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If we were to go way back in time to around the 1920s, before rugby and football sat in somewhat a similar position, football was in front, but not by the margin it is today.
The difference is often put down to football being professional and rugby being amateur, which undoubtedly is true, and had an effect. Nevertheless another difference is the management and forward planning of both codes.
Football developed after WW1 a plan to move forward and spread the game. The World Cup was an early example of this. The European champions League, another. Further, an embracing of any form of football was seen as important.
This has taken decades and is still in play today in Asia and other areas where football is not as established as it is in other parts of the world.
The management of rugby was, and is, different.
Rugby is still in a position to expand, and to be fair to those in charge is doing so.
However, I think the brand of rugby to use as rugbys’ get in point in Asia is touch. Touch has the advantage of being easy to understand, with its fairly simple rules, and can be played with a small rock and with only a few players in small spaces.
Few get hurt with the limited body contact.
Rugby 7s comes next as a natural expansion of touch. From here, develop an interest in other brands of rugby.
As a person who is not a fixed to any particular rugby variant, I like them all.
But the one I still play is touch, the game I played in the street as a kid was touch, the game we played at training was touch – both in league and union.
In a similar position, football expands with Fustol, a game of five-a-side played on a basketball size field with a flat ball about half the size of a football.
Those running rugby have a natural product at their finger-tips but keep offering the most complex. This comes down to planning at senior international management levels.
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.