So in continental Europe it would be only one country – France.

Can’t think of any others.

Here’s Italy’s RU crowds:
http://www.stadiapostcards.com/super100910.htm

How could they support full time profesional players.

“Whats the difference between Tottenham and a triangle?
- A triangle has three points” (when Tottenham was getting hammered at the start of last year)

You know we are in trouble when Tottenham can score more points than we can.

Ouch.

Rugby Union is played in most countries in Europe, as it has been for many years, but is far from popular. Only in the British Isles and France is it really popular. Italy has improved to some extent but it is way behind other sports. Basketball is usually the second sport and handball is very popular in some of the countries mentioned.

Unfortunatley Rugby Union largely centres on middle-class, university educated players.

what are you talking about? NRL have matches on at 2pm and 3pm on sunday’s. sure the game at 2 is on fox and the game at 3 is delayed on win at 4pm, but RL has hardly vactacted the sunday time slot. The warriors sometimes play home games on sunday at 12pm too, which makes for a fantastic day of footy.

I also believe that AFL play afternoon games, so it really isn’t a ‘vacated’ time slot.

Afternoon games have the advantage of good visibilty and no dew settling on the grass – better handling conditions condusive to good running rugby!!

The playing strengths of the nations you mentioned are Poland, 5401, Czech Rep, 5172, Sweden, 3467, Serbia, 1158, Switzerland, 2229, Latvia, 660 and Lithuania, 1650. Estonia is not an IRB member but has six clubs.. Not huge numbers but shows there is a following of the game and each of them have played Rugby for many tears except Estonia is the most recent, a national boby was formed this year. Attendances at internationals in the smaller nations range from 500 up to 5,000.

Most of the Russian teams are in Europe, only Krasnoyarsk is in Asia.

The RWC is the 3rd biggest sporting event on the planet – how can that be a “minor world sport”

Where do you think the AFL would rate gobally, or the Rugby League World Cup?

Agree though that the current standard is the lowest I can recall in my 30-odd years of watching!!

A case in point is my grandson. He played Rugby in a junior club from the age of 8 to 1o. Next year, the club could not field an 11 year old team because the most of the boys had gone to a private school. (How can private schools can prevent boys playing for junior clubs on Saturdays is beyond me).Because he loves to have the ball in hand, he joined an Aussie Rules junior club.

He went to Auskick camps and was soon selected in the Sydney representive team. Another player lost to Rugby because of the system.

At his high school, he plays Aussie rules, soccer and league. He wants to play Rugby and is quite a talented flyhalf and fullback (no worldbeater) but where is there a club for him to play in his age group?

Interestingly, John Paul II, a Pole, was a rugby player at some stage of his life.

Rugby would be no.1 in Wales, and in Ireland Gaelic football would be the no.1 football code.

Im not too sure about rugby having any following in Poland, Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Serbia, Switzerland or the Baltic States. Realistically, the only continental European nations which have any interest in the game are France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Moldova, Russia, Georgia, Ukraine and Germany. Arguably the heart of Russian rugby is in the Asian part of the country.

However, there are national competitions and have a strong following in France, Italy, Romania, Russia, Georgia, Czech Republic, Spain, Portuagal, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Serbia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland.

It is also played at various levels and have national teams playing in the European Nations Cup in Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzoegovina, Moldova, Monaco and Norway. The game is in Turkey and Belarus but the nations do not compete in the European Nations Cup.

From what I can see, Rugby is not played in only Albania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, San Marino or the Vatican.