Why Isn't Rugby More Of A Global Force? (VIDEO ESSAY)

I discuss my opinion on why the sport of rugby union isn't a bigger deal around the world...Signed NGJ

[@SquidgeRugby]

Terrific video, mate, really enjoyed it. Great work!

[@jackmitalos2531]

Can you finish and post your bloody video im pumped for it

[@TheNoahJarvis]

Thanks brother! Really appreciate it 🤙🏽

[@farquad6643]

You two are doing exactly what NGJ is talking about with helping shape the youtube community/public persona of rugby. Both create a great atmosphere around your channels and quality videos. You two are helping the game out big time. ps Ive been subscribed since your video on the Connor Murray Squidge and have watched every episode since atleast twice (5 times for Scotland's sexy attack :))

[@Benjamin-uv7op]

Do a video on aus vs nz

[@gregoryleroy5646]

Get a room guys

[@inny12]

Can you do a joint video with Squidge Rugby?

[@ablabla7514]

Jacob Inerfield that would be fun

[@oliverhallsworth-baines3948]

That's a good idea, NGJ deserves more recognition and Squidge could help.

[@malcolmoluwasanmi6398]

I think he should leave squide alone. HE has his own style my first video of his i watched and i loved it.

[@marlondaniels3114]

Rubbish. I love NGJ's calm demeanor and clear voice. Squidge sounds like he's missed his Ritalin dose. Really don't like his racing through his analysis and fast flashing on screen captions. Why have it if nobody has time to read it?

[@alexisrdevitre]

Squidge is good quality analysis but the voice, generic and a bunch of other things are super annoying

[@MattFrisian]

Don't necessarily disagree with your ideas; only want to say that one of the primary reasons I specifically enjoy rugby is because it is a true team sport and not dominated by superstars. I feel this ruins other sports. I understand, however, I am likely a minority in this view.

[@MattFrisian]

@Mark Turner As 6ft 7in and 20 stone, I appreciate your comment as well.

[@MattFrisian]

@Mark Turner I ended up stick my head between the front row's sweaty backsides...and listening to them complain about having to lift me for lineouts. Is it that I need to lose weight, or do they need to build shoulder strength?

[@MattFrisian]

@Mark Turner I feel like props are most happy when they get to put their head down and hit things. They're like mountain goats in this respect.

[@MattFrisian]

@Mark Turner LOL

[@michaelgadoua4945]

True, unlike some of the other sports, a sole superstar can't carry a team to victory (except if you have seven fantastic players like, FIJI, in the Sevens Olympic Final).

[@martinfoster9848]

The ninth most followed sport but the rugby world cup is the third most watched sporting event.

[@markoboksic2238]

third most watched by attendance on stadiums, but most of sports have much smaller venues

[@martinfoster9848]

@@markoboksic2238 It's actually third most televised event.

[@jonharvey55]

Mate Rugby is my favorite sport but I don't think that statement is correct if you consider the Olympics, Football world cup and Cricket world cup. Maybe fourth.

[@martinfoster9848]

@@jonharvey55 You could well be right. In 2003 it was third with nearly 2 billion views.

[@LB_die_Kaapie]

@@jonharvey55 the Olympics isn't counted as it's not a team sport.

[@nathanosafoomane6224]

Another problem with creating superstars is the teamwork requirement. One or two cricket players can almost single-handedly win their team the game, whereas that doesn't happen in rugby past Under 9s level.

[@LittleOwen-mf3hn]

It is the same in league as i used to get a full length every other week when i was younger but now I hardly get a try every month

[@latadhanuka9849]

Not always one or two players can win the game

[@nedbrown8783]

past u13 i'd say

[@vik4741]

Sevens rugby is the one that's going to grow faster than the other codes. It's easier to learn, less complex kicking, much faster Nd it also has a star factor with players like Carlin isles, Perry baker, seabelo senatla, where you know that if they get the ball, they'll make magic happen with their pace. More Nd more nations will invest in getting these exciting speedsters to play in the code Nd the way the sport is being operated by travelling around the world Nd letting all nations play is quite helpful

[@kushalrijal9453]

Still it will never overtake Cricket.

[@vik4741]

@@kushalrijal9453 ye cause India loves cricket, that's the only nation that's making cricket that big.

[@michaelgadoua4945]

Praise be to the Rugby Goddess that the Sevens scrums are only two seconds long. Sevens is The Game of the future.

[@benm1308]

Sevens is a great way (probably the best way) to grow the game but I don't think it'll ever beat a proper test match

[@jordywilliams]

Ben M definately not. Its like t20 cricket, exciting for a bit but not that important

[@justastix]

Why am I here? I don't even know how to play rugby Great video anyways, I am now considering to watch rugby

[@desting45]

Rugby would also be more popular if the players internationally had fixed shirt numbers with there names on the back of the shirt. It means if someone who is new to watching rugby sees a player they think is good and they enjoy watching they can remember their name and recognise them in future games. For example both football and basketball have shirt numbers which players keep with their names on the back of their shirts which makes people recognise the player over multiple games and makes the person watching want to keep watching if they remember the player

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

But "that's against tradition". Yet at the same time the uniform lost the collar & is no longer made of wool.

