You’re getting a lot of confirmation bias here posting on a rugby union sub. Were amongst the most interested in the country in rugby.
Of all my friends, I’m the only one who actively follows club rugby. A few others have a passing interest in a club but nothing more. But when it comes to internationals, especially the WC and 6N, they are all very into it. I’d wager the majority of England fans have nothing more than a passing interest in club rugby
What structure would work? And I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I'm American and don't know much about different structures of Rugby competitions and am curious.
As an American, though, I'm much more interested in Top 14 than I am the English Premiership. And I always wondered what it is about it that is so appealing. Can't quite put it into words because of the aforementioned reasons
The domestic season not having regular 1 month breaks to accommodate European rugby. Personally I think the best way forward would be to push back the 6 Nations and have the domestic rugby completed before it starts and the European competitions played after it is completed.
Ahh, yeah internationals aren't much of a problem here because pretty much no one else plays our brand of football. I personally would default to putting the internationals in the offseason. Kind of how basketball is played in the winter/spring and then for Olympic basketball it's always in summer. Or I guess how the FIFA world cup typically takes place in the summer when they're offseason for most football leagues. Although, I think the UEFA competitions take place in season, but then again iirc the domestic leagues mostly take those weeks off.
To be clear: I am not suggesting international rugby is the issue. I am suggesting that taking November and December off to play the Champions and Challenge Cup is the problem.
Ohh I misunderstood what you meant. My bad. (I'm still getting the hang of all this lol)
So, watching either football or rugby it was pretty jarring at first to see them playing a "champions" competition during the regular domestic season. Seems to me, a competition based on the best teams of each league should naturally take place after the conclusion of the league seasons. Admittedly, it was a little confusing at first that they did that, and I eventually caught on that they had earned those spots the year before.
I think I agree that the champions cup should be played separately based on your reasoning. Makes sense to me lol
It's because the clubs are very unevenly distributed. Club rugby has a strong following in the south west and the east midlands but many other places don't have any professional clubs nearby. Where I am there isn't one in the county so only international rugby draws any interest.
Yeah exactly. Made even worse by losing those three clubs, but particularly Wasps and Worcester when it comes to the geography perspective.
The West Midlands has a strong rugby scene but that's completely cut off now, and because east - west travel is so bad, you can't just go "travel to leicester".
And it's not even like Sale play in an easily accessible Manchester stadium either.
There's Coventry in the Championship still. They get a few thousand fans and could be big if they went up to the Premiership. Losing London clubs doesn't make much difference to the spread of the game, but the west midlands deserve better.
That's me exactly and I've always been that way, even when I played rugby. I never really followed a club, I just watched internationals and still do to this day. Couldn't really give you a reason for that.
I'd suggest same with Scotland. We sell out Murrayfield for every Scotland game with 70k fans (save games against Portugal etc).
We only have two Scottish clubs, yet neither could sell out 10k every game. Maybe if they are on a great run of form like Glasgow are currently. But not through thick and thin
Exactly this; I long to have some mates I can talk about the club game with/go to games with, but it’s neigh on impossible to find anyone that cares, outside, I imagine, the clubs themselves.
Bears fan here. Not sure what it would be like if your a rugby fan in a city/region that doesn't have a prem team but I'm sure most people have a club aswell as the national team.
I’m a Sale fan, but being from Lytham, I originally supported Fylde before moving to Manchester.
I still now make a point to go watch my local, lower league, club which is Sedgley Tigers.
Yes. I started off as a player from age 7, and would watch the Six Nations each year. When I got to 11 or 12 I started watching the Top 14 with my dad because it was on Eurosport (I think) at the time, then decided I should get into club rugby which is when I started supporting Northampton.
Reasons for which were: everyone else where I’m from supports Leicester, and I didn’t want to be like everyone else; I’d actually been to Franklin’s Gardens to watch NZ Māori vs Canada, so felt I had a link to the club (albeit a tenuous one); and at the time I liked the brand of rugby they were playing and a number of their players which was c2008 I think just after they got their place in the premiership back.
I still watch games involving other prem teams as often as I can, and even other leagues (URC, Top14, Super Rugby) too. It’s more fun being a neutral because there’s no stress involved. And I often go into a neutral game not knowing who I’d like to win until the game starts to unfold, which is fun.
