Through Simon galinier
Published on
the rugby is it an unpopular sport globally? According to the ranking published by the American media Sports Browser, we are entitled to think so. Indeed, this site carried out the top 10 most popular sports in the world and rugby only happens 9e position, behind the volleyball (6e) or table tennis (7e), disciplines which seemed however more confidential than the oval. In pole position, we find of course the football, universal sport if there is one.
Between 390 and 410 million rugby fans worldwide
Ranked tied with the Football and just behind the baseball (8e) and its 500 million fans, rugby has between 390 and 410 million fans on the planet, mainly in Europe (France and England) and insouthern hemisphere (New Zealand, Australia and South Africa): “This sport has also extended to a large part of the Polynesia, having particularly strong followers in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga ”, adds Sports Browser. ” Nevertheless, rugby is only popular in a handful of countries. In other countries, sport enjoys only a limited popularity. »
Where the shoe pinches is also in terms oftelevision exhibition : “The TV audience is quite good in the nations playing rugby, but it is negligible in other countries ”, explains the American media. Regarding, “TV rights agreements for rugby tournaments, they are not as important as football, cricket or tennis, but they are still quite expensive”.
“A sport which does not benefit from good access to the general public”
A moderately popular sport on the internet, rugby nevertheless benefits from a high level of research on the web during the World Cup, especially in the participating nations. This discipline benefits from a limited presence on social networks, since the big rugby clubs and the rugby stars are not very popular on the web. The average salary of a rugby player is around $ 60,000 per year (€ 53,000).
Finally, with regard to thegender equality and theaccess to the general public, rugby is also lagging behind: “It is a predominantly male sport both professional and amateur and who does not have good access to the general public compared to other sports, mainly because of its nature and the large surface area required ”.
The Top 10 most popular sports in 2022:
- Football (3.5 billion fans) – popularity: Europe, Africa, Asia and America
- Cricket (2.5 billion fans) – popularity: Asia, Australia and UK
- Basketball (2.2 billion fans) – popularity: USA, Canada, China and Philippines
- Field hockey (2 billion fans) – popularity: Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia
- Tennis (1 billion fans) – popularity: Europe, Americas and Asia
- Volley-ball (900 million fans) – popularity: Asia, Europe, Americas and Australia
- Table tennis (850M fans) – popularity: Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas
- Baseball (500M fans) popularity: USA, Japan, Cuba and Dominican Republic
- Rugby / American Football (410M fans): France, England, New Zealand, South Africa (rugby) and USA mainly (American football)
- Golf (390M fans) – popularity: Europe, Asia, America, Canada
This classification was established using 15 criteria What are the global fan base, the television audience, the TV rights agreements, the popularity on the internet and on social networks, the number of professional leagues in the world, the average salary of athletes in the top leagues, sponsorship offers, the number of countries in which the sport is popular, the biggest competition, its relevance throughout the year, gender equality, access to the general public, the number of amateur players in the world or the importance of sport in the sports headlines of the media.
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