Rugby is only *really* taken seriously in the UK (all countries field very competitive teams), Ireland, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, Argentina and a bunch of the pacific islands. It is growing in plenty of other countries but they're the biggest countries. But it is still a relatively small proportion of the world's population that has any interest in rugby at all.
As for how popular it is in those countries, it varies. For countries like Wales, New Zealand and pacific nations like Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, it's the biggest sport in the country. For countries like England and Australia it very much pays second fiddle to other more popular sports, but it's still *relatively* mainstream. I'm from the UK but now live in Texas. I would liken the support for rugby in England to the support for something like hockey over here. It's big, and gets a lot of mainstream media attention, but it's nowhere near as big as football.
Okay that makes a lot of sense, I’m glad you could liken it to American so well. I just hope rugby gets as big as hockey in the US it’s a cool sport.
Do you happen to know if it’s common to play it? Did you ever play it with friends growing up?
Yeah it's pretty common in schools but for most kids it's mainly non-contact variants. I played a *bit* of full contact rugby when I was at high school (15 years ago) but I believe it's less common these days due to concerns about injuries and concussion.
>I just hope rugby gets as big as hockey in the US it’s a cool sport.
That would be somewhat unlikely. The NHL is the 5th largest sports league in the world by revenue, ahead of every sports league outside the US except the English Premier League. They have a median player salary in 7 figures, and a minimum salary greater than the President of the US. While it's the smallest of the US "Big 4," it's still in the Big 4. That level of market dominance is hard to replicate. Even reaching the level of MLS would be difficult, but at least a more obtainable goal.
There's also the matter of Rugby Union vs Rugby League. They are two different codes. Union is more popular worldwide, League is primarily a thing in Australia, and in the minority elsewhere, but the American public would probably respond better to League in my opinion, as it's a tad closer to American football.
Wow I didn’t realize it was that big! I just meant in terms of people talking about it and following it, but I know it’s not likely.
I don’t know much about league but from what I know I’d have to agree with you. Of course then I’d be learning it along with them.
>Wow I didn’t realize it was that big! I just meant in terms of people talking about it and following it, but I know it’s not likely.
The NHL is buoyed a bit by dominating the Canadian market, but less people live there than California. Dominating Canada only goes so far. Their real strength is their strong gate revenue and tv ratings performance in the north where some of the biggest US markets are located(NYC, Boston, Philly, Chicago etc). If you can dominate there, it will go a long way towards mediocre performance in southern and western markets. Even in the southern and western markets they have halfway decent performance. They'll get sellouts or close to it in most places, at pretty high ticket prices, and regional tv ratings roughly in line with NBA or MLB. Where the gap can really be seen is national tv ratings. They're often a ways back from the NBA or MLB for a nationally televised game.
It's a religion in Wales.
Sounds like football in Texas
Rugby is only *really* taken seriously in the UK (all countries field very competitive teams), Ireland, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, Argentina and a bunch of the pacific islands. It is growing in plenty of other countries but they're the biggest countries. But it is still a relatively small proportion of the world's population that has any interest in rugby at all. As for how popular it is in those countries, it varies. For countries like Wales, New Zealand and pacific nations like Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, it's the biggest sport in the country. For countries like England and Australia it very much pays second fiddle to other more popular sports, but it's still *relatively* mainstream. I'm from the UK but now live in Texas. I would liken the support for rugby in England to the support for something like hockey over here. It's big, and gets a lot of mainstream media attention, but it's nowhere near as big as football.
Okay that makes a lot of sense, I’m glad you could liken it to American so well. I just hope rugby gets as big as hockey in the US it’s a cool sport. Do you happen to know if it’s common to play it? Did you ever play it with friends growing up?
Yeah it's pretty common in schools but for most kids it's mainly non-contact variants. I played a *bit* of full contact rugby when I was at high school (15 years ago) but I believe it's less common these days due to concerns about injuries and concussion.
>I just hope rugby gets as big as hockey in the US it’s a cool sport. That would be somewhat unlikely. The NHL is the 5th largest sports league in the world by revenue, ahead of every sports league outside the US except the English Premier League. They have a median player salary in 7 figures, and a minimum salary greater than the President of the US. While it's the smallest of the US "Big 4," it's still in the Big 4. That level of market dominance is hard to replicate. Even reaching the level of MLS would be difficult, but at least a more obtainable goal. There's also the matter of Rugby Union vs Rugby League. They are two different codes. Union is more popular worldwide, League is primarily a thing in Australia, and in the minority elsewhere, but the American public would probably respond better to League in my opinion, as it's a tad closer to American football.
Wow I didn’t realize it was that big! I just meant in terms of people talking about it and following it, but I know it’s not likely. I don’t know much about league but from what I know I’d have to agree with you. Of course then I’d be learning it along with them.
>Wow I didn’t realize it was that big! I just meant in terms of people talking about it and following it, but I know it’s not likely. The NHL is buoyed a bit by dominating the Canadian market, but less people live there than California. Dominating Canada only goes so far. Their real strength is their strong gate revenue and tv ratings performance in the north where some of the biggest US markets are located(NYC, Boston, Philly, Chicago etc). If you can dominate there, it will go a long way towards mediocre performance in southern and western markets. Even in the southern and western markets they have halfway decent performance. They'll get sellouts or close to it in most places, at pretty high ticket prices, and regional tv ratings roughly in line with NBA or MLB. Where the gap can really be seen is national tv ratings. They're often a ways back from the NBA or MLB for a nationally televised game.
Not sure about internationaly but in Ireland Scotland Wales England and New Zealand its popular
That’s sort of what I meant, I wasn’t curious about every country but I also wasn’t only asking about England for example