SA Rugby has announced that fully vaccinated fans may now attend club and professional matches in South Africa.
However, crowds will be restricted to a maximum of 2000.
This follows the gazetting of new regulations by the minister of sport, Nathi Mthethwa, which will allow the limited number of fans into stadiums, while following Covid-19 health protocols.
Jurie Roux, the CEO of SA Rugby, was quoted as saying: ‘This is very welcome news and the first step to returning to having the freedom to sell out venues on special occasions once again. It is 19 months since a fan was last allowed in a rugby stadium and this is the light at the end of the tunnel that our sport has desperately needed. We trust that this initial allowance will increase speedily as the impact of the vaccination programme and the experience in other territories points to a further relaxation of restrictions.’
On Tuesday a handful of vaccinated fans were allowed to watch South Africa defeat Ethiopia in Johannesburg in a qualifier for next year’s football World Cup.
South Africa tops their group and has a good chance of advancing to the third and final round of qualification for the tournament.