If player numbers per capita are an accurate gauge, the most rugby-mad nation in the world is not three-time World Cup winner New Zealand, double champion South Africa or Northern Hemisphere stronghold Wales.
The most rugby-mad nation by this method of evaluation is tiny Tonga in the South Pacific. This will surprise few, of course, as the nation of just 110,000 is a World Cup regular and in 2011 defeated subsequent finalist France.
According to World Rugby statistics, Tonga has over 22,000 registered players, making one in 4.85 Tongans a participant!
The minuscule nation of Niue follows with roughly one in seven citizens involved in the game, although this only translates to 225. Fiji is third on the list with more that 120,000 players – ahead of Wales, Ireland and Scotland – which equates to one in every seven-and-a-half citizens. This is all the more remarkable given the Indian third of the population is not deeply involved in rugby.
More than one in nine Cook Islanders is registered with a rugby club, or 1900 out of a population of 17,500. After that it’s Samoa, a nation of 200,000 with 12,000 players, or one in every 17 citizens. New Zealand leads the way among nations of over a million inhabitants, with 150,000 players from a population of 4.8 million, translating to one in every 32.
Wales follow at one in 36, or 83,000 players from a population of just over three million. But from there it’s a long drop down to the next major playing nation on the list – Ireland at one in 65. In Scotland, Australia, England, France and, yes, South Africa, less than one in a hundred citizens is registered as a rugby player. In Argentina it’s one in 428, and in Italy one in 678.
As for this year’s World Cup host Japan, the figure is roughly one in 1200, Canada’s is closer to one in 1400, and the USA’s is about half that. Indeed, while America is being touted as a future World Cup host with 120,000 registered players and pro rugby up and running, the popularity of the game there compares with Switzerland and Senegal on a players-per-capita basis!
Unsurprisingly, the two largest nations in the world come out rock bottom on this scale, with China’s 35,000 players translating to one in 40,500 citizens, and India’s 18,500 players to one in 74,000.
Tonga, of course, is the ancestral home of arguably the greatest rugby player the world has ever seen, giant All Blacks winger Jonah Lomu.
(AAP photo/Dean Lewins).
The island’s citizens have been listed as among the biggest in the world. They are not the tallest, however. That position is claimed by the Dutch and Serbs with an average male height of just over six feet (1.83 metres).
Unlike its neighbours, Tonga has never been colonised, and is believed to have established its own Pacific empire in ancient times. Its warriors were held in great esteem and even hired as police on other islands. Tonga remains the only kingdom in the Pacific, with Tupou VI ascending to the throne seven years ago.
The Ikale Tahi (Sea Eagles) won their first ever Test match in 1924, 9-6 against Fiji in Nuku’alofa. The match was played on a pitch with a tree in the middle, and apparently kicked off at 7am so that the locals would be able to go to work afterward!
A fierce rivalry developed, with honours more or less shared over the next few decades. Meanwhile, Tonga also won their first few encounters with New Zealand Maori and recorded six wins and a draw against Samoa. The biggest shock came in 1974, however, when they defeated the Wallabies 16-11 in Brisbane after dropping the first Test – scoring four tries to one in the process.
Briefly occupied by Germany prior to the First World War, Samoa were a little slower out of the blocks in rugby terms. Despite also winning their first Test with Fiji in 1924, they would go on to lose the vast majority of their encounters with both that nation and Tonga during the amateur era. Indeed, Samoa were not even invited to the inaugural World Cup.
The team burst onto the international stage with victory over Wales at the second instalment, and met with similar success in South Africa four years later. But this was due in no small part to the contribution of New Zealand-based players like Peter Fatialofa, France Bunce and Brian Lima.
There are about 144,000 New Zealanders of Samoan birth or ancestry, and around 60,000 Tongans. Many have gone on to represent the All Blacks themselves, of course, including several prominent members of the current squad. In fact, it was estimated that one fifth of the players at the 2015 World Cup were of Pacific Island origin.
Istanbul Wingman
Roar Guru
Apparently Egypt & Guinea will be making their 7s debuts at the West African 7s in Benin next month. I think that means their debuts at the tournament, not ever
From North
Roar Rookie
— COMMENT DELETED —
Purdo
Roar Rookie
I understand that Aussie Rules has a higher hospitalization rate than any other code of football in Australia. My son certainly suffered many injuries from when he was in the under 11s to when he was playing senior football in the country. Perhaps this needs to be widely publicized, and might help stem the flight from Union. My son at 6'4' and 97 kg at 26 is a very good build for Aussie Rules, but not so for Rugby (unless he was super fast); also growing up in country Victoria he had Aussie Rules playing mates, and no Rugby as opposed to many Aussie Rules clubs in the district. I grew up in Qld, playing Rugby League (and would have been much better suited physically for Aussie Rules). I did not see a game of Rugby Union until I was drafted by a private Melbourne school where I worked to coach their U/15s. I think Union is the most interesting code of football by a country mile, and I feel very frustrated that its hold in the community seems to be getting more and more tenuous. I blame the long term inability of Union to compete with League for the hearts and minds of the people.
