'Whither Rugby?' -The Battle for the Leisure Pound

By BrianC
August 6 2006

One arguments that is occasionally put to explain lack of growth at a club is 'market saturation'. That club rugby is a minority sport with limited interest and that there are a restricted number of available 'customers' in any one catchment area.

There is increasing interest in the club game, that is beyond question. The average Premiership gate last season was 10.2k, up from 6.6k at the turn of the decade. With pent up demand clearly there judging by the number of capacity crowds growth looks set to continue for the foreseeable future as clubs expand their grounds. Throughout the whole period of professionalism however some have argued that the market is saturated. Thus far they have been wrong.

In terms of attracting crowds, football is king. It is a truly global sport, the major clubs are truly global brands. A teenager in North East Spain will be familiar with the name and badge of Manchester United just as his counterpart in North West England will know of Barcelona. With the amount of money and media attention there is in the round ball game how can rugby ever compete? The truth is it won't, certainly not for many generations, if ever. Does this therefore mean that there is little more room for growth in club rugby?

Before you can tackle such a question you need to understand who your potential customers are. As I see it they fall into three general groups. There are those who already support a club a distance or from the comfort of their own armchair. Those who are currently only interested in the game at International level and those who currently have little or no interest in rugby. I would argue that all are potential customers although with the last group it will often take an external factor to draw them in.

The armchair audience is proof that there is a large untapped audience out there with an interest in club rugby. Sky's coverage of a regular club game attracts an audience of 500k. This is small in television terms, being on a subscription channel certainly doesn't help, but it is quite a number when set against the average 62k who actually attend the six games on any weekend during the season. One of the many challenges facing our sport is to convert an increasing percentage of this armchair audience into an active one.

When England play an International at Twickenham the place is routinely full with 75k people. Indeed such is the demand for tickets to most games that the stadium often be sold many times over. Even regular supporters of the game often struggle to get tickets. Conversely, despite the popularity of football, it is rarely that difficult to get tickets for England International games. This despite the fact that it is not unusual to have gates of 40k+ at domestic club games. Quite simply the club/country balance in football is very different to that in our sport. The question we must ask ourselves is why?

We do forget from sometimes just how young professionalism is in our sport. In the early to mid nineties the RFU fought tooth and nail against the onset of professionalism and, it appears, elements inside HQ still begrudge it. In their determination to fight rather than embrace professionalism the RFU missed a vital opportunity. Rather than signing up the top players on central contracts then releasing them to clubs they hesitated. Meanwhile the club owners set about contracting the players. By the time the RFU decided they should do something the genie was well and truly out of the bottle. Whilst still the sports governing body in this country they could never again dictate to the top clubs in the way they had previously. 

Since then things have been changing. The club/country balance has moved slowly but steadily towards the clubs. Individually the top clubs are in many ways still relatively powerless in comparison to the RFU. As a collective unit however, particularly as they hold the players contracts, they now arguably have as much if not more say over how the game at the top level in this country is run as those at Twickenham. It may not be in our lifetime but I have the distinct impression that as professionalism beds in the relationship between club and country will move more towards that seen in soccer.

Perhaps the least courted but biggest potential of the three groups outlined earlier is the general leisure market. Those who currently have little or no interest in rugby. Imagine if you will that is a gray weekend day and a parent has 2.4 restless children on your hands. They open up the local paper to see what is on that afternoon. The choice is between a football match, a theme park or a rugby game. All cost about the same. What would the choice be? Here is where one example of the external factor I referred to earlier comes into play. It could simply be that one of the mum, dad or children's friends happens to have spoken about one of the three and that swings the decision. Yes, the buying public really are that fickle, just ask any marketeer.

To give another example of this external factor I'll draw on personal experience. As many of you will know I live in the Netherlands. In the process of courting my now significant other I tried to explain London Irish, rugby and all to her. This was initially met with blank looks. Eventually she did come to a game, then another, then another...etc...etc. She is now a season ticket holder and player sponsor who chastises me for not shouting loudly enough at games. I know that many of those reading this will either have introduced someone to the game who has since become an established supporter or are the person who was themselves introduced, perhaps both.

In the pursuit of this leisure pound our sport has some advantages. To my mind the greatest of these is the generally safe, family friendly atmosphere at any rugby ground. As a marketing tool this cannot be undervalued. Again imagine the family with the restless 2.4 children. They go to a football match one weekend and a rugby match a few weeks later. Based on their experience of the days which would they be more likely to return to? The one other key advantage I can think of is that whilst our sport has fewer nationally known stars than soccer they are much more likely to be playing in your local Guinness Premiership game than your average 1st/2nd division football match.

It should also be noted that there are disadvantages. For all the growth outlined above club rugby is still very much a minority sport. It's share of media coverage is small. Further the rules of the game are complex even for those who know it. To those new to the sport they can seem impenetrable. Also, so many grounds are at or near capacity that opportunities to attract the casual supporter are limited.

Those who have made it to the bottom of this article will now be aware that I just don't hold with the 'market saturation' argument to explain little or no growth at clubs where there is room to do so. Whatever they may be, there are other reasons.