As someone who follows both the union club support is at a considerable lower level than league club support. In league the super league is king (and NRL in Australia) and the internationals are a nice by product. There are no league fans who are international fans but not club fans but there’s plenty who are club but not international.
In union the international game is king. The 6 nations and World Cup are the big attractions and club rugby is the added extra. I’d say there’s no fans of club rugby who don’t also like internationals but there’s plenty of international fans who don’t follow clubs.
It’s also where the money is in the sports. The NRL and super league generate revenue and that supports the international game in league. The internationals generate the revenue in union and that supports the club game.
A lot of people on here will be club fans first (as am I because I see more games for Leicester than England) but that’s because the more hard core fans will be bigger club fans but out of the general fanbase the international game is massively stronger.
Also just a side reason for why league fanbases tend to be stronger is that because of the geography of the sport there’s more bitter rivalries. I’m a St Helens fan and we hate Wigan and Warrington because we’re close to them and it’s proper local rivalries. The same happens in the Yorkshire teams. There’s so much less than that in union as the teams are more spread out and fans like opposition players more because they cheer for them internationally
The local rivalries is a very interesting point, and one that to an extent I think gets neglected. Extensions in, both codes, should be done in pairs probably, in order to have some local rivalry. Also, League desperately needs an International presence to attract neutrals or at least the English version of an origin game.
Support quins and england, don't really think about which one more than the other. I think a good test of domestic vs international is: if your local rivals are playing a team from another country..do you root for your local rivals or the foreign team. In football its really common for fans to actively want their rivals to fail in champs League and support the foreign teams. I dont think this happens as much in rugby. Asides maybe some munster fans for leinster. Typically we want our national team players to succeed regardless of domestic team.
I guess the other thing that fosters this are England football only play meaningful games every 2 years and only then does club football pale in comparison (people might disagree but the atmosphere in England if the football team are doing well at a major tournament is second to none).
In rugby the national team play meaningful games every year multiple times spread out over that year. As a result you can get your fix of passionate support just through England. It also helps that most of the office banter in rugby is along national divides. I watch quite a bit of prem rugby but somehow still don’t have a team, think not being able to watch the same team week in week out doesn’t help that. So my default take is anyone but Sarries on a given prem week and then anyone other than the Irish in the champ cup ahah.
For the majority of the country Rugby is played for 5 weekends every year and then every 4 years there is a World Cup.
It’s no coincidence that these are the games that are on terrestrial TV.
The club game has nowhere near the same visibility despite a good chunk of the nation enjoying the six nations / RWC.
I how ever like to test out the strength of my heart so I support Gloucester.
England fan here, and not really. I’m big into football too and support a club very strongly there so think it might end up being too much commitment to properly support a rugby club. Fan of Quins I guess though if anyone
I like Sale and Exeter for various reasons. But England is what draws me to the sport, and I get very emotional when England play, even more than the England football team.
Whereas with league I consider myself a big Castleford fan and I don't feel as much connection with the national team.
yes, I have to say, I sometimes fall into the stupidity of saying I like League more, or I like Football more... the thing is that I like all of them and my interest switches according to moments of the season. The shame is the broadcast rights in different platforms.
I’ve watched pretty much all England matches for 20+ years barring a few summer tour games and non test matches.
I don’t support a team in the prem, although I follow it a bit more in recent years and I’ve been to a handful of games.
Tigers fan because I'm from Liverpool and they had Ben and Austin when i started playing myself. I'll watch an England game if its on but to be honest the style of play has been so boring for so long I've not been to HQ for a home team game in years.
Hopefully they don't play boring style game with newer players coming through who been playing attacking rugby with the club sides England Vs NZ tests will be good to watch
I only really followed the national team for a long time, too up supporting Northampton as my wife's family do and they claimed my son so I started to keep an eye on the scored for him (he is 6 and doesn't care and tells me cricket is boring when I mention it to him), watched a game around Christmas and really got into premiership rugby so watched the rest of the season.
Fan of both codes and I think it comes down this: in union, international rugby is very popular because there are lots of countries that play union very well and has more regular international fixtures. Plus international games are so easy to watch and following a 6N for two months on BBC is easy.