Istanbul Wingman
Roar Guru
Two Kenyan Rugby players convicted of gang raping a female musician last year have been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. This is actually the minimum sentence if found guilty of such a crime. The sentence was set to be handed down last Friday but the court pushed it to today. Olaba and Wanyama have both represented Kenya at 7s. https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2019/08/rugby-players-alex-olaba-frank-wanyama-sentenced-to-15-years-in-jail-for-gang-rape/
Istanbul Wingman
Roar Guru
450 million fans does seem a tad fanciful. I'm not sure where these figures come from. Meanwhile, a number of the other sports have the advantage of being mainstream in one of the world's three most populous nations - cricket and field hockey in India, ping pong in China and both basketball and baseball in the US. Even American football has over a million registered players at high school level, though rugby's 2.3 million players overall heads it off as the second most played football code behind soccer. Rugby probably has more of a global spread as well, with over 100 nations affiliated to World Rugby now, and one of the requirements being organized domestic competition. I would imagine that, among team sports, only soccer and (possibly) basketball have more of a global spread than rugby. I mentioned above one of the main challenges rugby faces, in my view. Another would be the predictability of international competition with relatively few upsets at the top level. Of course, there are surprises, as we saw just last weekend - and also at the last World Cup where Japan caused one of the biggest shocks ever. People are still talking about that game, and with good reason. Those kind of upsets are extremely rare in rugby. At the 2003 RWC, for example, there was precisely one upset from 48 games - Australia's defeat of NZ. It was mind-numbing. Most of us can pick rugby's winners with at least 90% accuracy, so that the main interest in any prediction league will always be the winning margins. A sport needs to be competitive in order to maintain maximum public interest, but rugby's show piece tournament is by and large a lopsided affair. Of course, the game as a spectacle needs to considered as well. A lot of the individual artistry which characterized rugby in the amateur era has disappeared and been replaced by a power-based game, as many foresaw at the outset of professionalism. The constant re-setting of scrums is also a poor advertisement, while the most tedious aspect (IMHO) are the repetitive attempts to wriggle across from a scrum or ruck at close range, eventually culminating in a try that no one could actually see due to the multitude of bodies piled on top of the ball-carrier. I'm not sure if everyone sees it this way, and I certainly don't claim to have the answers. World Rugby is actively engaged in trying to make the game safer and more entertaining, trying out new laws on a regular basis.
Istanbul Wingman
Roar Guru
The Samoan Observer has run a report about this article :stoked: https://www.samoaobserver.ws/category/samoa/47441?fbclid=IwAR3MtY_1Te52KmFSGMuudd4qBn9CT3PHm1raHOpiQsDT3Esi870E8xCQ9K0
Istanbul Wingman
Roar Guru
Rugby is the 9th most popular sport in the world but its global appeal is restricted by too many players, complex rules, the widening gap between amateurs and pros, and a lack of genuine super stars of the Jonah Lomu variety - according to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNAm9L8lI_A&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0GYoFi-dxtp_y6zyEUxuTKpC6rHu2hT--U94WEp0APRVOyHXCdaHd2jyA Personally I think the increasing physicality in the professional era is going to create major challenges for the game's survival this century. Secondary schools rugby is obviously the main production line for the game's future senior players, so when numbers are on the decline in a rugby-mad nation like New Zealand, serious questions need to be asked. The big hits may look good on TV screens but they're not going to encourage parents to sign their kids up for rugby and it's a good thing World Rugby is addressing this, along with other issues.
9tcrawler
Guest
Union will always rule the Islands, regardless the NRL etc
Istanbul Wingman
Roar Guru
Seems a shame they couldn't have played in Krasnoyarsk a week or two earlier, in order to give themselves time to recover before the trip to Italy. Anyway, it seems like an internal issue that would probably only be of interest to Russian rugby fans.
