One rugby player in 10 female as game expands worldwide

An analysis of the latest player number statistics, as published on the IRB’s website, reveals that women now account for approaching 10% of adult rugby players worldwide – and in many countries considerably more than that.  This is a rise from just over 6% only four years ago – and comes despite both male and female player numbers growing across the world. Increases in the numbers of junior players registered by national unions have been even more dramatic.

Player number data appears on each national union page on the IRB website, but is not officially compiled to present an international picture of the state of the game. However, the Letchworth Girls’ blog has been collecting and analysing the information regularly since 2009 and the latest data reveals some impressive trends in game across the world.

It has to be said that any analysis of the published data carries with it a number of “health warnings”. Each Union collects the information in its own way – in most cases it will be come from player registrations – and some changes will  result simply from changes in the way player registration happens. Equally just because one country has more registered players than another does not mean that they will have more players – they may just be more rigorous about registering (this is particularly a problem with junior player numbers). And changes in one country – England – can skew the data as England is so much larger. That said, trends based on data collected over four years and around 100 countries should iron out many of these distortions.

For example, one thing is abundantly clear. Rugby is growing. In 2009 the IRB data recorded some 790,000 adult players worldwide.  Four years later, and the number is up to over 955,000. That is a rise of over 21%, worldwide. In fact player numbers are up in at least 80 of the 98 countries that provide data.

Encouraging though that is, it is a rise that pales into insignificance compared to the rise in women players. In 2009 IRB countries recorded 52,500 adult women players. The same countries now record 87,500 women players – a rise of over 44% in just four years. Just under one adult rugby player in 10 is now female.

Okay, a large slice of that is due to England finally correcting its problem of under-counting women players (or, more likely, miss-registering them because the registration database defaulted to male if no gender was entered) – but the fact is that women player numbers are up in 87 of the 98 unions.

To take a few countries, since 2009 adult women player numbers have risen by…

• 28% in Belgium
• 128% in Brazil
• 25% in Canada
• 387% in Columbia
• 84% in France
• 66% in Ireland
• 153% in Italy
• 120% in Kenya
• 291% in Malta
• 19% in Netherlands
• 183% in Russia
• 37% in Spain
• 61% in Sweden
• 34% in USA

The only countries where player numbers have fallen significantly are Australia, Germany, Guam, Hong Kong, Jamaica, New Zealand, Nigeria, Tonga, Trinidad, and Wales.

While 10% of players worldwide are women, in some countries it is considerably more than that. For example, in Kazakhstan almost exactly half of all players are women and in 13 other countries (including Canada, Finland, Guyana, and Sweden) more than a quarter of the rugby players are women. In the USA just under one player in five is female, and in England one in six.

There are some oddities. For example, not only are player numbers in New Zealand falling, but less than 1,000 of the World Champion nation’s near 29,000 players are women, while in Australia its even worse – only 1400 women in a country with 60,000 players – but overall the growth of women’s rugby in recent years – in what is already an expanding sport – is astonishing, and the idea that rugby is a “man’s sport” is palpable (and statistical) nonsense.

For information about specific countries, and for those who enjoy spreadsheets, there is more to be found – including some even more remarkable (if less reliable) junior statistics – here.