I grew up in England and went to a school that didn’t play rugby. I had to travel to a different town just to get a game. So, just how popular is this wonderful ‘egg chasing’ sport of ours?
Rugby has over 405 million fans world wide and boasts over 10 million people playing the game in 221 countries. The last world cup, hosted in Japan, boasted television viewing figures of 857 million making it the fifth most watched sporting event on the planet securing the sport’s place as one of the most popular.
We consider rugby union to be the world’s ninth-most popular sport in the world just below tennis but above American Football. Interestingly, whilst the fan base worldwide compares favorably to sports higher up the popularity list, shown below, it is let down by the rather limited number of people that actually play the game.
This is similar to American Football, and should come as no surprise when you consider that the more popular sports on the list can be played with little technical knowledge, equipment, or training. Rugby and American Football on the other hand need all of these plus bags of commitment to deal with the physical contact side of the game.
The World’s Most Popular Sports Ranked
| Sport | Players Worldwide | Fans Worldwide | Countries Played In | Overall Ranking |
| Football | 265 million | 4 billion | 200 | 1 |
| Volleyball | 800 million | 900 million | 221 | 2 |
| Cricket | 60 million | 1 billion | 105 | 3 |
| Badminton | 220 million | 735 million | 138 | 4 |
| Basketball | 450 million | 400 million | 213 | 5 |
| Tennis | 87 million | 500 million | 195 | 6 |
| Baseball | 65 million | 500 million | 140 | 7 |
| Tennis | 87 million | 500 million | 195 | 8 |
| Rugby Union | 10 million | 405 million | 123 | 9 |
| American Football | 2 million | 400 million | 80 | 10 |
The numbers above are what I would consider ‘ball park’ figures reliant on web based research. A few surprises stand out to me. I had no idea volleyball was played by so many people. More than football, really?
I also had not realized quite how high participation levels are in cricket either. Most of the players are based in India where 55 of the 60 million players are based.
You might also want to read: What Are The Most Skillful Sports In The World?
Going back to rugby, it did make me chuckle that I could not find any figures for rugby league. My best guess is that you could probably at least half all of rugby union’s figures and you would probably still be overestimating.
Rugby league is really only popular in the north of England and in Australia, where the thriving NRL competition and State of Origin Series keep the game alive and well. The Rugby League world cup by comparison is considered sub par to both of those competitions in terms of quality and intensity.
This comparison gives you an idea of the gulf in popularity between the two codes of rugby. The average attendance at the Rugby League World Cup was 13,338 whilst the last Rugby Union World Cup was 51, 621 (source).
In short, overall, rugby union is far more popular than rugby league apart from in certain pockets of places around the world.
Recommended reading: Rugby Union V Rugby League: What’s the difference?
Is Rugby Growing In Popularity?
Rugby is growing in popularity in three main areas: women’s rugby, over 25% of the 2.7 million rugby players are now women. Rugby sevens, became an Olympic sport in 2016, and Major League Rugby in America has grown to 13 pro teams up from 7 since 2018.
Women’s Rugby
As regards, women’s rugby, I remember going to watch England Women v Itlay Women back in 1991 (approx) and to be honest the game was a bit of a joke in terms of standard played.
Two years ago, I finally sat down to watch a game of women’s rugby once more and was staggered by how good the women’s game has become.
It is already a fantastic product and I can only see it attracting more fans as the word spreads about how good the women’s game is to watch but also in terms of it being another avenue for people to get down to their local rugby club and experience what a unique and welcoming environment a local rugby club truly is.
You only need to visit the BBC sports website to see how heavily the women’s game is being covered these days and how detailed the coverage is to realize that there must be significant interest in the game.
Rugby Sevens
Rugby Sevens, as well as being an Olympic sport has an incredible professional circuit, whch includes a world cup held every four years. The last one in 2018 was held in the US and attracted over 100, 000 spectators for the 3 day event and over 9 million US viewers watching on television.
Sevens plays a crucial role in spreading the rugby gospel as it is far easier to understand, more exciting to watch and, importantly can be mastered much more quickly than the far more technical 15 a-side game.
This means that less well resourced nations and clubs can build a team that can achieve genuine success.
For example, the Kenyan sevens team famously beat the New Zealand sevens team (footage), something that is decades away in 15 a-side rugby but gives so much hope and inspiration for rugby in Kenya.
Rugby in America
Growing the sport in the United States is seen as a key part of rugby union’s future if it is to continue to survive and flourish being a major source of potential future players and commercial partners.
There are 110,000 registered players up from 81,000 in 2010. There are also 26,000 students playing the game, eight times the number of ten years ago. This is possibly due to the formation of the MLR and the professional opportunities that that might provide in years to come.
Whilst competition for sporting eyeballs is huge in the US, with a few rule tweaks and a bit more commercialization of the sport. The alleged hosts of the 2031 rugby world cup may just become a true rugby nation yet, only time will tell!
A Post Pandemic Note…
The worldwide pandemic hit rugby union’s participation levels very hard though, with, for example, participation levels in England dropping from 224,000 in 2019 pre pandemic to just 95,100 in 2021 (source).
It remains to be seen whether or not all those previous players will return as once the playing habits are broken it can be hard to restart once more.
Recommended reading for you: The Advantages of Playing Rugby Union
Image Credits
Perpignan Fans. From Flickr 2006, zoonabar (flickr), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At The 2011 Rugby World Cup In New Zealand. PRA, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
