support their teams and are expected to drink four times as much as Japanese spectators.
According to the World Cup organising committee an estimated 1.9 million liters of beer were drunk at fan zones and match venues in England at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
The committee also revealed that in venues that also host soccer games, the average beer consumption during a rugby world cup match was six times more than at soccer matches.
In 2017, at a Japan vs Australia match in Tokyo, the stadium ran out of beer halfway through the match RWC organisers and local restaurant and bar owners are taking steps to ensure this does not happen again, with some establishments planning to carry 5 to 10 times the usual amount of beer until the tournament ends in November.
In South Africa, beer has always gone hand-in-hand with friends, family and sports and there is no doubt that plenty of beer will be drunk over the next few weeks by local rugby lovers around the country.
The BASA would like to wish the Springboks everything of the best as they go to war with the All Blacks this coming weekend and for the rest of the tournament. We also encourage South African fans watching RWC games over the next few weeks to go ahead and enjoy their beer, but to please do so responsibly and in moderation.
The BASA members are committed to differentiating beer as a product of moderation and have added low-alcohol and alcohol-free beers to their product range, which can be enjoyed by rugby fans.
Let’s hope Japan manages to avoid a “beer crisis” over the next six weeks!
