RL shows massive participation decline over last decade

A survey of participation levels in UK sport has revealed some depressing news for rugby league fans.

There are currently 44,900 weekly players of rugby league who are aged 16 and over.

This is a decline of 39.07 per cent on a decade ago, and a decline of 9.65 per cent year on year.

Newspaper The Daily Telegraph has compiled the list based on figures from Sport England.

While sports such as athletics and swimming are popular and growing, most other participation sports have shown a decline in participation over the last decade.

Few have seen a decline as steep as rugby league’s, however.

By contrast, rugby union has 199,000 regular participants, and has grown 7.21 per cent over the last decade.