Trivia

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

Trivia time -

Who are the ten biggest nations playing union (registered players), in order?

 

[dimitri]

nz
sa
eng


light years


australia

light years

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

Put in a guess Dimitri, if you're so cocky.

 

[Te Kaha]

nz
sa
eng


light years


australia

light years

He is also wrong as usual.

Both Japan and england have more players than NZ.

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

As does South Africa.

Plus there are a few more with more players than Australia.

But this isn't a bag-Dimitri thread (as easy a target as he makes himself) - I found this an interesting piece of trivia.

So peoples, have a crack!

 

[dimitri]

well of course there will be many countries with more registered players than australia



the ARU counts all players that play on weekends (not that many ) as registerd players as well as private school punies (theres not a huge amount of rich private schools around )

so therefore there wont be that many juniors

even though many juniors will of course be counted twice if they play on weekend and for their school


:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

 

[Anonymous]

1. England
2. South Africa
3. France
4. Japan
5. New Zealand
6. Australia
7. Scotland
8= Wales
8= Fiji
10. Ireland

In that exact order.

 

[AliN]

Japan 4th?

I pretty much agree tho I would have Samoa in there somewhere as well.

In no paricular order...

1. England
2. South Africa
3. France
4. Samoa
5. New Zealand
6. Australia
7. Argentina
8. Scotland
8. Fiji
10. Ireland

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

You're both pretty close.

Japan IS fourth. Union's surprisingly big in Japan, even if the players aren't (a lame gag I know, but couldn't resist).

And Dimitri, this is registered club players, so no one gets counted twice.

Thierry Henry - take out Fiji and add in someone else and you've got the right top ten, and in the right order.

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

Actually, checking again, Japan's fifth.

Stuff it, I'll give you the answers (with numbers to the nearest thousand).

England 634
South Africa 560
France 250
Australia 140
Japan 130
New Zealand 122
Scotland 78
Wales 60
Argentina 57
Ireland 53

 

[Anonymous]

I wasn't guessing, I have figures here which seem different from yours.

England 634
South Africa 560
France 250
Australia 140
Japan 130
New Zealand 122
Scotland 78
Wales 60
Argentina 57
Ireland 53

Mine go like this

England 634
South Africa 365
France 252
Japan 140
New Zealand 133.4
Australia 128
Scotland 65
Wales 60
Fiji 60
Ireland 47.5


Also: Argentina 36, Italy 40, USA 38

 

[Anonymous]

Samoa only has 14,000.

 

[dimitri]

And Dimitri, this is registered club players, so no one gets counted twice.

but the aru has admitted that it counts school players as registered club players

 

[Te Kaha]

And Dimitri, this is registered club players, so no one gets counted twice.

but the aru has admitted that it counts school players as registered club players

Where? Can you provide any proof?

 

[Mint Condition]

1. England
2. France
3. South Africa
4. Fiji
5. Australia
6. Japan
7. New Zealand
8. Sri Lanka
9. Ireland
10. Scotland

That's the order if you go by total male players + total female players on the IRB site from memory.

I'm not sure how their system works. Some countries (like Australia) all players are registered. Then there's a country like Sri Lanka or Fiji which has a huge total number but a relatively low registered players number.

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

I don't know where the discrepancies come from - I thought I was using the IRB figures.

 

[AliN]

lol, I was just going off the top of my head..

Japan is a surprise but then again how many Kiwis and probably Aussies have been offered big money to go there..

Last night on the tele, Tana Umanga is rumoured to have been offered a contract after the Cup reportedly worth $1 million a year..

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

Japan has a huge college circuit in union - I have a feeling their professional domestic comp is doing fairly well for itself too.

Japan's a strange place... Western pop culture taken in en masse, but completely Japaneseified.

They have a national obsession with baseball, but change the rules to suit Japanese philosophy.

They seem to be quite big on gridiron as well.