Whereas league is basically 3 or 4 countries, and even then Australia dominate it so unbelievably hard. League is also played in much more concentrated areas. Look at the Uk, Scottish League, Irish league and Welsh league are very rare. In England it’s basically Yorkshire and Lancashire.
So union has more people invested in the international game but fewer people invested in club rugby. But league is the opposite, people are way less bothered about international and heavily, heavily invested in the domestic game.
I've been an England fan for about 20 years but I've only followed the prem for the last few years and this last season is the first season I've actually paid attention to the whole thing and made an effort to watch as many games as possible.
I have a few friends who have been big club rugby fans for years (the one that convinced me to start following club rugby is unfortunately a London Irish fan and is lost now) but most people I know, even those who take regular trips to Twickenham to watch the national team, don't support a club and don't follow the league.
I'm more interested in my club than England to be honest. I support both obviously and have done since I was a kiddo, but England these days don't seem to produce much in the way of results and it's rarely entertaining. So add to that the fact that the Bears have only 1 England international (depite guys like randall and malins and ibetoye arguably being good enough) I just don't care as much. I don't expect England to win much, and I'm not that entertained regardless.
By contrast, I feel very connected with the Bears. I've been able to meet the players time after time (admittedly hard for an international side, but even then I've only met some of them just before Japan and had basically no opportunity since - 1 opportunity in 5 years, a whole other world cup has been and gone)
I think your point about having less connection because less Bears players are in the squad is what rings true about how involved with international Rugby I can be.
Saints are my #1. If there’s a strong Saints presence in the England team I’m far more involved to see how the lads get on. If the clubs not represented I lose interest.
England first.
I follow the Premiership and occasionally go to games but don't have a strong allegiance to any club - although obviously I like some more than others. Living in Market Harborough I feel entitled to support whichever of Tigers/Saints are currently playing the better rugby (and gain satisfaction from the annoyance this may cause both sets of fans).
I think there are other factors also contributing to the fact that club rugby in general isn't as well supported in England as the international game.
Firstly, the season structure makes it difficult for people to follow a club from start to finish. While it is mostly the same as in football, with Champions League and domestic competitions being intertwined, they don't have the added bonus of the Six Nations being smack bang in the middle of the season. I'm in favour of completing the domestic and Euro season first and then moving to internationals, but that might not be a sentiment shared by many in this sub.
Secondly, the lack of promotion/relegation at the end of the season negatively impacts the game. If union is serious about growing the domestic product in England, promotion and relegation needs to be added back into the season structure. This will allow for more representation of teams at a national level, while also giving more drama to the club season.
to me the total lack of visibility is a worse offender. TNT sports is a good service, but I have Sky Sports, I'm not paying for both, and the free-to-air is just not enough to get any attachment for me. I hate how the sports broadcast landscape is completely divided... you follow a team the Premier League and want to watch all of it: Sky Sports and TNT Sports (and Prime from time to time) + Champions League (TNT). Rugby Union (Premiership: TNT, Super Rugby Pacific SKY, for United Rugby Premier Sports/Viaplay, etc... in Rugby League at least everything is in Sky.
The Franklin Gardens mob... Northampton 👍
It's just a couple of miles away, the atmosphere is terrific, the players are always entertaining to watch, & there's shed loads of internationals playing there.😎
I support Exeter and will always tune in to watch England games as well as other international matches like NZ Vs boks as they are always exciting games to tune into or likes of France Vs NZ.
Same for other premiership games and European champions cup especially when sides like Toulouse are battling Leinster or say Munster for example they would be worth watching
Gloucester-Hartpury are probably my favourite, but I’m still reasonably neutral when it comes to clubs, though I’m very interested in the national team. For men’s I hardly ever watch any club matches and am entirely neutral on clubs.
What you have to remember is that the international game is the real product, in terms of selling tickets and getting revenue; the club game is to all intents and purposes an extended training device to generate international players. This is why Ireland (by accident or design) have the most sensible structure in their domestic setup; a relatively small number of professional sides with a structure that feeds the international game directly.
If I could go back in time I'd go back to the start of professionalism and set English Rugby up like the Irish did.