[@qwertyyuyop9347]

Some reasons : rugby sabotaged itself for 100 years because they didn't want to be professional . While football world cup was created in 1930 , rugby work cup was created in 1987 . İnternational or continental tournaments for national teams or clubs apart from the six nations were non existent until 1995 . Until today outside of the world cup all tournaments act like private clubs where you can't access without an invitation. There are no playoffs available to enter the six nations , it depends on the perception of some guys sitting in an office to decide who is in and who is not . New Zealand visited Samoa only once despite being one of the closes countries but they tour every November in Europe . Teams outside the top 10 barely get an opportunity to play vs the big ones . There some of the reasons rugby doesn't reach globally

[@samuelspoons3553]

Rugby League had the vision but sadly never got to Rugby Unions growth.

[@Omoplataha]

Hard to grow yourself as a sport (Rugby League) since Union has devoted themself's to kill it everywhere in the world. You can try as hard as you can but hard to play If for example If you are put to jail for playing/promoting Rugby League. That is as resent as 2015 in United Arab Emirates...

[@petedudson6671]

Spot on

[@Narapoia1]

There are some good reasons for this. Without a player base and experience playing top team it's no good for either team. Uruguay played South Africa in the 2000s and the score was 134 to 3. That doesn't do anything good for the game. That's a bit different to NZ and Samoa sure but it's one of the reasons you don't see matches across too many levels in the world rankings. For reference they are currently at number 19, SA is 4.

[@fraserposford144]

@@Narapoia1 that's fair however in closer cases with competitive countries, it's a bit ridiculous how they're not being treated fairly. Look at Georgia and their case for playing in the Six nations or how the Pacific Islands have been frozen out of playing with the other southern hemisphere teams

[@glenbe4026]

The trouble is that the USA skews the stats. Because they have such a large population the sports they like but no one else likes (ie Baseball, Gridiron) are pushed higher on the list.

[@CGZ26]

American football too. A lot of people watches it but not everyone understands it

[@tombrady7039]

Ce G American Football is Gridiron

[@johannpreuer4121]

As a German rugby player since my early days, I have to Say this is a very good video. As football Nation almost every jung kid wants to play football obviously, and it's not easy to recruit new players if the parents don't even know the sport of rugby.

[@davemollard79]

Great video thanks, i'm happy that we have no superstars, just a superstar team, because Rugby is all about 14 players putting their bodies on the line so the 15th can score. Rugby will always struggle for participation because you need to be brave to play! The tighthead prop gets paid as much as the flyhalf!

[@Ivanmaradonaaa]

Dude Rugby is non existent in my country. I would love to play it but nodoby does and there are 150 million people here. You know what everything and their grandma plays? Football. But if you wanna impede growth and people from other countries from playing it just because you don't want stars, go ahead mate

[@zr9377]

In Malaysia, (South East Asia Country) rugby is the second most popular sport in our country after football. Mainly thanx to the fact that we’re a commonwealth nation. Many of us play rugby since primary school till University level. But after that, we stop playing due to the fact that there is no professional rugby around here. Many of the talented player had stop playing and continue to work in other field. What I’m saying here is that, professional league help boost the popularity of sport and like you said, it will produce the role model or superstar so that the next generation can look up to. I’m sure if there are more pro league around the world we can put the sport much higher on the list right now.

[@abelambwene1929]

Sports like Table Tennis and Baseball are only big because of where that are most popular. Table Tennis is extremely popular in China and China is a very populous country so the fans re more than other sports where they are popular in other countries

[@taylorwilson6655]

to make ur point a bit clearer (because i think you explained that a bit weird), it's systemic, certain sports are more popular then others because people are more likely to get into popular sports in their country, therefore making the sport more popular, again making the new generation more likely to join the sport.

[@abelambwene1929]

Taylor Wilson No my point is some sports have more fans because they are popular in countries with a higher population eg. Basketball. If Basketball was mainly played in the Uk it wouldn’t be as high up because he UK has a smaller population

[@Sabundy]

This is true. Baseball is only played professionally in a handful of countries if you think about it. If it wasnt played by the US it wouldnt even be in the top ten

[@gamesmore6583]

Baseball is popular in USA, Japan, S Korea, and much of Latin America.

[@rittherugger160]

@@gamesmore6583 It's popularity has been dropping fast in the US though.

[@paulturner9542]

Not once have you touched on the elitism of rugby union which can’t be denied. It always has, always will be a private school games, which is a bigger factor why it hasn’t eclipsed the fandom and participation of other sports. It’s the elephant in the room, and there is nothing wrong with that.

