9.1 Million people played rugby in 2017 - 48% in Tier 2 & 3

[Brigantine]

WR Press Release

I didn't see a % increase from 2016 mentioned anywhere. Really amateur mistake by WR... But calculating it myself it's +7%, which is a bit on the low side.
That splits into Tier 1 up 0.2%, and Tier 2 & 3 up 15%.

Good growth in most of the world, especially in Japan (+117%) but declines in France, England and especially Australia (-18%). Also the US is stagnant (+0.1%).

Players by country (and the 2016 version (pdf) for comparison)

• Tier 1 - 4.74 Million (52%) up 10k
  • England - 2.117M (23%) down 23k
    
  • France - 604k (7%) down 30k
    
  • South Africa - 603k (7%) up 135k
    
  • Australia - 548k (6%) down 122k
    
  • Ireland - 196k up 6k
    
  • Scotland - 181k up 17k
    
  • New Zealand - 156k up 5k
    
  • Argentina - 144k up 6k
    
  • Italy - 96k up 8k
    
  • Wales - 94k up 11k

• Tier 2 & 3 - 4.39 Million (48%) up 570k
  • North America - 1.83 Million (20%) up 70k
    • USA - 1.530M (17%) up 2k
    • Canada 216k (up 59k)
    • Mexico 69k (up 13k)
  • Asia - 760k (8%) up 200k
    • Japan - 267k (up 144k)
    • China - 111k (up 34k)
    • Sri Lanka - 93k (up 4k)
    • India - 69k (up 14k)
    • Pakistan - 57k (up 18k)
    • Malaysia - 57k (up 2k)
  • Europe - 700k (8%) up 120k
    • Russia - 107k (up 9k)
    • Spain - 91k (up 9k)
    • Poland - 81k (up 6k)
    • Netherlands - 72k (up 8k)
    • Portugal - 69k (up 20k)
    • Romania - 58k (up 33k)
  • South America - 400k (4%) up 80k
    • Brazil 185k (up 47k)
    • Colombia 113k (up 36k)
  • Africa - 360k (4%) up 60k
    • Madagascar - 76k (up 19k)
    • Kenya - 56k (up 5k)
  • Oceania - 340k (4%) up 40k
    • Fiji - 223k (up 32k)
    • Tonga - 60k (up 1k)

Interesting that Romania and Tonga have the same player base as Kenya, Malaysia and Pakistan!

 

[RedruthRFC]

Thanks for sharing these.

Other than the fact that one's registered and the other isn't (better get that one in in case a comic genius comes out of the woodwork), what's the difference between a registered player and a non-registered one? In England at least, down to the miniest of mini juniors, every player must be registered before they step on the pitch, so all I can think of is that every child who plays rugby at school as part of their curriculum is being counted in the non-registered category, making the registered players category much more relevant to the health of the game and meaning that a further breakdown (by gender and age) would be more enlightening again.

 

[Osezno]

You really shouldn't trust total figures. They often inflate them by including any single kid that touched an egg-shaped ball at least once in a year. And even registered players figures aren't that trustworthy for some countries.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I remember seeing something a few years ago that said every school kid in England who picks up a ball in PE is registered as a player with the RFU for insurance reasons.
Obviously boosts our numbers a lot.

 

[RedruthRFC]

I remember seeing something a few years ago that said every school kid in England who picks up a ball in PE is registered as a player with the RFU for insurance reasons.
Obviously boosts our numbers a lot.

Are you sure? Apparently there are around 2.8 million secondary age pupils in England. I appreciate that (strange as it sounds to someone who went to school in Cornwall) not all schools play rugby, but it would only take around a quarter of England's secondary school school kids to be playing rugby at school to account for every registered player in the country! Furthermore, if school kids count as registered players, who accounts for the massive majority of unregistered players?

 

[RedruthRFC]

You really shouldn't trust total figures. They often inflate them by including any single kid that touched an egg-shaped ball at least once in a year. And even registered players figures aren't that trustworthy for some countries.

This was certainly true of the RFU's figures some years ago. Somehow their registration system wasn't removing players who were no longer registered, so playing numbers were overinflated, leading to overpayments from governmental sporting agencies and a lot of egg on a lot of faces.

