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Rugby union, the game which many of us grew up watching, is losing popularity to its rival, rugby league. Look around at the Super 14 games compared to the NRL games: the crowd numbers at each seem to have swapped.
AMI Stadium used to be packed to the rafters every home game, now they’re lucky to fill a stadium with one whole stand gone. Then you look at Mt Smart for a Warriors home game. Not an empty seat in the house.
So why is this?
Some have said it’s because we’re getting saturated with rugby union. But hang on a minute, the NRL season is 26 weeks long, add the finals and you’re looking at 30 weeks.
That’s half the year for one rugby league competition.
That said, rugby union seems to be an all year-round sport these days, with the Super 14, Tri Nations, Bledisloe, and then the Northern Hemisphere tour.
So maybe people are getting saturated.
But the major reason why rugby league is taking crowd numbers from union is the unpredictability of the NRL and the Rugby League World Cup.
Look at the NRL table.
The team that won the competition last year (40-0 in the Grand Final) is sitting near the bottom of the table in the 2009 season. If that’s not an advertisement for an unpredictable season, then I don’t know what is.
For years, the Super 14 has been battled out between three or four teams, and it’s not until this year when things have changed and finally there are about eight teams vying for the four semi-final spots with two weeks to go in the round robin.
Maybe this is the time when rugby union is on the comeback and competitions are going to get closer.
One thing is for sure, crowds enjoy watching games far more when they don’t know who is going to win before kick off.
At the moment, rugby league has the upper hand in drawing crowds.
The question is, does rugby union have anything up its sleeve to bring the crowds back?
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.