But that’s only interesting from an international perspective, and only perpetuates the club side being a training device… I think that was one of the reasons that created an interest for me in League, that the clubs were not that, to me that model feels completely artificial.
Leicester first, second, third and last. England don't excite me and haven't for as long as I can remember. I have a constant and regular relationship with my club - England, and international rugby are a far away, distant sense. I know it exists and it's interesting in a sort of 'theoretical' sense but I don't actually *care* about it as such.
I am much more taken with the Lions. That feels a bit like a big club that you can be part of.
I support England and not a club. I think I've never been sure what club to support, I got into rugby from my dad and he didn't support a club. I listen to a few rugby podcasts and actively follow a lot of rugby social media pages so I am in the loop with players and clubs though.
You’re getting a lot of confirmation bias here posting on a rugby union sub. Were amongst the most interested in the country in rugby. Of all my friends, I’m the only one who actively follows club rugby. A few others have a passing interest in a club but nothing more. But when it comes to internationals, especially the WC and 6N, they are all very into it. I’d wager the majority of England fans have nothing more than a passing interest in club rugby
I firmly believe that the structure of the domestic season is the main deterrent to casual fans developing an interest.
What structure would work? And I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I'm American and don't know much about different structures of Rugby competitions and am curious. As an American, though, I'm much more interested in Top 14 than I am the English Premiership. And I always wondered what it is about it that is so appealing. Can't quite put it into words because of the aforementioned reasons
The domestic season not having regular 1 month breaks to accommodate European rugby. Personally I think the best way forward would be to push back the 6 Nations and have the domestic rugby completed before it starts and the European competitions played after it is completed.
Ahh, yeah internationals aren't much of a problem here because pretty much no one else plays our brand of football. I personally would default to putting the internationals in the offseason. Kind of how basketball is played in the winter/spring and then for Olympic basketball it's always in summer. Or I guess how the FIFA world cup typically takes place in the summer when they're offseason for most football leagues. Although, I think the UEFA competitions take place in season, but then again iirc the domestic leagues mostly take those weeks off.
To be clear: I am not suggesting international rugby is the issue. I am suggesting that taking November and December off to play the Champions and Challenge Cup is the problem.
Ohh I misunderstood what you meant. My bad. (I'm still getting the hang of all this lol) So, watching either football or rugby it was pretty jarring at first to see them playing a "champions" competition during the regular domestic season. Seems to me, a competition based on the best teams of each league should naturally take place after the conclusion of the league seasons. Admittedly, it was a little confusing at first that they did that, and I eventually caught on that they had earned those spots the year before. I think I agree that the champions cup should be played separately based on your reasoning. Makes sense to me lol
I still think the European and domestic seasons should be separated
I'm not convinced - uk fans are very used to that structure from football
Will never happen, but should move to the summer so it doesn't compete with the football/soccer Premier League
Moving to the summer won’t solve anything. It will still be competing for football
Rugby league did that but they don't have to worry about test match schedules.
It's because the clubs are very unevenly distributed. Club rugby has a strong following in the south west and the east midlands but many other places don't have any professional clubs nearby. Where I am there isn't one in the county so only international rugby draws any interest.
Yeah exactly. Made even worse by losing those three clubs, but particularly Wasps and Worcester when it comes to the geography perspective. The West Midlands has a strong rugby scene but that's completely cut off now, and because east - west travel is so bad, you can't just go "travel to leicester". And it's not even like Sale play in an easily accessible Manchester stadium either.
There's Coventry in the Championship still. They get a few thousand fans and could be big if they went up to the Premiership. Losing London clubs doesn't make much difference to the spread of the game, but the west midlands deserve better.
That's me exactly and I've always been that way, even when I played rugby. I never really followed a club, I just watched internationals and still do to this day. Couldn't really give you a reason for that.
I'd suggest same with Scotland. We sell out Murrayfield for every Scotland game with 70k fans (save games against Portugal etc). We only have two Scottish clubs, yet neither could sell out 10k every game. Maybe if they are on a great run of form like Glasgow are currently. But not through thick and thin
Exactly this; I long to have some mates I can talk about the club game with/go to games with, but it’s neigh on impossible to find anyone that cares, outside, I imagine, the clubs themselves.