It seems to me that the higher number is pretty much meaningless (although much more impressive to put in a glossy pamphlet). The registered players number is more useful, although as I said above could do by being split by gender and at least into minis / juniors / colts / seniors / vets.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

No idea, just what I read.
Would make sense if schools rugby, or at least school rugby sides, were registered though. How else do England have as many registered players as France, South Africa, Australia and Ireland combined?

 

[RedruthRFC]

No idea, just what I read.
Would make sense if schools rugby, or at least school rugby sides, were registered though. How else do England have as many registered players as France, South Africa, Australia and Ireland combined?

I don't really see how having some 1.6 million players that can't be accounted for makes sense!

England don't have more registered players than South Africa, let alone more than all those countries put together! Again, I suspect that apples are being compared to oranges giving the disparity in disparities between the two figures reported by England and South Africa, although maybe it would make sense if only public schools play rugby.

 

[Brigantine]

Another oddity is Tonga. Their total population is 103k, (per Wikipedia), and from that they have 60k rugby players.

58% of the population... That's basically everyone between the ages of 5 and 50.

Going by registered players: Only 37% are in Tier 2 & 3

2% decline worldwide
Tier 1 down 7%, Tier 2 & 3 up 7%

South Africa up 31%. Also Namibia is up 63% and China up 26%
France down 50%!

• Tier 1 - 2.027 Million (63%) down 152k (-7%)
  • South Africa - 530k (17%) up 125k
    
  • England - 359k (11%) down 23k
    
  • France - 273k (8%) down 271k
    
  • Australia - 273k (8%) up 2k
  • New Zealand - 156k (5%) up 5k - Zero unregistered players
    
  • Argentina - 109k (3%) up 4k
  • Ireland - 103k (3%) up 1k
  • Wales - 94k (3%) up 11k - Zero unregistered players
    
  • Italy - 82k (3%) down 5k
    
  • Scotland - 48k down 1k

• Tier 2 & 3 - 1.169 Million (37%) up 81k (+7%)
  • Asia - 312k (10%) up 26k (+9%)
    • Japan - 109k (3%) up 3k
      
    • Sri Lanka - 57k up 2k
      
    • China - 50k up 15k (+26%)
      
    • India - 22k up 4k (+19%)
    • Malaysia - 11k up 1k
    • Singapore - 10k nc
  • Africa - 270k (8%) up 33k (+14%)
    • Kenya - 52k up 1k
    • Madagascar - 42k up 8k
    • Zimbabwe - 31k up 5k
      
    • Uganda - 25k up 2k
      
    • Rwanda - 22k up 4k
    • Senegal - 17k nc
    • Tunisia - 15k nc
    • Botswana - 14k up 1k
    • Namibia - 13k up 5k (+63%)
    • Swaziland - 12k nc
  • Europe - 182k (6%) up 12k (+7%)
    • Spain - 33k down 2k
    • Russia - 28k up 2k
    • Belgium - 12k nc
    • Germany - 12k up 1k
    • Romania - 12k up 2k
    • (Georgia - 8500 up 700)
  • Oceania - 174k (5%) nc
    • Fiji - 122k nc
    • Tonga - 24k up 1k
    • Samoa - 13k up 1k
  • North America - 168k (5%) up 7k (+4%)
    • USA - 125k (4%) up 5k
    • Canada - 28k nc
  • South America - 63k (4%) up 3k (+4%)
    • Brazil - 17k nc
    • Chile - 14k up 2k
    • Peru - 11k nc

 

[Osezno]

The proof figures aren't that reliable is Spain. Registered players aren't down by any means, but previous year stats released by World Rugby are often so inflated that it looks like there was a decrease.

If you take stats from Spanish Rugby Union or Spanish government it's easily verifiable:
2017 - 33,482 (WR) - 34,232 (FER)
2016 - 34,822 (WR) - 31,692 (FER)
2015 - 27,510 (WR) - 28,479 (FER)
2014 - 30,531 (WR) - 25,892 (FER)

According to World Rugby there were two increases and two decreases where there was in fact only a steady increase.