Rugby third fastest growing sport in USA

[KenyaQuin]

IRB.COM
Friday 11 February 2011

Rugby is now the third fastest growing sport in the United States according to a major study on sports participation.

The study, conducted in 2010 by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA), reveals that new sports are beginning to carve out a greater share of the market, even though overall participation in mainstream team sports has declined.

The significant changes include:


•Fast‐pitch softball - up 13.8%
•Ice hockey - up 12.2%
•Rugby - up 8.7%
•Beach Volleyball - up 7.3%

Lacrosse (up 6.2%), Indoor Soccer (up 3.7%) and Gymnastics (up 3.6%) also all experienced growth during the period.

For Rugby, which is played in more than 117 countries by 3.5 million registered players, the trend marks another significant milestone for a sport that has been boosted by Olympic Games inclusion with Sevens to debut at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

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[WA sport fan]

Good news for the game!

[WorkingClass]

Last year alone they exposed more than 350,000 kids to the game. The plan is to expand this to over 1 million for 2011. There's real momentum for the game beginning to build over there.

[TOCC]

momentum is definetly building in the US, ive witnessed the USA Rugby scene first hand and growth it has experienced even in the last 6-12months...

IMO though, it will still be another 10years at least before the USA National side become competitive at a reasonable level.. ie, japan, tonga type standard.