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Australia appears to be the only country in the world where there is an enduring argument between Rugby Union and Rugby League supporters about which is the ‘better’ game.
Arguments get emotional, with accusations abounding freely; two little goldfish chasing each other persistently around a small Australia-shaped bowl. In the end, the argument will never be concluded because it is never about the game, it is about loyalty to one game.
So let’s put the whole argument in perspective and do some real numbers, not just hyperbole and opinion, and see how Union is bigger.
There are three professional Rugby League competitions in the world – the NRL (Australia/NZ), SuperLeague (England) and Elite 1 (France).
The top flight professional club-based competitions in Rugby Union dwarf this with The Premiership (UK), Top 14 (France), Super Rugby Pacific (Australia, NZ, Pacific Islands), United Rugby Championship (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, South Africa), and League One (Japan), and iterations of European Rugby Championships.
That’s before we get into professional 2nd-tier national competitions across the world including the NPC (NZ) and Currie Cup (SA).
That, of course, doesn’t take into account the first-tier international tournaments – the annual 6 Nations and Rugby Championship – and the quadrennial Rugby World Cup, as well as the second-tier international tournaments such as the Rugby Europe International Championships, the Pacific Nations Cup, and the Asian Rugby Championships.
Andrew Kellaway and the Wallabies are about to kick off at the Rugby World Cup. (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)
857 million people watched the 2019 Rugby World Cup on TV, while 30 million watched the 2021 Rugby League World Cup. The Rugby World Cup sits third on the list of most watched tournament-style World Cups after Football with 3.3bn viewers, and Cricket with 2.6bn viewers.
League celebrated 3.4 million people tuning in to watch State of Origin II in 2023, while twice as many people (8.4 million) watched England vs Scotland in this year’s 6 Nations
In terms of players, there are about 300,000 Rugby League players globally, while the number of fully registered Union players sits at 6.6 million. England alone have 2.2 million registered Union players. In France there are more than 600,000 Union players, but only 8,000 League players. There are nearly six times as many Union players in New Zealand than League players.
Madagascar has nearly the same number of Union players as England has League players. India has as many Union players (220,000) as Australia (178,000) and England (44,000) combined has League players. For reference, the world’s third biggest football code behind Football and Union is American Football with around 5 million players.
If Union and League were cities, Rugby Union would be a city the size of Greater Sydney while Rugby League would be best represented by picturesque Wollongong. Rugby Union 7s is now an Olympic sport and, although no-one really cares, a Commonwealth Games sport too.
Rugby League is certainly stronger in Australia than Rugby Union in pure numbers, but only just, at 175,000 to 138,000 players; and both are well behind Netball (1.2 million), Basketball (800,000), Aussie Rules (555,000) and Cricket (550,000). In this sense, both Rugby codes in Australia are largely squabbling with each other at the green vinyl card table at the far end of the national Christmas sporting lunch.
Australia are reigning Rugby League World Cup champions. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
The whole of the NRL is valued at AU$3bn, while just the All Blacks alone are valued at AU$2bn. Even this is dwarfed by the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys who are valued at AU$8bn. The highest valued Rugby League club, the Penrith Panthers, comes in at AU$46m, while the top valued Union club, Racing 92 (France) is worth more than half a billion dollars. If you sold the entire NRL at its listed valuation, you would still not be able to purchase even a single club team listed in the world’s top 50 valued sports teams. You need A$3.1bn to buy #50 – Paris Saint Germain football team.
League definitely gets great viewer ratings in Australia, but globally it sits on the second tier of football codes well behind the giants of Football, Rugby Union and American Football, and alongside Gaelic Football and Aussie Rules, which in itself is no mean achievement.
It can be fun to watch, and certainly has athletic appeal, but despite what Gorden Tallis believes, Rugby League remains a largely unknown, provincial variant with appeal to a small portion of the world’s population who largely live on the East Coast of Australia and the North of England. A trip to Vegas won’t change that.
It is ok that League is the best version of football for you and I strongly recommend you continue to watch what you enjoy and don’t watch what you don’t. But, quit with the ‘greatest game of all’ nonsense – the numbers don’t lie and they are saying that Rugby Union is bigger than Rugby League, and clearly so much better.
But you’ll never believe me, it’s why I love being Australian.
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.