Like a dinner party where the host might only have weeks to live, Super Round started on Friday night as smoothly as could be expected. A westerly gust knocked over the picture booth in the festival area outside AAMI Park in Melbourne. A blow-up castle remained deflated, and the face-painters were moved to a different location. Then the football began with a Highlanders’ kick-off and, immediately, a Blues knock-on.

Most present knew the backstory. The Melbourne Rebels are in administration, crippled by debt after their benefactor fell into financial strife, and they might not make it to 2025. And Rugby Australia is struggling to recover from its disastrous World Cup campaign.

But the rugby union fans at AAMI Park remain stoic. One Rebels supporter, who introduced himself as Chris, arrived early and was enjoying the opening match by himself. He was proud to show off his foundation member hat dating back to 2011, remembering fondly their inaugural fixture against the Waratahs. “The stadium was full,” he said, smiling. “We got smashed.”

Up high on the eastern side, Michael Kelly and his friend Tony Boult had flown down from Queensland. They agreed Rugby Australia had to work out what they wanted to do with Super Rugby, “otherwise they’ll lose the fans”, Kelly said. The pair had been to six World Cups. “Though they won’t lose us,” Boult added.

The first match was high-scoring, end-to-end. The Blues won 37-29, but a late try to the Highlanders’ Ajay Faleafaga sent a 10-strong bank of children and adults, wearing matching T-shirts, into the air. “That’s my little cousin,” one shouted.

The round is a celebration of Pacific rugby, bringing together 12 teams in one city. The concept originated in the UK for rugby league’s Magic Weekend, and was first brought to Australia by the NRL for its own Magic Round. Super Rugby’s version began in 2022, and this year’s iteration is the third.

One Melbourne-based Rebels fan was entertaining his father on a trip from New Zealand for the second Super Round in a row. He said the organisers could have made more effort to celebrate international culture: “Where are the Pacific food stalls?”

There was one husband and wife, who had come down from Lennox Head in New South Wales to meet up with their son. “We came down for a family weekend,” he said. “The restaurants, the bars, and a bit of rugby,” his wife added. “But there’s not a huge crowd.”

On the Friday of last year’s Super Round, 15,282 fans turned up but this year’s attendance was down. The upper tier on the western side was closed, and just 10,582 bought tickets.

The deal for Super Round in Melbourne expires this year. “We look forward to meeting with event organisers following the event,” a Victorian government spokesman said on Friday afternoon.

Yet a PR rep claimed interstate and international visitors had actually increased in 2024. Kiwi fans Raylene Lee and Lenore Smith were in high spirits, dressed in Blues gear from head to toe. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, if we don’t do it now we never will,” Lee said, on her first visit to Melbourne. She has to fly back to Dunedin for a Pink concert on Monday, and described the trip as a “no sleep weekend”. But they had sympathy for Rebels fans. “I feel sorry for them,” Smith said.

Ash Fulcher, who moved from New Zealand four years ago “for opportunity”, said Rugby Australia had to support the Rebels. “If they don’t fight to keep them, it will be really sad.”

Then there was Alti Aiga, who had seats at the very top of the eastern stand with his wife and three sons. The boys all play in Rebels junior sides, and he admitted the family has been “thinking about their future tonight”. “If you take the Rebels away, you take away the hopes and dreams,” he said. “I just hope someone can come in and keep them going for a few years, and then they can learn from the mistakes.”

In the evening’s headline match, Melbourne – who went tryless in a round-one defeat to the Brumbies last week – started slowly against the Force. But the game they play in heaven can still deliver a miracle.

As the second half ticked away, there was an outstretched arm from Josh Kemeny across the tryline putting the home side back within 10. Carter Gordon running the length of the field off an intercept. And a late double from Filipo Daugunu.

In all, 29 unanswered points secured the Rebels a 48-34 victory, and for the club’s fans something more important: a new hope.