[@interfear1]

Keep in mind that Jonah Lomu was really only known in places that had a rugby background, but other than that, I never heard of him until I became a rugby fan. As someone from Latin America (Dominican Republic), the main reason why rugby is not as popular around the world is the stranglehold the elite had over the game (keeping it mostly inside of private schools) which kept it from becoming professional until 1995 which gave association football (soccer) an opportunity to take over and become the world’s game which bothers me to no end. If the rugby schism of the 1890s in which the Rugby Football Union banned professional players and teams would have not happened, things would be much different nowadays. Also, the bit about “rugby rules are complicated” is not valid because American Football is just as complicated, if not more so and it still more known that rugby around the world. American pop culture made American Football known the way rugby did not.

[@timothyjames6412]

Cricket is also very complex (try explaining it to an American), but it's huge in the Indian subcontinent, hence its second place.

[@interfear1]

Timothy James And I agree with you statement. Cricket is not something I understand all that well, but that is mostly because I’m not watching it with consistency. Only reason why it was so many people as fans is because of the huge population numbers in South Asia, mostly India.

[@salt1956]

Excellent piece. Good evaluation. You might think rugby is growing worldwide (I didn't think it was), but rugby in Australia is in free fall. It can't get a TV deal. The establishment stupidly sacked the best player last year. He took them to court and won. That mistake (allegedly) cost Rugby Australia $8 million. Meanwhile AFL and NRL, the rival codes, have all the TV deals and all the super stars. Even their TV commentators are celebrities in Australia.

[@alternatehistorysports]

Although league and union are competitors, I think they help each other to some degree as rugby still has room to grow. People might see league then discover union through that, or vice versa.

[@usarugbyleagueunionfan]

Excellent video dude! I really appreciate the MLR love you showed. I went to 2 SD Legion games this year and it pales in comparison to the NFL in my opinion. MLR is the best sporting experience in this country and I’ve been to loads of NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and MLS games. The tickets are $25 and you sit 2 rows from the field. After the game you walk on the field and meet the players. The NFL is doomed and this is the perfect replacement. And as a lover of the 15 and 13 man code I appreciate the respect you showed to Rugby League. 3 new MLR teams next year. DC, Boston and Atlanta.

[@sheky97]

Besides soccer and cricket I reckon union is up there globally considering how many international teams there is around the world.

[@sabretooth5404]

While there is plenty of international teams, most of those outside the top 8/10 are basically whipping boys

[@sabretooth5404]

@Epoch plus5 And for every argentina you have an Italy, Georgia, Romania, Russia. I'm not saying they can't improve, they just aren't being given the chance too.

[@sabretooth5404]

@Epoch plus5 I don't think it will, look at Italy. Been in the 6n years now and still terrible, pretty much a guaranteed 4 points. I'd love to see it happen but the big nations don't want to play the smaller ones due to the loss in earnings than if it was against a tier 1 nation. Too much greed is killing the game for those outside tier 1 to actually improve

[@samuelspoons3553]

@@sabretooth5404 The bosses at World Rugby and RFU are the biggest hypocrites as any talk of money in the old days got you a ban.

[@sabretooth5404]

@@samuelspoons3553 that is exactly it. Instead of trying to grow the game globally they would rather stick where the money is

[@coreystern8697]

Having two different codes of Rugby that don't cooperate doesn't help either. IF there was just one code of Rugby I think it would be more popular. The popularity of union is also slowly getting smaller and smaller in New Zealand. While the popularity of League is increasing quite fast, mostly in Auckland led by the Warriors. And it will increase even further if New Zealand get a new expansion club in the NRL. I like both Union and League. But deep down I wish there was only one. Hard to pick which, though.

[@Jamac007]

Though I'm a Purist I do believe "sevens" is the future, Sevens will become more popular than "fifteens" rugby over time because its: - Has less rules means better flow and faster dynamics - Easier to pick up for a first timer especially for countries not in the Commonwealth - Less players on the field means more recognition for individuals, easier to endorse - Games are shorter so it suits all attention spans - Sevens has a world circuit that showcases every year in 10 countries - Sevens world circuit is its only kind as a team sport - Sevens grows faster in America than fifteens - In sevens the teams are more even with each other compared to fifteens - No one wants to see scrum collapse scrum collapse scrum collapse in fifteens. - Don't even start on the ruck area.

[@mattyd3484]

Sevens is just boring for me though because there is no build up to the scores they just happen and you move on. In 15s there are tactics and build ups with payoffs so every score means something

[@hariananalisa9236]

@@mattyd3484 that's not a good point. maybe for you, but so many people find basketball exciting which scoring is similar to sevens, you score and move on.

