Tunnel vision is a term in sport – or more specifically, rugby – that has been used to describe everything from a fly half not being able to use the options around him to a wing kicking into the backfield when he had unmarked support next to him.
This is a term that is particularly pervasive in England and Australia, more so for the latter, where rugby union has at least seemingly been heading towards its unstoppable and unmitigated downfall.
But this mindset is extremely hard to find in South Africa or France, where rugby has been breaking new barriers every other week – at least, that’s what it feels like.
This would be harder to confirm in English because many South African rugby writers work or have worked in British publications, which always seem to have a negative outlook on life, but even more so for the rugby columns.
But a quick glance over Afrikaans or French publications using Google Translate (I refer you to Netwerk24 and Rugbyrama) and you will soon be reading uplifting articles about rising attendances and TV viewing figures.
As my friend Blou Bul will attest, South Africans don’t really worry about rugby’s imminent doom because, well, it’s not going to happen. Unfortunately, he is a Vodacom Bulls supporter, which means that we can never be besties. Really, DHL Stormers just allows you to indulge in corporate advertising hedonism so much easier (It just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?)
Why? Well, World Rugby’s participation figures, which should always be treated with caution as they tend to release numbers often far too conservative or far too liberal, much like US politics. It shows that there are around 8.46 million active players globally (announced in 2023, an increase of 11% from the 2022 survey).
These are all community figures, by the way. It shows that 57% are pre-teen, and both the number of active registered male and female players have increased. There are also 30% more clubs globally.
Now, in England, numbers are falling, so many English pundits naturally think that this counts globally. It gives every sane person great pleasure to laugh at those Poms, and this is no exception.
Even in England’s top professional rugby tournament, the Gallagher Premiership recorded a record attendance of 15,358 in the 2023/24 season with a capacity crowd at Twickenham for the final and the quality of rugby is at least as good as this season’s Super Rugby Pacific games, if not even better.
Ben Donaldson of the Wallabies. (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)
This is at least partly triggered by three clubs going bust, which means more quality players spread across fewer teams but still.
How about the French Top 14 this season? It has averaged 15,500 this season so far, with Union Bordeaux Begles selling out every home game at the 32,000-plus capacity Stade Chaban-Delmas this season so far.
That includes Champions Cup games. They even took one game to the city’s largest sporting venue, the Stade de Bordeaux (Capacity 42,000), which hosted some games at the 2023 Rugby World Cup within five hours of tickets being made available for their clash against Toulouse.
The current owners of that stadium, FC Girondins de Bordeaux, are apparently almost begging them to move permanently to it. This is at least partly because of financial troubles on the latter’s side, meaning that Girondins were relegated to the French fourth division, but come on.
That’s success, isn’t it? At least on UBB’s side.
How about the Six Nations? There were 9.5 million views for France vs England in France alone. That was far higher than the football team for their quarter-final UEFA Nations League clash against Croatia.
Again, rugby did have more advantageous circumstances than football here, but again, is this impending doom? Goodness me, I can’t wait for success then.
I could go on about capacity crowds for URC derbies; Leinster almost averaged 40,000 this season, Ireland vs New Zealand in Chicago (taking place in October) selling 47,000 seats in three days, Japan Rugby League One attendance records and even the Joseph Suaalii effect – but I think you get the point.
So think again before you complain about how rugby is far worse than it was 20 years ago because it’s not.
Rugby has never been better – and it’s only going to get better. Yes, there are many problems with rugby at the moment and just about every official is an incompetent nutter but it’s going in the right direction.
That’s got to be worth something, right?
