Whither Rugby?

Bringing it all Together

For a full explanation of the source of and rationale behind these figures please refer to The Figures Explained.

As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words. In this piece I intend to let them to do most of the talking. The first two tables and graphs, are too wide to be hosted on Sportnetwork so I have located them here.

There are a few differences noticeable between the weighted and non-weighted figures but in the overall scheme of things they are marginal.  

Next we see percentage growth, London Irish by some way ahead of the field. One can only surmise how different this graph would look if those clubs whose development is being stifled by inadequate grounds had moved to larger facilities.

Now the absolute numbers growth. Here, whilst London Irish still come out top of the pile it is not by as wide a margin as is the case with the percentage growth figures. They started from a lower base than other clubs. Leicester jump from eighth in the percentage table to third in this. Perhaps more than any of the other graphs this shows the difficulties facing Saracens most vividly. 

To me the most striking overall aspects of these figures are….

- Growth at London Irish, from the second lowest position in the table to 3^rd (2^nd weighted).
-  Leicester’s continued dominance. The figures speak for themselves.
-  Sale and Newcastle managing to successfully develop audiences in areas that were not traditionally rugby heartland.
-  The relative decline of Bath despite continually playing to capacity crowds.
-  Steady progression of Northampton, now a major force.
-  Decline at Saracens from 2nd to 7th.
-  The apparent lack of relationship between success on the field and off it. (London Irish, Sale and Wasps being cases in point).

The next article in this series will attempt, by projecting past trends forward five years, to look into the future.

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