[@MarcusSoothill]

If this was the league would be more popular than Union. It’s quite simple especially compared to Union

[@guswilliams9603]

A 14 minute sport is not the future mate lol

[@psc293192]

I’ve tried a few times to get into Rugby. Always struggled to keep going with it for some reason. But I’m gonna try again after this brilliant video mate. Well done 👍🏻

[@chesterdonnelly1212]

Watch the World Cup

[@psc293192]

Chester Donnelly I plan too mate

[@jgarcom8]

after 3 years... hows your fanship going? lol

[@lukabradley3351]

I also think its because rugby didn’t go pro until the 90s so the working classes couldn’t really get involved. When everyone can play, people will want to play

[@haczabim]

You make good points. In my opinion, contact is also a big factor. My mother didn't want me to play. It bothered me at the moment and many years later, already an adult, I gave it a go. It's harder since at that point nobody teaches you to tackle or take a tackle and fall. Furthermore, I was worried that if I got injured I didn't have medical so getting treatment would have been hard-and I didn't even know where I should go in that case. Furthermore, when you watched a game on tv in the '80s and saw all that stomping in rucks, eye gouging and eventual fist fight, you understand mothers' concerns. And you don't need to go that far. A couple of years ago, in an under 15's game here in argentina, a kid got stomped in the chest and died. These contact sports are a good place for psycopaths let loose legally. And what about guys like Martin Johnson? He used to break people's fingers to get the ball IN TRAINING. How is that part of the sport? That's a psycopath to me.

[@chesterdonnelly1212]

I think you missed one. To run a professional rugby team is very expensive. You need a lot of players because they spend a lot of time injured and you need replacements in every position because each position is very specialised. Also, because the match day team is so big, travel and accommodation costs are really high. It is really difficult and expensive for a country to become good at rugby. Either they need enough professional teams for their own professional league, or they set up one or two professional teams and fly them all over the region to play other professional teams.

[@fr4dster]

what most of the popular games also have in common is that they often promote 1 on 1 matchups, thats how cricket and football get in. seeing a winger flying past and bamboozling a defender or a batsmen smashing a six out of the park is what excites people. rugby doesn't have that whatsoever at the professional level

[@calblake7883]

A year late but I disagree, watching your favourite front rowers go (literally) head to head in a scrum, the rest of the pack trying to jackal and clear eachother out in the breakdown and wingers trying to outchase and outkick eachother are some examples of 1 on 1 match ups that can be found in professional games.

[@gunner4life568]

@@calblake7883 that is not the ideal type of fun for most people who only just got into rugby personally I enjoy it when players dare to run the ball from their goal occasionally throwing a risky pass instead of kicking it

[@captainpoontah4888]

I don’t understand why your videos don’t have more views. All of them are beautiful. And it’s nice to have a laid back and relaxed video with cool music from time to time instead of just an analysis. Thanks NJG

[@jomarabad1]

The number one reason you mention - that it's complicated is so spot on. Lol. During this pandemic, I've tried to interest myself in other sports. I now know about Cricket, Australian Rules Football, and Rugby League. These were surprisingly easy to learn. I am still having a hard time getting all the intricacies of Rugby Union. The penalties that are called, change of possessions, and other stuff takes a while to get used to.

[@michaelmaina9783]

Mind boggling and mind opening at the same time. Awesome stuff mate

[@diegomontoya8889]

Excellent content and well thought out video. This is the first video of yours I have discovered and I am now a subscriber. I joined the rugby community as a freshman in college here in the US and fell in love with the RWC in 2003 (my first RWC experience from a rugby player's perspective). I have had to travel and work in some pretty remote desert outposts, and so finding clubs has been very difficult, but I love that we have more access to view rugby in the US than ever before. I live in Washington State, about 3.5 hours east of Seattle, and it's been great being able to turn on ROOT Sports on Sundays and watch the SeaWolves, or other teams in MLR.

[@Samizouza]

In a way, 7s not only gives developing nations the chance to be competitive on a level playing field with the established ones but also could slowly but surely pave the way for the full code later on IMO.

[@siyandayaka7684]

I've seen my far share of KZbin videos and this one is magnificent, great understanding of the game.

[@lukeswan7776]

Get the point Lomu wouldn't have been as efftective in his prime in the professional era. You're having a absolute laugh describing Nadolo as twice the player.

[@keirlamont2806]

I think you’re looking at this at face value, and entirely missing the point he’s making. What made Lomu special was that he was so professional in terms of physicality and skill, he was so special because he was naturally professional, whereas the standards he reached are now the bare minimum in today’s game

[@taylorwilson6655]

he was genetically a freak at the time and incredibly talented, something which is the norm today. Which is sad for us small guys, but thats the fact now

[@Brogramm]

For me personally it's mostly due to the fact that, as you said, it's just too many players. I think if Rugby 7s would be played more often than 15s, the sport would also grow a lot more popular. Rugby /s fixes most of the issues that might hold the sport back from a wider audience. Like Star Players, more action and the ability to follow it more easily suggest. It just really needs a well founded rugby 7s League in the US or Europe to make it more known. I hope to witness this in my lifetime!

