Rugby is among the top 10 most played and watched sports worldwide. It’s particularly popular in the UK, South Africa, Australia, and France, but statistics show it has fans in many other countries. For instance, the 2023 Men’s Rugby World Cup, which was played in France, was watched by over 800 million fans around the world.
Indeed, rugby has been around for a while. It was born in the city and school of the same name in central England in the early 19th century. Legend has it that it was created by a pupil at Rugby School, William Webb Ellis. Ellis decided to pick the ball in his hands (instead of kicking it forward, like other ball games) in 1823.
There’s no historical evidence to support this anecdote, even though the event was cited in the Old Rugbeian Society 74 years later. True or false, the Rugby School played a central role in the sport’s development. It created its first official rules, including the modality “rugby union football.”
The game was included in the first Olympic Games in the modern era, in Paris in 1900. However, the sport was left out of the competition from 1924 to 2016, and it was finally reintroduced during the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
Rugby Today
Some English sports are mostly popular in their former colonies. For instance, cricket is widely popular in India, Pakistan, South Africa, and Australia but not in many other countries. This is definitely not the case for rugby, which is also loved in countries like Uruguay, Côte d’Ivoire, Japan, Spain, and others.
Indeed, the sport is everywhere today: World Rugby has 133 member countries worldwide. The game is still expanding its frontiers, as women’s rugby is among the fastest-growing sports today. The number of players across the world is still rising, and according to World Rugby, the sport is played by over 8.4 million people.
Regarding technology, rugby is on par with the most popular sports today. Recently implemented include the Hawk-Eye (which tracks the ball’s trajectory), GPS for tracking players in the field, referee cams, and smart boots that can adapt to different weather conditions. The same technologies are already used in cricket, football, volleyball, and others.
Betting on Rugby-Based Games
Diehard fans don’t need to wait for the next match to have fun. There are countless rugby-based games out there, from video games to betting and gambling options. It’s easy to find fantasy leagues in sportsbooks, where players can bet on simulations based on real-life data of ongoing competitions.
The sport is also in online casinos, where fans will find a long list of rugby-based slots. The fun part about slots is that bonus features can vary widely from one game to another. In some cases, it’s possible to find games with the bonus buy feature, allowing players to buy their access to the bonus level. Check out some of the best games of this kind at sportsbet io bonus.
The Future
A recent study by the University of Bath and Mastercard projects a bright future for rugby and highlights its positive social impacts. According to this study, published in 2023, when rugby celebrated its 200th anniversary, the fan base registered a 17% increase in participation that year, and it may increase further by 10% by 2025.
Additionally, there’s a growing interest in the sport in countries where it was less popular. The same study points to a 32% increase in interest in rugby in emerging countries. A few factors may be contributing to such expansion, like increased media coverage of tournaments, documentaries promoting the sport, and the inclusion of cutting-edge technologies like live analytics, VR headsets, and holograms.
Indeed, 360-degree live transmissions for VR headsets and augmented reality glasses are already around the corner. However, technology is already bringing many other advancements for players and the sport itself. World Rugby is experimenting with smart mouthguards in elite matches to detect players who could have suffered head injuries.
These mouthguards have sensors that measure the impact of a collision, sending this information in real-time via Bluetooth to doctors on the ground. This real-time alert system significantly increases players’ safety. Also, the use of AI for training routines and strategies is becoming more common, as it already is for the NFL and F1, for instance.
