Rugby has always had to live in the shadow of football, especially in the UK. However, while it may still be some way off reaching the lofty heights of association football, there’s little doubt that rugby is having something of a moment, with interest in the sport arguably higher today than it has been in decades.
This is no accident. Improvements both on the field and in the broader rugby community have helped to make the sport more accessible than ever before. Let’s take a look at what’s behind the growing interest in rugby, as well as examining one potential problem.
Quality is Improving
Rugby’s increasing popularity is due, in part, to the giant leaps forward that have been made in the quality of the sport. Games today are significantly better than games of the past, and by the past, we don’t mean 1924 — we’re talking about games from the early 2000s when teams often struggled to string more than a couple of passes together.
Rugby has undergone its own transition into the modern age, in much the same way that football did during the 1990s. It’s easy to forget now, but the football of the 1980s was not entertaining to watch. Today, fans can tune into a rugby match and be confident that they’ll see a quality game.
Broader Rugby Culture
It’s not just the action on the field that’s behind the growing popularity of rugby. As with most sports, rugby has benefited from the rise of the internet, which has allowed fans to engage in a whole host of new rugby-related activities. Podcasts like Rugby Union Weekly and Brian Moore’s Full Contact Rugby provide an informative and often humorous deep dive into the game’s key moments, while behind-the-scenes YouTube channels offer an unparalleled level of content.
The rugby betting market has exploded in recent years, too, with fans able to use a range of deals, such as free bets on Bet365 with Oddschecker to back teams for glory, either on individual matches or to win major trophies such as the Six Nations or Rugby World Cup. Betting on individual player performances, such as first try scorer, is also available. These digital-first, readily accessible activities help to create a rich fan experience in line with what we’ve seen in the football world.
IMAGE >>>>> https://images.pexels.com/photos/16566938/pexels-photo-16566938/free-photo-of-a-rugby-ball-on-the-field.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&w=1260&h=750&dpr=1 >>>>> Photo
Word of Warning
The growing interest in rugby is good for the sport, but it does come with a pretty big caveat. More people than ever are watching rugby, but fewer people are playing it. One study found that the number of fans following rugby will increase by 10% by 2025, but another found that the number of players had fallen by around 25% over the past three years.
So, while everything might be broadly rosy for the rugby world, it may face some problems in the coming years if the world’s best aren’t being replaced by equally talented players. And that would be a shame for a sport that has done so well to capture so much of the public’s imagination in recent years.