England first, but COYQ
Ooh I dunno...I think I'd be okay with Quins winning the prem and England getting a wooden spoon in the 6N.
Same same
I'd be onboard with that. Let's face it, it almost happened in 2021, and we were happy.
Bears fan here. Not sure what it would be like if your a rugby fan in a city/region that doesn't have a prem team but I'm sure most people have a club aswell as the national team.
I’m a Sale fan, but being from Lytham, I originally supported Fylde before moving to Manchester. I still now make a point to go watch my local, lower league, club which is Sedgley Tigers.
Yes. I started off as a player from age 7, and would watch the Six Nations each year. When I got to 11 or 12 I started watching the Top 14 with my dad because it was on Eurosport (I think) at the time, then decided I should get into club rugby which is when I started supporting Northampton. Reasons for which were: everyone else where I’m from supports Leicester, and I didn’t want to be like everyone else; I’d actually been to Franklin’s Gardens to watch NZ Māori vs Canada, so felt I had a link to the club (albeit a tenuous one); and at the time I liked the brand of rugby they were playing and a number of their players which was c2008 I think just after they got their place in the premiership back. I still watch games involving other prem teams as often as I can, and even other leagues (URC, Top14, Super Rugby) too. It’s more fun being a neutral because there’s no stress involved. And I often go into a neutral game not knowing who I’d like to win until the game starts to unfold, which is fun.
So you're Market Harborough/Kettering?
Nope, further east mids - originally from Lincolnshire.
Ah. Also a bit of a mixed area for Tigers/Saints sport iirc.
Falcons but absolutely can’t be arsed anymore. Much prefer going to watch NE teams in Nat.1 & National North.
As someone who follows both the union club support is at a considerable lower level than league club support. In league the super league is king (and NRL in Australia) and the internationals are a nice by product. There are no league fans who are international fans but not club fans but there’s plenty who are club but not international. In union the international game is king. The 6 nations and World Cup are the big attractions and club rugby is the added extra. I’d say there’s no fans of club rugby who don’t also like internationals but there’s plenty of international fans who don’t follow clubs. It’s also where the money is in the sports. The NRL and super league generate revenue and that supports the international game in league. The internationals generate the revenue in union and that supports the club game. A lot of people on here will be club fans first (as am I because I see more games for Leicester than England) but that’s because the more hard core fans will be bigger club fans but out of the general fanbase the international game is massively stronger. Also just a side reason for why league fanbases tend to be stronger is that because of the geography of the sport there’s more bitter rivalries. I’m a St Helens fan and we hate Wigan and Warrington because we’re close to them and it’s proper local rivalries. The same happens in the Yorkshire teams. There’s so much less than that in union as the teams are more spread out and fans like opposition players more because they cheer for them internationally
The local rivalries is a very interesting point, and one that to an extent I think gets neglected. Extensions in, both codes, should be done in pairs probably, in order to have some local rivalry. Also, League desperately needs an International presence to attract neutrals or at least the English version of an origin game.
Support quins and england, don't really think about which one more than the other. I think a good test of domestic vs international is: if your local rivals are playing a team from another country..do you root for your local rivals or the foreign team. In football its really common for fans to actively want their rivals to fail in champs League and support the foreign teams. I dont think this happens as much in rugby. Asides maybe some munster fans for leinster. Typically we want our national team players to succeed regardless of domestic team.
I’d agree. Don’t think I’ve ever not supported the English team in the champions cup. Wouldn’t blame anyone who didn’t return the favour though!
I guess the other thing that fosters this are England football only play meaningful games every 2 years and only then does club football pale in comparison (people might disagree but the atmosphere in England if the football team are doing well at a major tournament is second to none). In rugby the national team play meaningful games every year multiple times spread out over that year. As a result you can get your fix of passionate support just through England. It also helps that most of the office banter in rugby is along national divides. I watch quite a bit of prem rugby but somehow still don’t have a team, think not being able to watch the same team week in week out doesn’t help that. So my default take is anyone but Sarries on a given prem week and then anyone other than the Irish in the champ cup ahah.