[@tinasherusike7458]

Here is one big thing missing from rugby compared to other rival football codes and sports like cricket, basketball and baseball. Below international rugby the next tier of rugby which is club and provincial heavily lacks popular following even in tier 1 nations. If you look at leagues like the NBA, EPL and many other soccer leagues around the world, IPL (Cricket), MLB, AFL, NFL all these sports have strong domestic leagues also with international audiences. Rugby simply doesnt have that. Premiership rugbys (strongly the 2nd best domestic league in the world) has attendance and viewership figures that are comparable to the 3rd division of english football in fact also less than Super League (rugby league). The french league Top 14 has to be considered the best and biggest domestic league but is not anywhere close to Ligue 1 football and also lacks in having an international following from other rugby fans around the world similar to the EPL. Super Rugby and Pro 14 are just shambolic and is just proof that all the countries involved in those 2 leagues are not capable of holding independent strong domestic comps so they have to partner with other countries. All the tier 1 nations domestic club rugby except for NZ have a hard time competing with other rival codes leagues within their borders (football, gaelic rules, Aussie rules, rugby league). Rugby might pride itself with having a strong global presence, vibrant international scene with one of the biggest sporting events but strong domestic leagues is what pays the bills. You can only have a few test matches a year but club rugby is what really showcases the product week in week out. When I was a rugby coach in the USA it was hard to motivate my kids to watch professional club rugby thats much more accessible (this was before MLR). The tiny stadiums and the empty seats that they would see from europe and super rugby gave them the impression that rugby didnt have a big league and wasnt a big deal.

[@Ricardo-dz9xf]

exactly!! I have the same opinion, rugby is all about national teams !!

[@tinasherusike7458]

@@Ricardo-dz9xf Only a small select of national teams. Below tier one and a few tier 2 nations there isnt much of an audience.

[@emilio8448]

Hi! Agree with your analysis. Would only add that the top Unions, World Rugby,... must really try to expand rugby to countries where it's not that popular yet.

[@christoschristodoulidis2004]

Rugby isn't that popular because it's mainly played by former British colonies and not spread globally. The good thing is that rugby is gaining it's popularity by other European countries such as Germany, Belgium, Spain , Portugal , Netherlands and Greece. In addition it only became professional in 1987 . Also it lacks advertisement and it's not getting spread in the tv and in social media . World rugby has to invest on countries with big population or countries that can advertise it such as the Us with the NFL . Creating a good videogame like fifa , madden and Nba 2k can boost it's popularity to people that don't know the sport . But generally I am sure that the popularity of rugby is increasing all around the world and in the future it may he in the top 5

[@r3nting3arth35]

Awesome bro 👍🏿 well explain in all aspects of the game. Became a subscriber 😁 keep it up bruva.

[@markpaynea]

This was enjoyable and very well thought out. I’m Canadian and the olympic debut of 7s in Rio, particularly the women’s 7s, got a lot of attention over here. I’ve never been more excited about any World Cup in any sport than I am about #RWC2019 in Japan!

[@GPG851]

I liked seeing Glendales stadium as I live very close. If I win state this year I'm coming back to this video

[@tjthegreat7]

as a kiwi i dont care lol I love this god damn sport no matter how big it is. EDIT: As for your comments about nadolo.....get out of here mate

[@willdw5491]

Class Video, lad keep making these bangers.

[@cuffjinx4868]

One problem with rugby is it’s quite elitist, and to get somewhere you mostly have to have come from some big private school which a lot of families cannot afford

[@jackyeadon9979]

Nah

[@jackyeadon9979]

Not in south Africa

[@chesterdonnelly1212]

If you're good enough you can make it. There are Fijians and Tongans who grew up poor now playing in the best teams in the world.

[@gunner4life568]

@@jackyeadon9979 you are wrong in South Africa it is probably worse almost all springboks players are from private schools even our captain if it wasn't for private school Siya would be no where near professional rugby like most of our Boks

[@tommytrinder.1226]

Dead on the money.

[@jaimedeandresgracia9841]

I love what he said "And first if course football, soccer if your awful" 😂😂😂😂😂

[@BasedDepartment.]

You have to look at country’s where sport is popular. Like cricket and Baseball there most fans are in one country. Rugby is more worldspread

[@DouglasEdward84]

I think this is a great point. Rugby is a niche sport in a LOT of countries but not a number One sport aside from a handful. Like in Canada it's reasonably popular as a participation sport but aside from the occasional National Team match dosen't get many TV viewers and has only one minor professional team.

[@tinasherusike7458]

Baseball is also widespread. Even Naas Botha played baseball

[@bradalza98]

No cricket is playing in entire sub continent countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan and It is widely played in Caribbean countries like Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Its no. 2 sport in Australia, England, South Africa, Newzeland etc, In continent of afica it is second most populur sport after soccer.

[@LTH099]

This is a bloody good review. In Aus we battle with league, soccer and AFL in winter but rugby offers so much more. So hard to cut through the noise and win the hearts and minds though. Cmon KZbin though, I’m in. Btw, Edan Park this Saturday should be a bell ringer. Trusty kiwi weather the only element that could spoil the fun.

[@ajgoals333]

In aus cricket is bigger than soccer

[@henrilamer5486]

Offers so much more? Like what?

