The United Kingdom has a diverse history in terms of sporting pedigree, with few surprises to learn that football is the overwhelming most popular sport in the nation.
However, with such a passionate fan base in the world of football, it’s unlikely that rugby could ever amass the same numbers in terms of popularity.
Rugby also falls below many other sports in terms of average viewers watching the action, with sports such as horse racing and cricket dwarfing the numbers that regularly attend matches on the rugby schedule.
But, is there every likely to be a world when rugby can achieve the same level of popularity as football?
International Matches Are Incredibly Popular
International matches rank as some of the most popular on the rugby schedule, with tournaments such as the Six Nations and Rugby World Cup amassing huge audiences. That has already been seen in 2025, with the England vs Ireland match gaining a peak audience of 5.2 million, according to SportsPro.
That was the most-viewed peak audience of the year on ITV this calendar year, which is even more surprising given that the channel has already aired live FA Cup matches on the football schedule this term.
However, the overall popularity of rugby in the United Kingdom remain low overall, with France’s opening match against Wales being watched by 3.8 million people across the United Kingdom. This figure was considerably lower than the audience attracted by French television, which saw an average of 6.7 million viewers.
The stats compiled for Premier League matches around the globe show that Liverpool have been the most watched English football team, with around 133.8 million viewers watching their first nine league fixtures in 2024-25, according to Liverpoolfc.com.
Plus, football betting is still quite popular as you can see in YouBet.
Domestic League Suffers
While international rugby retains popularity, it is easy to argue that there isn’t as much appetite to watch the domestic Premiership Rugby in England. The recent stats find that there has been a 40% increase in viewership, with BT Sport averaging a live weekend audience of 358,000 last season.
The biggest match in the season saw 276,000 fans tune in to watch the Leicester Tigers vs London Wasps. A combined audience of 7.88 million watched the action on BT Sport in 2023-24, with the audience increased from 6.14 million based on the numbers from the previous season, according toe Sponsorship-Awards.
Those numbers are dwarfed by the averages recorded in the Premier League, with the 2023-24 stats registered by Broadcast Now highlighting that 16.3 million fans had watched the Premier League on Sky Sports. That was a 4% increase on the stats from the previous season.
One of the most famous sports programmes on the television remains Match of the Day, which regularly attracts at least 3.5 million viewers every Saturday evening. It is also reported that at least 33 million people will tune in to watch MOTD at some point during the course of a Premier League season.
Attendances Also a Concern
Football ranks as the most-attended sport in the United Kingdom, with horse racing also ranking above rugby in that regard. The attendances in the Premiership have been a concern over a prolonged period of time in England, with an average number of 15,368 per match attending a fixture in the top division.
The lowest attendance in 2023-24 was set at 3,821 in a fixture between Newcastle and Gloucester, while the biggest attendance in the same season was set at 81,669 in a match between Northampton and Bath. Compared to rugby league numbers, these remain pretty impressive.
In the Super League, the highest attendance was set at 20,511 in a match between the Warriors and Leopards, while there was an average attendance of 9,193 per fixture.
The lowest attended match in the Premier League was set at 10,421 when Bournemouth hosted Chelsea last season, but the average attendance in the English top-flight was a lofty 38,617, with a total of over 14 million fans watching action in-person in the Premier League.
Could The Gap Ever Be Breached?
While international matches continue to rank high in terms of appeal, with major matches in the Six Nations and World Cup attracting mainstream attention, it would be a concern that the Premiership looks in a weak position when compared to the top two divisions in England.
The dwindling popularity in schools is also a cause for concern, with only 2% of the population playing the sport on a regular basis. Unsurprisingly, this number of much higher when it comes to football, as stats from 2024 show that 4.2 million people play football on a weekly basis.
Furthermore, in 2022-23, stats from Statista indicate that 40% of children played the sport at least once per week. Therefore, if the gap between rugby and football is ever likely to be breached, then it will need to start at a grassroots level.
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