Yellow Fever swamping rugby!?

Yellow Fever swamping rugby!?

From Saturday's "Dominion Post" story about kids and sport.

 

"According to the New Zealand Secondary School Sports Council, between 2005 and 2007 participation rates for rugby nationally fell from just over 31,000 to 29,845.

At the same time as this decline, the sleeping giant that is football started stirring, with secondary school playing numbers jumping from 20,667 to just over 22,000.

Figures from College Sport Wellington show an increase in secondary school rugby participation rates in 2006, though executive director John Hornal said the figure included four Horowhenua and Kapiti schools not in the Wellington Rugby Union catchment area. Its player numbers peaked at just over 3000 before falling away to around 2500.

So while 3360 (including girls) were registered to play rugby, football was already breathing down its neck, with 2766 registered players, up from 2481 the previous year � a figure which excluded those playing at multiple levels in club leagues.

"Soccer is going to boom in this city � particularly with the Phoenix," Mr Hornal said.

The emergence of Wellington's professional football team, championed by its feverish supporters, is waking up rival codes."

Read the whole story on:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4431180a19715.html

 

scribbler2008-03-09 10:17:19

Great to see the growth in the number of kids playing soccer. My son (16) is talking about playing again, after a 2 year break, in no small way due to the enjoyment he gets from watching the Phoenix - from the YF zone of course. I think the article is spot on - soccer will boom in Wellington on the back of the city's  passion for the Phoenix and anything that gets todays teenages off the couch has good to be applauded. Whitby boy2008-03-09 10:59:49

And Whitby it is players like your son that one day may well wear the hallowed kit of the Nix and run out in front of us. I'm rapt that football is now starting to get recognised. It was always there but no one dared say anything for fear of ridicule in the press. Lonegunmen2008-03-09 23:03:27

I reckon, it's going to be interesting to see if there's an increase in player numbers across all age levels this season as a result of the Nix and YF

We are seeing the beginning of the golden age of football in this city(and NZ too)

Rugby Can F*** Off For All I Care
Long Have We Waited For This Day...
Muwhahaha

Nothing against other codes, but football just has much broader appeal, so the stats are no surprise. Another good year or two, and I think football will really take off in NZ. Possibly at rugby's expense. 

Whitby boy2008-03-09 21:33:04

What annoyed me about that report was that the WRFU decided to lable us Gen Y kids as lazy just because we don't play rugby. How can the WRFU have the right to comment on the state of a generation on the back of rugby participation numbers. Maybe more kids are discovering more sports that require skill as opposed to bulk size.

A sure way to get you involved is to call you offend you...

I can't help thinking they missed the target there.

This summer we have seen beach volley ball at Oriental bay, next sumemer i'm expecting beach football!

I was wandering around town yesterday, and was amazed at the number of people wearing football shirts from a variety of club and national teams. Ive always noticed people in Football gear, and the numbers among young and old who are choosing to adorn themselves with Football gear is defiantly on the increase. This is a sure sign that football is coming out from the shadow of rugby in NZ.

You can't beat Wellington ... these days

ARF !

in the words of a certain Mr H. News - "sarcasm radars lads", switch them on

Cosimo prepared to be absolutely slaughtered.

To qoute Johnny Cash:

" You fell in to a burning ring of fire, and it burned burned burned, but the flames just get higher...."

Football is on the rise in NZ. Whenever a rugby head (e.g tv3 dickhead Hamish McKay) tries to give a reason as to why rugby is allegedly better (its not) all they say is that those who play football are "too pussy" to play rugby...

I think we who play football are merely far too intelligent to play a sport which basically involves throwing yourself into a big group of men. yates102008-03-10 19:58:40

Is this news? More kids have been playing football than rugby for a few years in NZ now, haven't they? I remember it being discussed on Radio Sport a few years back. Problem was that when they reached their teens they all buggered off somewhere else.

Having said that, the more people we get playing the beautiful game, the happier I'll be.

The key is to keep the youngsters playing football.

It's great to have big numbers of 'kids" playing football (or rugby for that matter), however the numbers quickly drop off once they get to around 15 or 16

Also. we all need to ensure we don't get too up ourselves, other wise we'll be just like the die hard rugby followers, who see the world with blinkers on.

Rugby good, football better

Point 1, look up IRONY in the dictionary

Point 2, see point 1

thank god most people on this forum aren't morons
Cosimo2008-03-10 21:35:58

Have you ever seriously thought of becoming a comedian Cos? Personally i think you'd do a stand up job!

touche!

This is the problem when you have 5 months between Phoenix seasons...there is a vacum and people start filling it with IRONY.

no worries dude

We had some discussion on the topic here

 

"The WRFU has started making derogatory claims about the personalities of young people just because their junior and youth numbers are on the decline. This kind of analysis seems very poor and I seriously doubt that a serious psychological study into this was carried out. I'm (cynically) inclined to think their judgment of young people is reactionary and misinformed.

 

Has the WRFU considered that perhaps number are down because younger folks are exposed to more options now? You simply don't have to play Rugby to be accepted anymore (tot he degree that it used to be 'integral' to NZ culture). I wonder what the RFU would make of participation trends in other sports (snowboarding, surfing) that have experienced massive growth in this age group."

The reason rugby participation is down is because we only made the quarters in the world cup and havent won a world cup in 21years, furthermore the super 14 and npc get more boring every year. This is a massive opportunity for football in this country to gain popularity and funding, as rugby seems to be up sh*t creek at the moment.