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Welcome to part three of my IRB report 2010 on registered players numbers. For this third part we will focus on the IRB Regional Association CONSUR, which represents South America.
CONSUR stands for Confederación Sudamericana de Rugby. There are eight member unions in CONSUR. No new members were added to CONSUR in 2010.
Of these, eight member unions, seven have shown growth and only one has shown decrease in registered playing numbers.
In CONSUR there are two national unions that have reached the Rugby World Cup: Argentina and Uruguay.
These two are considered the powerhouses in South America. However Chile is another that could someday soon overtake Uruguay.
In the 2010 IRB report Argentina is shown to have grown to 102,789 registered players compared to 2009s 96,479 registered players. They are going to be part of the Four Nations in 2012 with NZ, South Africa and Australia.
Things are looking very good for Argentina in the future and with a huge population Rugby can continue to grow in Argentina. All that seems to be holding Argentina back is a lack of professional competition.
Brazil, however has shown the biggest growth in CONSUR since 2009. Up from 5,353 in 2009 to 10,130 in 2010, a huge 89% increase. No doubt, the fact they will be hosting the Rugby Sevens in the Olympics in 2016 points to a huge push in growing the game there.
Chile, one of the nations that seems to be over shadowed by Uruguay and Argentina. However outside of Argentina, Chile has the 2nd most registered players of Rugby in CONSUR. In the 2010 report they have 18,755, a growth of 12% from 2009.
Uruguay has grown from 5,829 players in 2009 to 6,065 in 2010. Hopefully there can be a bigger push for Rugby in this nation. They definitely have the potential to grow even bigger if given the right motivation.
Colombia, Peru and Paraguay have also shown good growth in registered playing numbers.
And last is Venezuela which has shown a decrease from 2,650 in 2009 to 2,415 in 2010. But it really is a small drop so should be of no real consequence. No doubt they will start to go higher when we get closer to the Olympic games in 2016.
CONSUR is a rugby goldmine and has shown perhaps the biggest growth amongst all the other IRB Regional associations.
They have huge population bases in these countries, and with Sevens Rugby in Brazil in 2016, rugby officials must push harder at growing rugby at grassroots.
Argentina will be a pivotal point from which to form the rugby stronghold in the South America and hopefully Argentina will be able to hold a Rugby World Cup in the not too distant future..
I give CONSUR a pass mark in 2010. How about you fellow Roarers?
Summary
Eight Member Unions
Region Playing Numbers 150,086
World Playing Population Percentage 4.1%
World Population Percentage 8%
Full list of CONSUR Unions and date they joined the IRB.
Argentina (1987) 102,789
Brazil (1995) 10,130
Chile (1991) 18,755
Colombia (1999) 5,414
Paraguay (1989) 3,568
Peru (1999) 950
Uruguay (1989) 6,065
Venezuela (1998) 2,415
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.