The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) has announced today that there were more rugby union players in Australia last year than at any time since the game was introduced to Australia in the mid-1800’s.
ARU CEO John O’Neill revealed that participation numbers for 2010 broke the 200,000 mark for the first time in history.
Mr O’Neill said the record number of players in 2010 was hugely significant and underlined how the code was again heading in the right direction.
“This is the second year in succession that rugby has registered an increase in playing numbers and that can only be good for the game as we continue to expand throughout Australia,” he said.
Overall a record 209,571 people played rugby in 2010, an increase on 2009 numbers of 16,990 (8.8%).
Nearly 47,500 juniors played in 2010, increasing playing numbers by 3.4% nationally. More than 40,200 seniors were involved in competition, boosting senior numbers by 2.3%.
Key areas of participation in 2010:
· NSW Juniors up 7.0% to 20,708 (record)
· Overall playing numbers in NSW up 8.1% to 84,428 (record)
· QLD Seniors up 8.7% to 10,195 (record)
· Overall playing numbers in QLD up 6.3% to 57,843 (record)
· ACT and Southern NSW Seniors up 4.6% to 3,097 (record)
· Overall playing numbers in ACT and Southern NSW up 16.9% to 16,436 (record)
· VIC Seniors up 9.1% to 2,501 (record).
Where the players are:
· NSW 43.95%
· QLD 30.11%
· ACT 8.56%
· WA 6.68%
· VIC 5.71%
· SA 3.05%
· NT 1.45%
· TAS 0.49%
p.Tah
Guest
:) nice one mate. Good to see you're back
Jock M
Guest
P tah, And I have missed your ignorance!
Dave
Guest
those figures for new zealand are suppose to be 146,893 register players. http://www.allblacks.com/news/14360/Rugby-player-numbers-on-the-rise-in-New-Zealand
Go_the_Wannabe's
Guest
Yeah......and Thugby League isn't.....that makes sense. My suspicion is that the powers that be don't want to invest at the grass roots in the state school system. That way they confine rugby to private schools, universities, some elite state schools and of course, the clubs. It's all part of the grand plan to keep rugby elitist and the riff raff out. Only a theory mind you.
King of the Gorgonites
Roar Guru
Great news for rugby. great to see some growth on the back of the best year of rugby we had seen in a decade. the tide is turning. all this without having to rely on some rubbery accounting, as other sports do. with an expanded super rugby tournament, a new melbourne side and a WC later in the year, this promises to be the biggest year of rugby ever! i expect figures for 2011 to be even higher. bring it on.
p.Tah
Guest
according to the IRB and keeping in mind it says there are 90,000 registered players in Australia: SA: 632,000 registered NZ: 138,000 registered
Judge Smails
Guest
Out of curiousity, how many rugby union players do they have in New Zealand and South Africa? Going to school in Victoria, a private school too. We were not allowed to play union for insurance reasons. That was in the 1980s.
p.Tah
Guest
I knew it. Soccer/football was never as popular as we're lead to believe. It's all been a media beat up. ;)
Paul Marsh
Guest
That's nothing as the RFU claim 2.5 million registered players. The FA only claim 1.5 million registered soccer players in England. http://www.irb.com/unions/union=11000002/index.html
p.Tah
Guest
I've missed your optimism Jock M, welcome back :)
Jock M
Guest
Very sceptical about the figures. Who gives a toss anyway?-the game differs so much from the Rugby that I played that I think such figures are meaningless.
Kovana
Guest
Perhaps Rugby is banned from being played in state schools?
Go_the_Wannabe's
Guest
If they really want to grow, why don't they invest at the grass roots i.e. all state schools? NRL, AFL and soccer do. Please don't trot out the old of excuse of no funds. The ARU has had millions in the past to throw at broken down leauge players in the hope they'd put more bums on seats. That worked out well. At the end of the day, if they wanted to invest in state schools, they would find a way. So really, why don't they? I'd be interested to know.
Jamesb
Guest
Growing at the same rate as immigration.
Brett McKay
Guest
thanks PT, that is something of a relief. I had visions of these numbers actually being a net loss when pitted against population growth...
Roscoe
Guest
Don't believe figures from Victoria. VRU good and "manipulating" figures. Senior numbers are NOT up. Yes, I'm a local Victorian.
sheek
Guest
Kovana, I like to think I'm a healthy cynic, sooooo.......... Some years ago, the ARU were accused of 'double-dipping'. For example, a 10 year old playing for his primary school counted as one participation player. And the same 10 year old playing for his junior suburban club was also counted as another participation player. One player, two votes. I would add all the football codes are disingenuous at creating "rubbery" figures to suit their purposes. If the figures can stand up to scrutiny, then that's truly awesome!
kovana
Guest
The IRB figures are correct. They use only the Registered players that play in regular competitions. Same scenario happened with the 2009 ARU report. Stated it had 180K+ PARTICIPATING players.. Yet the IRB had them down with 82K+ REGISTERED players. Luckily the ARU report came with a breakdown in Age groups etc... When adding just the teen and Senior numbers (Male and Female) it totaled to the IRB figure for 2009. The figures in the ARU report for 2009 included 2 other groups.. School kids.. Like below 8 or 10yrs.. AND The Golden oldies players as well... With other groups not playing in regular competition which pushed total PARTICIPATION figure upwards to the 180K mark. The 2010 IRB figure for Australia has shown growth as well..Now 86K+..... Not 200'000 as with the ARU report because the IRB seems to exclude all those other players in Non-regular competitions... Anyways.. Growth is growth.. Which will pay dividends later! Great news!
p.Tah
Guest
Brett, the Union growth rates exceed those of the population growth figures: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3101.0 If you want to get specific and look at the junior/senior numbers by state you can visit the ABS population animation. http://tiny.cc/edxsq I have tested a few of the demographics and the union numbers were above the population demographics. I guess the figures are a positive sign.
B-Rock
Roar Guru
Just out of interest, if juniors and seniors combine for approx 88,000 (Dave - this may explain the 87,000 number you refer to), where does the other 121,000 come from? - is this schools or non playing club members, etc - judging by the growth rates above, this "other" group is accounting for most of the increase, as growth in juniors (3.4%) and seniors (2.3%) numbers were well below the overall growth rate (8.8%).