[@aaronjennings2292]

really enjoyed watching this gave me a great insight to the sport i fell in love with

[@iangaitskill5167]

The complexity of Rugby makes it so intresting and cool

[@romaincanalis9491]

Great video ! To me another big point is how little the Board and the big nations of the game care for openess. I mean Georgia and Romania are stuck in 6 Nations B. Pacific islands constantly get pillaged by others,Japan barely meet the big teams out of the world cup and Argentina would still be out of the 4 nations without the great Augustin Pichot involvement. The British islands nations especially look very self-centered to me, which is pretty ironic considering that the british empire spread the game across the world. France did a little to spread union in the rest of continental Europe, playing regularly against Italy, Romania between the 70's and the 90's and helped developping union in Georgia too but it isn't the case anymore... If you want to make the game popular, make the big teams to play more regularly against 2nd tier and low tier nations. For some years it will be very unbalanced but then the small team will improve and popularize the sport in their countries. In my opinion a sport has little chance of being very popular if your home team sucks at it...

[@richarddaniel6896]

Nice video. Got my Wales world cup Japan shirt this week. Tidy

[@richardmatatahi4563]

Reason I like Rugby is it is exciting to watch and not only have to get the ball across the opposition goal line but must be touched down, called a "try" worth 5 points, with a bonus kick at goal from where the try was scored which is taken as far out as the kicker sees fit to kick the goal, called a "conversion" and a "drop kick" worth 3 points from anywhere in general play and a penalty awarded because of an illegal move by the opposing side add the tackling & defensive work that all teams must learn its a great game,

[@New_World_Rugby]

Awesome video!! MLR is the second Professional Rugby competition in the USA. PRO Rugby was the first. I have a video on my channel about it.

[@sirveillance9080]

Sevens rugby will become a top sport. This will elevate the 15 man game. The USA is also popularizing the game and could be a top contender considering their depth in talent and the ACSM being a leader in sports medicine and such. Rugby being a team sport does rarely produce superstars. Only on ground level do kids admire these gladiators individually depending on various factors which include race, strength etc. As a South African I watch craven week rugby and I have hope for the future of the game despite the political intrusion and commercial wars surrounding the game.

[@moyisisinelungelotunzi]

I enjoyed listening to this, thanks.

[@nickleeder8633]

Sorry but u said rugby was too complex but cricket is no.2 and cricket is VERY COMPLEX so...

[@shaneosullivan3358]

The reason cricket is no 2 is because its Indias national game and there's 1.3 billion people living there

[@DouglasEdward84]

Baseball is also massively complicated and was on the list as well.

[@benm1308]

The two aren't mutually exclusive. Complexity is definitely a factor in people not wanting to play rugby

[@hardrock342]

Nah, those 2.5 billion fans of cricket watch t20 which is a dumber and flashier version of cricket which was only created to compete against the likes of football and other sports on the rise and make cricket popular, it sure did suceed. Original cricket which is test cricket surely has less fans than rugby. Even stadiums in india which are packed during T20is and IPL are empty when there is a test match going on.

[@thepsalms2806]

Cricket is not as complex as rugby

[@chrissingleton8875]

"soccer.. if you're awful" hahaha. Cracked up so hard

[@oliverhallsworth-baines3948]

Great video mate. I've recently found your channel and I'm thoroughly enjoying the content, keep it up!

[@taylorwilson6655]

I think it's also the 'lad' and drinking culture around the game that scares more introverted people, myself included, however once you're in you can't ever really get out (in a good way) the way the sport grows is bringing a mate along for the craic imo

[@petermelb123]

Thanks for your time in preparing for this video, I just wanted to say a few things and vent . It's not a bad result that we have a sport in the top 10 most popular sports in the world with millions of followers and participants around the world. (it should be noted that esport is far bigger than most sports and thier are other activities although not classified as a sport has far more sports participants ). However we have 7s and 9s for both men and women and still we don't have a star athlete who can be part of the mainstream. It's just the way it is with other sports being more popular than our game

[@hansklok3564]

8:40 tennis is like this in the netherlands, on a competition game you spend hours with your opponents and the home team prepares either lunch or diner, afterwards you often drink beers. Comming from footbal this was so nice.

[@petermelb123]

Aussie watcher here thank you for the great video

[@nepiahemopo1702]

I'm not overly concerned with rugby and where it's globally positioned. I got hooked on the sport at an early age for many reasons. Why it's our national sport in New Zealand, to me remains a mystery. I like to think that all the virtues we embrace, incapsulated in rugby, goes some way in explaining the mystery.

[@fraserposford144]

As Eric Parramonj put, another reason why Rugby isn't more global is that it only really caters to a small selection of countries. The tier 1 nations always get preferential treatment over any other nation and as you can see with the Six nations, RWC and Rugby Championship, Rugby is very hesitant to expand and offer new teams a chance to play in these competitions. Rugby is a phenomenal sport in terms of values, skills and teamwork however it doesn't encourage and support all nations in a fair way

[@mattmarkham4734]

Great work! For those looking to do highlight videos on YT, where would you suggest getting the raw video?

[@mattmarkham4734]

Also, what are the copyright contingencies associated with using the raw video?