From North
Roar Rookie
I read that a Russian fan answered you. He is a fan of Moscow Slava. Therefore :) Well, they did not want to fly to Krasnoyarsk, but why didn’t they invite Enisei or Krasny Yar to Moscow? I am 100% sure that the Krasnoyarsk clubs would agree. But they put together a very weak team from various Moscow clubs. The second one. He does not believe in the quota of 50% and suggests looking at the statistics. I read the statistics. For the last 5 years at least 70-80% of players from Krasnyarsk have consistently been in the national teams. But in the last year it has sharply become a maximum of 50%. For example, the U18 team has 30 players, of which only 15 are from the Enisei and Yar. Then he writes the result of yesterday’s match U18 Moscow vs Enisei. Yes it's true. But this result does not affect the Team U18, which was collected in the past years on the basis of other results. And the second one. Enisei played the second squad. This is a coach mistake. Let's see the results of the playoffs.
Istanbul Wingman
Roar Guru
& Eswatini (Swaziland) has the highest number of players per capita in Africa, at around 1%. SA and Namibia are both at around one in 140.
Istanbul Wingman
Roar Guru
Thanks, FN. Some interesting stuff there. I've been chatting about it with a Russian friend on the tier 2 and 3 forum. Apparently the Russian national team beat the club selection 40-0 yesterday. They turned down the trip to Krasnoyarsk - which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of rugby in the city - mainly due to excessive travel requirements. They head to Italy to play the Azzurri this weekend. It will be Russia's first match against a tier 1 nation outside of the World Cup and qualifiers. They are also going to play Zebre. I may write something about Russian rugby following these fixtures.
Istanbul Wingman
Roar Guru
Amazingly the game is more popular in Uruguay than Argentina using this scale, with 9000 players from a population of 3.5 million - equating to one in every 390 citizens. That makes Uruguay the most rugby-mad nation in Latin America!!
Tutema
Roar Rookie
Great piece Wingo!!!! Do you have any idea how Uruguay is ranked in the list you wrote about?
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
In Brief, OK this is still a sport site but inevitably it will cross pollinate with socio political issues. I understand or should I rather say sense your frustrations certainly as my ancestors were the Colonizers. All I can offer in the spirit of The Roar as a sport site is Nelson Mandelas words... Excuse me if not vertbatim " Sport has the power to unite people in no other way that politicians can do" that's all I can offer.
Istanbul Wingman
Roar Guru
Interesting story from the Eaglets to Eagles fb page. I also spent my first years in Paekakariki (where the boys are cheeky, as the local nursery rhyme goes...) "Introducing Ishmael Perkins Bansé, a Ghanaian player in New Zealand _____ Ishmael is 19 years old and was born and raised in New Zealand through his mother being a kiwi and his father hailing from Ghana. Graduating from Wellington College after spending 3 years with their 1st XV and captaining the side in his final year of high school, he was awarded a Rugby Scholarship to Lincoln University in Christchurch - where he currently plays for their Premier Men's team and Premier Colts team. Ishmael started playing rugby when he was 10 and was born in a small town called Paekakariki - the same town All Blacks great Christian Cullen is from. Ish has played representative Rugby for the Wellington U16, Wellington U18 Centurions and has attended the Hurricanes U17 camp. Ish is 1.78m tall, 85 kilograms and is a versatility back playing anywhere but the midfield." NB: To my knowledge only two players of African ethnicity have represented the All Blacks. The most recent was Alan Blake, of partial African-American ancestry, who got a run for the All Blacks against Australia in 1949 while the main team was touring SA. The other was Nathaniel Arthur Wilson of Afro-Caribbean ancestry, whose career was considerably more illustrious. I wrote about it here: https://www.theroar.com.au/2019/03/22/the-ethnic-diversity-of-the-all-blacks/
In brief
Guest
Race isn't the issue though, people are worried about loss of identity and forced colonisation. It's not the migrant's fault - they are pawns used by the political elites - Australia is a classic case. To achieve multi culturalism you first have to diminish the dominant culture- which happened to be Anglo European. Now the only way our history is taught is through exclusion and shame. Meanwhile we blow smoke up the back sides of every new community. Long way of saying Trump has a point..
Kick n Clap
Guest
Just like hype over here in the West about RU? The myth about the strength and the growth of the game is quite unfounded and is very misleading indeed. The first thing WA Rugby should be doing is become financially viable? That would help. And Yes , we can all look through “Rose- tinted” Glasses when we want.
Istanbul Wingman
Roar Guru
Not as simple as that. Taiwan is one of the flash points where Austronesian and Asiatic cultures collided. But the process occurred throughout South East Asia. In India and the Near East the clash of cultures was between Austronesian peoples and people akin to Europeans (from the Caucasus region) - thus giving rise to the Indo-European language family, which now includes more than half the world's people. It is undoubtedly the basis of the caste system as well. Some of the pre-Indo European Dravidian dialects of south India are distantly related to some Aboriginal languages.
Istanbul Wingman
Roar Guru
Mashallah!