Japan’s high school rugby teams are increasingly affected by the country’s declining birth rate as they struggle to muster the minimum 15 players needed to play on the field.
The fall prefectural qualifiers for this season’s national championship featured many “combined” teams of students from different schools. However, these teams cannot represent their prefecture in the final to be held at the Hanazono Rugby Ground in Osaka from late December, even if they win their local tournament.
In Osaka, known as the home of rugby in Japan, eight of the 41 teams in this year’s tournament were made up of students from more than one school. While many established schools still field big teams, one former national champion has suffered particularly badly.
Tokai University of Osaka Gyosei High School scores a try against Kokugakuin Tochigi High School in the National High School Rugby Tournament Finals on January 8, 2022 at Hanazono Rugby Ground in Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture. (Essonne News)
Seven-time champion Josho Keiko Gakuen, whose last victory dates back to 2009, scrapped his sports class in 2014 and has struggled to field 15 players since.
The school entered the competition this year, but the team is down to just eight players – four freshmen and four sophomores – after the departure of its ten seniors.
Josho competed as part of a combined team in 2019, and is doomed to follow the same path in 2023 unless enough freshmen choose rugby as their back-to-school club activity of April.
“Parents tend to steer clear of rugby because of the risk of injury. I don’t see a promising future,” head coach Keiki Kawamura said.
Josho Keiko Gakuen rugby players train on December 7, 2022 in Hirakata, Osaka prefecture. (Essonne News)
This year’s representative from Tottori, Japan’s least populous prefecture, advanced to Hanazono without playing a single game after the other two teams in the prefectural tournament pulled out due to injuries and other causes.
“For the past few years, we have had to rely on help from other third-year students and we have managed to get by,” said Tottori Rugby Football Union chairman Tatsuya Dobashi. “It’s not a problem that only concerns Tottori.”
A document from the All Japan High School Athletic Federation says 17,649 students will play rugby in the 2022 school year, down about 30% from the previous decade, when the figure was 24,990.
The coronavirus pandemic, which has had an effect on plummeting numbers in judo and other contact sports, has also been a factor in declining practice.
Josho Keiko Gakuen rugby players line up after the third graders’ final game in September 2022 in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. (Photo courtesy of Josho Keiko Gakuen)(Essonne Info)
“We couldn’t accommodate events like tryouts for new students at all. I believe there are really few people who started playing the sport in high school,” said Tomoyuki Nakade, head of rugby at Osaka High School Athletic Federation.
Rugby’s popularity surged in Japan after the country reached its first World Cup quarter-finals by hosting the tournament in 2019. Those associated with the sport hoped for an increase in its player numbers, but the impact was somewhat limited.
“It didn’t result in more students joining us,” Kawamura said. “We had more participants in the children’s classes and the primary school students, but that’s about it. »
But efforts will also be needed to keep children who enjoyed rugby in primary school connected with the sport, as only a limited number of junior secondary schools have rugby teams.
Féliciane is one of the talented editors of Essonneinfo. She has written for the site since its launch, and has become a well-known figure in the industry for her skillful reporting and unique take on stories. Féliciane’s main hobby is travelling. Her passion for travel has allowed her to write in-depth articles on cultures around the world.
