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.
Maddi Davis
Roar Rookie
You're a one man Rugby League propaganda machine Brett haha Why is this suburban fledgling sporting competition called the "National" Rugby League?
Maddi Davis
Roar Rookie
Brett you're a typical Rugby League fan aren't you mate? You have an issue with every other sport other than the fledgling sport followed in Qld and parts of NSW
FunBus
Roar Rookie
It’s ‘complementary’ in the context you were using it. But, then again, you like NRL and AFL, so… :happy:
FunBus
Roar Rookie
:laughing: :laughing:
FunBus
Roar Rookie
I know I’m a ‘pom’, but I’ve lived in various places around the world and like a range of sports. But, if the AFL grand final was taking place in my back garden I wouldn’t look out the window. I’ve tried to watch it, but it’s like watching paint dry.
BeastieBoy
Roar Rookie
Based on numbers WorldWide Soccer is the Greatest Football Game but in Australia where Im From it isn't. Really that is all that matters for Australians. There are AFL supporters and League supporters who don't care for union. Unfortunately those numbers in Australia have grown rapidly and continue to do so. The Union as controlled by the Northerners does not resonate with Australians and it is diminishing in even private schools rapidly. many of the private schools are more Soccer schools than Union. Indeed the Great Rugby School Waverley College has not agreed for Manchester City to have a talent pathway in their school with a full time coach.. training the kids all year to hopefully move into their Academy. So keep fiddling with articles like this while Union burns down in Australia. Shame.. but it aint changing ..
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
No amount of lipstick …
Oscarthadog
Roar Rookie
No, I mean media bias, at the expense of all other sport in Australia with a decent following.
Oscarthadog
Roar Rookie
So a set of 6 takes, what 2 minutes? That is 40 kicks per game. Kicks in Rugby are tactical and a way to gain territory easily, if you understood the game of Rugby, you wouldn't use it as a so called negative. A Rugby scrum has 2 tonnes of force and many moving parts and has to operate like a well oiled machine, unlike the embarrassing lean to, that is the league scrum.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
US does not have rugby playing schools unlike England. It has a college scene where they might have a massive college and a few play rugby. I doubt they have 10k across the country.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Talk about contradictions so on one hand your boasting how just one of the leagues club by themselves get 3 times the revenues of the AFL pokies then you say there is only modest reliance on it. Which is it? The panthers group would have the most revenue being so many gambling venues across the state, but that doesn't mean they make the biggest profits. The biggest profit margins would be those clubs located in Sydney golden triangle of Asian gambling. Easts would be the club getting the biggest grants from their pokies. The irony of the Chinese being the main group funding rugby league, and we hear this fantasy in PNG the Chinese will be countered by rugby league in some fashion.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
And by media bias you mean much bigger fan bases
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
Please, $400m, not even ole Hamish is claiming that kind of money. At best RA will make $200m, then they’ve got to pay off about $40m in debt first, oh and that $200m includes a fair chunk coming from PE, which means less revenue in the future. And can you honestly trust RA to not blow that cash anyway ? But what it underlines is that RA has to rely on all the planets aligning just to make $200m. The NRL conservatively makes $40m annually just from Origin. Three games. RA barely makes half that for ALL its content. The NRL’s broadcast rights are worth annually more than RA will make from a string of high profile events. And what happens post 2027 ? You won’t have another Lions cash cow till 2037, and probably won’t have another home WC till the 2040’s. Trying to live off the interest of $150m won’t get you far, especially if you don’t 100% of your commercial rights. Realistically, how many home Tests can the Wallabies play per year, maybe 10. Even if all of those were against the Blacks & Boks, there’s maybe another $30m annually. So yeah, you’ll get a nice little sugar hit in the next few years, but what’s the bet in 10 years time we’re back having the same conversation ?
Micko
Roar Rookie
Fair point. Just seems another pointless code war article.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
As opposed to endless penalties for having a finger out of place in a scrum. At least we only kick it every 6th tackle.
Oscarthadog
Roar Rookie
League is nothing more than a hybrid form of Rugby Union, and would not exist if not for Rugby. League is a very, very simple game. No contest for posession, gifted territory, by 1 out running off the play the ball, a stoppage every tackle. 1 attacker versus up to 5 defenders. The 5 tackles kick, my turn, your turn nature of the game, makes it very hard to watch. League and AFL is only bigger in Australia due to the very clear media bias in this country, not because are a better "product".
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
Yeah, as long as they are bigger than Rugby League !!!
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
Not true about Leagues Clubs now. With the NRL getting full value for its broadcast rights now, pretty much every club now breaks even at least.
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
Does Stradbroke Island count ?
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
What history ?