CRISIS AHEAD!
HOWEVER YOU want to look at it, grass-roots rugby is struggling. As with home working, Covid has accelerated pre-existing trends. Sadly for rugby, the pre-existing trend was one of dwindling player participation.
RFU figures show that between 2016 and 2019 the number of men participating in rugby at least twice a month in England dropped from 259,600 to 224,400 – a 14% reduction. In 2021 that number was just 95,100. Incidentally, rugby league and football have both undergone a similar but less severe reduction. It makes sense that as the numbers playing the game have decreased, clubs have felt the pinch.
I took a look at four random leagues across England between Level Nine and 11 to see how it was impacting them. The lowest walkover rate, as happens when one side cannot muster up a team, was 19% and the highest 50%. There were almost no weekends from the start of the season to now in any of the leagues where at least one of the matches wasn’t lost to a walkover. As player numbers fall, clubs can’t play matches, and when clubs can’t play matches they can’t earn money. When that happens, they will inevitably sink.