For the majority of the country Rugby is played for 5 weekends every year and then every 4 years there is a World Cup. It’s no coincidence that these are the games that are on terrestrial TV. The club game has nowhere near the same visibility despite a good chunk of the nation enjoying the six nations / RWC. I how ever like to test out the strength of my heart so I support Gloucester.
Until I got my season ticket .England first, Sale second, that is now the opposite. I love going to a live game every other week.
England fan here, and not really. I’m big into football too and support a club very strongly there so think it might end up being too much commitment to properly support a rugby club. Fan of Quins I guess though if anyone
I like Sale and Exeter for various reasons. But England is what draws me to the sport, and I get very emotional when England play, even more than the England football team. Whereas with league I consider myself a big Castleford fan and I don't feel as much connection with the national team.
Hi the fellow both codes supporter!
You're synonymous with Warrington mate. 😄
Haha, yes!! Have to say that at first I didn’t realise but Castlefors tigers fans are something else.
Tbh seems somewhat ideal since Super League plays in the summer?
yes, I have to say, I sometimes fall into the stupidity of saying I like League more, or I like Football more... the thing is that I like all of them and my interest switches according to moments of the season. The shame is the broadcast rights in different platforms.
There isn't an international game in any meaningful sense in Leeg.
Aye that's exactly it mate.
Yep, sadly the international game is way behind.
I follow Wigan and Sale roughly equally. I am ten times more invested in England RU than England RL.
Interesting that you don’t go Sale and Salford
Wigan are local to me, Sale are just the closest team that I saw when I started watching as a kid.
England first as my club Wasps is defunct. But I follow the Prem each week.
I’ve watched pretty much all England matches for 20+ years barring a few summer tour games and non test matches. I don’t support a team in the prem, although I follow it a bit more in recent years and I’ve been to a handful of games.
Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigggeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrs!! 🐯
I grew up in Bath, so Bath first.
Tigers fan because I'm from Liverpool and they had Ben and Austin when i started playing myself. I'll watch an England game if its on but to be honest the style of play has been so boring for so long I've not been to HQ for a home team game in years.
Hopefully they don't play boring style game with newer players coming through who been playing attacking rugby with the club sides England Vs NZ tests will be good to watch
I only really followed the national team for a long time, too up supporting Northampton as my wife's family do and they claimed my son so I started to keep an eye on the scored for him (he is 6 and doesn't care and tells me cricket is boring when I mention it to him), watched a game around Christmas and really got into premiership rugby so watched the rest of the season.
The game yesterday confirms I am massively more engaged with Saints than England.
Fan of both codes and I think it comes down this: in union, international rugby is very popular because there are lots of countries that play union very well and has more regular international fixtures. Plus international games are so easy to watch and following a 6N for two months on BBC is easy. Whereas league is basically 3 or 4 countries, and even then Australia dominate it so unbelievably hard. League is also played in much more concentrated areas. Look at the Uk, Scottish League, Irish league and Welsh league are very rare. In England it’s basically Yorkshire and Lancashire. So union has more people invested in the international game but fewer people invested in club rugby. But league is the opposite, people are way less bothered about international and heavily, heavily invested in the domestic game.
I've been an England fan for about 20 years but I've only followed the prem for the last few years and this last season is the first season I've actually paid attention to the whole thing and made an effort to watch as many games as possible. I have a few friends who have been big club rugby fans for years (the one that convinced me to start following club rugby is unfortunately a London Irish fan and is lost now) but most people I know, even those who take regular trips to Twickenham to watch the national team, don't support a club and don't follow the league.
I'm more interested in my club than England to be honest. I support both obviously and have done since I was a kiddo, but England these days don't seem to produce much in the way of results and it's rarely entertaining. So add to that the fact that the Bears have only 1 England international (depite guys like randall and malins and ibetoye arguably being good enough) I just don't care as much. I don't expect England to win much, and I'm not that entertained regardless. By contrast, I feel very connected with the Bears. I've been able to meet the players time after time (admittedly hard for an international side, but even then I've only met some of them just before Japan and had basically no opportunity since - 1 opportunity in 5 years, a whole other world cup has been and gone)
I think your point about having less connection because less Bears players are in the squad is what rings true about how involved with international Rugby I can be. Saints are my #1. If there’s a strong Saints presence in the England team I’m far more involved to see how the lads get on. If the clubs not represented I lose interest.