[@hatcx]

Really well put together

[@DarkSaint411]

This channel is severely underrated

[@mdwquiz]

The answer is EXCLUSIVITY. Either you've missed or ignored the basic fact that rugby administrators maintained amateurism until the 1990s because they believed in rugby as an exclusive domain for them and their rich mates. Growth of the game is not just irrelevant to these people, it is anathema. The places where rugby became universal, like Wales, and New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, they were afterthoughts or accidents. While that exclusive private school element continues, rugby will not make the necessary changes to its structure that might allow growth. Also, the origin and basic formula of the game is a group of schoolboys playing a game controlled by a school master, with a view to instilling values of teamwork and, again, exclusivity, not superstardom or entertaining a paying crowd. The game hasn't changed much in that respect. It is not just the complexity, but the rigid technicality of rugby that is a problem, and the fact that the referee makes technical decisions not readily obvious to spectators or even the players, and those decisions constantly determine the outcomes of games, at every level of the sport.

[@banterrugby9619]

Where do you get your background footage

[@patrickalexis6230]

Awesome video. I'm an American who is a very casual fan of Rugby League. I love my American football and I wonder why not have 11 v 11 or 9 v 9 in Rugby League? What are your thoughts?

[@Lochlanist]

I think the whole rugby has too many rules that's why it is not popular flies out the window with cricket being ahead of it. Cricket has so many tactics and nuances and yet is still widely loved.

[@mbardfast6658]

Rugby is a first world sport. High skill and fitness. High calorie high maintenence. Anyone can hit a baseball volleyball. Golf and tennis are slow and fast but individual sports. My sport rugby. Never be anything nearer no 1

[@zonk4817]

Not everyone can hit a baseball but people can run with a ball no offense

[@alexandregarcia9726]

One thing that people never consider too is that it is not open to new cultures. But really not. It is like Cricket. It is mostly practiced by the UK and its old colonies. They are few teams that don't really correspond to this description but in general it is the case. Look at the winners of the world cups. 100% has been won by English speaking/Anglo-Saxon countries. So its stays in those countries and do not spread. Victories make sports popular. Ok you could argue that because they are better but if you look at teams like France, they went 3 times in finals of the World Cup, which is more or equal than any other teams except for NZ. And when they reached it, the refs are often biased, I want for examples semis 95 or final 2011. I do not remember his name, but a old Welsh player said on TV after the final in 2011 something that sums it up perfectly: "This sport will never spread or grow because we do not accept other cultures and just prefer to play only in between ourselves". It is exactly true. Same for the refs. You will never see in football a Welsh ref referring an England vs Italy. This sport has to open to other cultures, have more referees from different countries like Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Italy, Germany, Japan... Exactly the same for the IRB, it is almost incestuous. We have to stop crying for it and just open to others.

[@iarlaomalley4108]

I think that the sport is beginning to open to other cultures and people of different classes with teams like Japan and Argentina being examples as they both have quality teams in the super rugby along with Argentina reaching world cup semifinals and Japan winning the Pacific Nations cup and obviously hosting the world cup. But you do make a good point that the game needs to be more widespread than that and I feel that an underdog story would really help or even a team making history like the USA making it out of the group stages or Ireland making it past the quarter finals or a team like Kenya Spain or Germany qualifying for a world cup.

[@vinniechan]

Rugby has a decent following in places like Spain and Japan But they just couldn't get a professional game going Without a local professional game u can't sustain the test level

[@alexandregarcia9726]

​@@iarlaomalley4108 Yes but in reality Argentina has been playing Rugby for very long. And just lately has been integrated to Super Rugby and now they are rejecting Japan. It is not like that that you are spreading your sport. Look at soccer, even small teams play big competitions, doesn't matter if they lose by a lot. Same in Europe, no European cup but just a club of 6 nations. And I insist by the fact that the institutions are full of Anglo-Saxons that promote this sport only using their cultural factors. You do not make dream South American kids with the same thing than English kids. They have different ways of seeing the world. Soccer understood that very well...

[@debeerpaul]

Simple solution, make the games free to watch for all! Split the game up into 4 quarters timewise allowing for more ad times which will cover the costs. Greater exposure means more ad revenue.

[@michaeldaly7630]

Great vid Bro!

[@theodorelangfred219]

You should make a video about the differences between rugby league and rugby union

[@Brucemcleod2345]

Great video. Try explaining the rules of cricket to someone. Jonah Lomu is the superstar of rugby.. great video.

[@ianharrison4995]

Great video brother

[@Me-ex7qg]

You lost me at "Nandolo is twice the player that lomu was."

[@lukem9712]

Pal if Lomu played in the modern game he wouldnt last five seconds its a simple fact. Players are different athletes now compared to back then before it was professional. Lomu wouldnt stand out nowadays. He wouldn't even look big on a pitch now and he certainly wouldnt have the speed to be a back.

[@Pebble3007]

Usually sports were split between wintet and summer. The club you joined would say, do football and rowing, I think in Brentford Football Club. I can remember when there was a two week gap between the cricket and football seasons. Hockey is played a lot in India and Pakistan, but you never see It on terrestial UK channels. Table Tennis big in Asia.

[@Cesar777bien]

Well said! 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

[@rabbitss11]

(bloody Grammerly!) Good points well made

[@stanleycolene]

Great video!

