Rugby not as popular as we believe

Nom Chompsky

Nom Chompsky

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http://www.iol.co.za/sport/rugby/rugby-not-as-popular-as-we-believe-1.1072089

The recent revelation that worldwide viewing figures for the 2007 Rugby World Cup final had been desperately modest, casts a revealing light on professional rugby union on the eve of another World Cup.

It was reported, by the UK-based “Spectrum Value Partners”, a management consultancy, and Addleshaw Goddard, a law firm, that fewer than one million people around the globe in the non-traditional rugby-playing countries bothered to watch the 2007 final between South Africa and England.

In other words, beyond the borders of the countries that are the traditional rugby powers, the likes of South Africa, England, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, France, Wales and Scotland, very few people were interested.

The report was sent to around 1000 rugby administrators around the world. Perhaps not surprisingly, few have been eager to discuss it publicly for this is a stunning rebuff for the game.

This startling fact somewhat tempers the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) frequent assertions that this is a sport that is spreading exponentially across the planet. The IRB talks of what it calls its “strategic goal of providing the platform to grow and increase the profile of the game around the world”. These figures reveal that, at the present time at least, such words are more fantasy than fact.

The IRB likes to tell us, as often as possible, that the Rugby World Cup is now the third biggest single sporting event in the world, after the soccer World Cup and the Olympics. It boasts of having 117 member unions or associate members, suggesting this is a sport on the march.
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:( Soccer is vastly inferior to rugby, yet is far more popular. What a pity. (MHO, of course)

Looking forward to the RWC though! I happened to re-watch the 2007 RWC final last night. Here's to another SA final!
 
Despite the fact that the subject has desperately little to do with MyBB, it is interesting . The main problem with rugby, I guess, is that it is not all that easy to understand if you have never played it yourself. Ref. all the SWAMBO's.
Having said that, I cannot understand why soccer remains so popular. It makes sense to play - easy to understand, need little equipment/infrastructure, but it is sooo boring to watch. I tried. Promise. Paid a #$%%^#-load for a WC ticket last year, but I enjoyed the rugby game at Newlands the next day infinitely more.
 
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Wonder if the author of this little article ever read up on this topic much?

Just out of interest, Russia has now included 7's in their school curriculum since it's now an Olympic sport...

That and the fact that (and I quote from his article)
South Africa, England, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, France, Wales and Scotland
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have more than enough rugby supporters to make it the 3rd biggest sporting event.

This writer seems to be thumb sucking a lot :o
 
I don't get this statistic :
that fewer than one million people around the globe in the non-traditional rugby-playing countries bothered to watch the 2007 final between South Africa and England.
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How many people in non-Cricket playing countries watched the CWC final ? Or Baseball, Basketball, Grid Iron etc...

Rugby has influence in a limited amount of countries... big woop.
 
I personally can't watch rugby. It's not a bad as cricket though :p
 
Rugby is pretty small when considering the rest of the world.
 
Also suspect with the 7's included in the Olympics, the US will continue to push a lot of money into this. I suspect they actually have a long term plan since Todd Clever played over here. Will obviously never really compete with the likes of baseball / American football / basketball and the like, but on the other hand, they have enough of a population to make a major difference if they really get serious over rugby.
 
bin3 said:
Also suspect with the 7's included in the Olympics, the US will continue to push a lot of money into this. I suspect they actually have a long term plan since Todd Clever played over here. Will obviously never really compete with the likes of baseball / American football / basketball and the like, but on the other hand, they have enough of a population to make a major difference if they really get serious over rugby.
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South America, China and India should be more important. USA tradition of supporting their own odd sports is far too strong.

I foresee that the Chinese will struggle to come up with players to compete with Andries Bekker/McCaw/Os.
 
Skerminkel said:
South America, China and India should be more important. USA tradition of supporting their own odd sports is far too strong.

I foresee that the Chinese will struggle to come up with players to compete with Andries Bekker/McCaw/Os.
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I have read somewhere that they have "World Series" baseball, but they're the only ones who play in it...
 
Elite Override said:
I have read somewhere that they have "World Series" baseball, but they're the only ones who play in it...
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Yip: Though it is important to remember: South Africa is a country. America is a continent. Bit of a population difference, so in their view, is it really wrong to classify it as a 'World Series' ? :-)
 
Skerminkel said:
South America, China and India should be more important. USA tradition of supporting their own odd sports is far too strong. .
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Agreed: Still think that the 'American' approach might be quite interesting to see. Pretty much doubt a "Best of the Best" type approach, on the other hand: don't see them being very happy should Russia or someplace beat them ...
 
bin3 said:
Yip: Though it is important to remember: South Africa is a country. America is a continent. Bit of a population difference, so in their view, is it really wrong to classify it as a 'World Series' ? :-)
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Well, their world is really, really small.
 
Hmmm... I would imagine ANYTHING that is televised to a global audience but its subject is only relevant to a handful of countries also wont get decent viewers from the non-participating countries.
 
Jabberwocky said:
If americans become too interested in the game... they`ll dominate it.
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Well: That's what I want to see. To a degree, I agree, but from another perspective, I would really, really like to see someone like Bakkies take out some oke that thought American Football prepared him enough ...
 
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