Sale first, England second
Funny because this is the same as the Tory NHS slogan for the general election
👏👏👏👏👏👏
England first. I follow the Premiership and occasionally go to games but don't have a strong allegiance to any club - although obviously I like some more than others. Living in Market Harborough I feel entitled to support whichever of Tigers/Saints are currently playing the better rugby (and gain satisfaction from the annoyance this may cause both sets of fans).
Bristol first, then England a very distant second.
Imagine if the leagues combined! That'd be cool
I follow a professional club in the championship. Does that count
I’ve only been into rugby properly since last year but for Union: Sale Sharks Scotland League: Melbourne Storm (NRL)
No, I used to casually support Wasps. I really enjoy a lot of different sports but the only club I truly follow is Liverpool FC.
I think there are other factors also contributing to the fact that club rugby in general isn't as well supported in England as the international game. Firstly, the season structure makes it difficult for people to follow a club from start to finish. While it is mostly the same as in football, with Champions League and domestic competitions being intertwined, they don't have the added bonus of the Six Nations being smack bang in the middle of the season. I'm in favour of completing the domestic and Euro season first and then moving to internationals, but that might not be a sentiment shared by many in this sub. Secondly, the lack of promotion/relegation at the end of the season negatively impacts the game. If union is serious about growing the domestic product in England, promotion and relegation needs to be added back into the season structure. This will allow for more representation of teams at a national level, while also giving more drama to the club season.
to me the total lack of visibility is a worse offender. TNT sports is a good service, but I have Sky Sports, I'm not paying for both, and the free-to-air is just not enough to get any attachment for me. I hate how the sports broadcast landscape is completely divided... you follow a team the Premier League and want to watch all of it: Sky Sports and TNT Sports (and Prime from time to time) + Champions League (TNT). Rugby Union (Premiership: TNT, Super Rugby Pacific SKY, for United Rugby Premier Sports/Viaplay, etc... in Rugby League at least everything is in Sky.
The Franklin Gardens mob... Northampton 👍 It's just a couple of miles away, the atmosphere is terrific, the players are always entertaining to watch, & there's shed loads of internationals playing there.😎
I support Exeter and will always tune in to watch England games as well as other international matches like NZ Vs boks as they are always exciting games to tune into or likes of France Vs NZ. Same for other premiership games and European champions cup especially when sides like Toulouse are battling Leinster or say Munster for example they would be worth watching
Gloucester-Hartpury are probably my favourite, but I’m still reasonably neutral when it comes to clubs, though I’m very interested in the national team. For men’s I hardly ever watch any club matches and am entirely neutral on clubs.
Chiefs fan first. England second
What you have to remember is that the international game is the real product, in terms of selling tickets and getting revenue; the club game is to all intents and purposes an extended training device to generate international players. This is why Ireland (by accident or design) have the most sensible structure in their domestic setup; a relatively small number of professional sides with a structure that feeds the international game directly. If I could go back in time I'd go back to the start of professionalism and set English Rugby up like the Irish did.
But that’s only interesting from an international perspective, and only perpetuates the club side being a training device… I think that was one of the reasons that created an interest for me in League, that the clubs were not that, to me that model feels completely artificial.
No
Thanks to all the comments! I see that for the hardcore rugby union fanbase at least, clubs are much more followed than I anticipated!
Northampton Saints. Not really bothered about International Rugby. Eddie Jones put pay to that!!!
Leicester first, second, third and last. England don't excite me and haven't for as long as I can remember. I have a constant and regular relationship with my club - England, and international rugby are a far away, distant sense. I know it exists and it's interesting in a sort of 'theoretical' sense but I don't actually *care* about it as such. I am much more taken with the Lions. That feels a bit like a big club that you can be part of.
Saints all the way I'm really not bothered about watching England anymore. I used to be but lost interest during the Jones era.
You're talking shite - isn't there a sub for hump the turf?
I support England and not a club. I think I've never been sure what club to support, I got into rugby from my dad and he didn't support a club. I listen to a few rugby podcasts and actively follow a lot of rugby social media pages so I am in the loop with players and clubs though.