[@petedudson6671]

Also recommend viewers to watch Level Playing Field. About the Manu Samoa and the struggles of Pacific countries and how the six nations countries in particular conspire against them.

[@iceswallowgum8540]

For real man

[@chesterdonnelly1212]

Manu Samoa is a team of Kiwis who couldn't make the All Blacks.

[@iceswallowgum8540]

@@chesterdonnelly1212 wrong

[@ExtremelyBadPlayer]

i think in some of the countries that play theres too much of a class divide once players start getting to a higher level, holds back certain communities getting as invested

[@smoovegaming7340]

R.I.P THE GREAT JONAH LOMU!

[@naomip3002]

Rugby will always struggle on a numbers basis versus sports like cricket or football because it's just not that big in countries with huge populations like India.

[@alexandregarcia9726]

That is not the question. The question is why is it not popular in those big countries.

[@naomip3002]

@@alexandregarcia9726 I don't think he answered that question though. I don't think rugby isn't big in India because it's too complicated or there aren't any big stars. Do you?

[@alexandregarcia9726]

@@naomip3002 I do not think too. It is more than that. For me the problem is that the sport is not trying to integrate different cultures. It is quite a close club.

[@saranshvats7514]

Hey i live in India, and i play Rugby...

[@naomip3002]

@@saranshvats7514 I don't dispute that there are Indians who play rugby however how popular is rugby there compared to cricket or hockey? What's the club scene like there? Do most of your friends and family watch it?

[@darmodydraws4430]

Not hating but can you improve your mic?? Got static in the background

[@aao7785]

Came here from a Haka video, that’s the most famous thing about rugby because everyone knows it but not many knows the sport rules on global scale

[@blurd2711]

I play rugby for my school and the game is basically the focus of the school and others throughout the state

[@michaelgadoua4945]

Good Stuff. Rugby, while rated 9th in popularity, is a unique game due to a myriad of factors. However, I'm a Sevens advocate. And Sevens is different from Rugby. Played differently, Coached differently and refereed differently (minor law changes are necessary) Refereeing Rugby since 1992, By 2000, I stopped refereeing XVs and focused on Sevens. I think Sevens is the game of the future - and I can give you some supporting reasons for this. However, finally, it was introduced into the Olympics in 2016 (and you know Fiji knew they were finally going to win a medal, the Gold no doubt). Sevens is the perfect sport for TV (commercials during the 1 minute half time) and every match is part of a tourney. Just one Sevens tourney a week, that's all I ask!

[@andrejslv4192]

I've been playing for 2 months. I love it

[@chinoloko82]

israel falou is world famous superstar now. love him or hate him we all know him

[@edwinwan02]

He may be the biggest name at the moment, he is because of the off pitch situation at the moment. If it wasn't for the controversy he is creating at the moment, nobody would heard of him.

[@Nile15rush_fj]

Folau is more famous for his views than his rugby career tbf..and he was a dual code superstar

[@realtalk682]

It’s too tough!!! As long as it’s bigger than rugby league!!!!! Bwahaha

[@johnpannebaker5757]

I think you nailed it. Too many players limits the amount of opportunity for superstars to emerge, and Rugby needs some superstars badly. That's why 7's keeps getting more popular. Game is more open, so individual skills shine way more. If Union switched to 11 or 12 players, that would be huge.

[@samuelspoons3553]

13 like League ?

[@johnpannebaker5757]

@@samuelspoons3553 Yeah, something like that. Makes it easier for stars to stand out, and smaller rosters frees up talent to go play elsewhere, or for more teams to start.

[@hernysaavedra]

I find really hard to understand why you didn't spoke about the class issue. Do you really think the perception of rugby as a rich people sport doesn't affect his popularity? Do you think that this issue is less important than the ones you put on the video?

[@BluebottleSam]

You've mainly approached this question through a reductive lens, i.e. examining the game by the sum of its parts, rules, players, etc. IMO the answer to your question is historical/cultural.

[@Mrdoriancourtney]

Good video! But what you define as issues, I consider pros. I think rugby is Ok without individual superstars, it's a team sport in a unique way, and that makes it different. Rugby is growing at the right pace, conquering players and fans that like it because of what it is as a sport, and not because mainstream midia tells them to watch it. I'm from Uruguay where rugby is growing in popularity but will never overcame the 2 most popular sports, football and bascketball, because this 2 have roots in all society layers while rugby was played mostly by high society layers for a hundread years. Only recently, maybe in the last 5 years, the Uruguayan Rugby Union decided to open up rugby to all society by taking it to public schools. That's my point of view pal, thanks for the video.

[@Saikomac]

I want to watch the upcoming rugby world cup. Can anybody tell me how to watch the world cup in India ?

[@CALOCALKY]

If you are growing a game it is easier to put out a team of 10 rather than a team of 15 in development and smaller team allowes more space on the field to run. And every one I know would like to C a more open gane.

[@peritech]

i aggree with you, i'm from Mexico for my bad luck i meet rugby at 25 years in Colombia, now with 34 years i will go to live to Yokohama Japan, i want to share with the spanish world how is live in a rugby city.