For many passionate rugby fans, the off-season can feel like an endless stretch of waiting. The excitement of roaring crowds, nail-biting matches, late drama, and heart-racing tries comes to a halt, leaving supporters on the hunt for fresh ways to keep entertained.
But rugby enthusiasts are anything but idle. During the breaks between tournaments or league play, they dive into a mix of other sports, binge-worthy streaming content, and online fun to bridge the gap.
Here’s a look at how rugby fans can make the most of their off-season and why the move towards digital platforms is more popular than ever.
Staying in the Game With Other Sports
Many rugby fans are general supporters of several sports. From football and basketball to ice hockey and MMA, rugby fans can keep up with numerous other high-octane sports worldwide.
The rugby season is not as crowded as the fixtures of football and basketball, which provide a steady stream of exciting matches to follow.
Tennis and cricket also help fill the gap during the off-season, given how all three sports are popular in the UK, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
These sports also offer plenty of selections for punters, and many sportsbooks, including multi-brand umbrellas like BetMGM casino sister sites, enjoy a rich selection of positions for those with an above-average risk tolerance.
Streaming Sports Documentaries and Series
For those who enjoy a more laid-back form of entertainment, sports streaming is often the perfect choice. Diving into the behind-the-scenes moments of their favorite sports events or learning more about another sport they just started following can be a great way to pass the time.
Many fans explore documentaries from other sports, such as ‘Formula 1: Drive to Survive’ or ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, which describes the amazing story behind Wrexham A.F.C. and how Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney brought the team to an unlikely promotion to the English Football League Championship, the second tier of English football.
These narratives go beyond just sport and keep fans entertained, even when there is no rugby on the calendar.
Gaming and Fantasy Leagues
Many fans dive into sports video games and fantasy leagues to stay sharp and maintain the competitive thrill. While rugby video games may not be the biggest players on the market, they have a loyal following. The annual Rugby video game series, published by Nacon Games, has been the go-to video game for rugby fans for years.
Some fans may switch gears to fantasy football to keep themselves engaged long enough to pass the off-season, waiting for the new rugby season to kick off.
Fantasy video games provide fans with a unique opportunity to simulate how they would manage their favorite teams, which players they would add or let go, and how strong their senses are in anticipating the top performers before an important match.
Social Media and Fan Forums
In the absence of exciting rugby matches, fans go on social media to discuss the upcoming season: The favorites to win, the underdogs, players that may impress, etc.
Rugby is often seen as a cordial sport, despite its physical nature. Fans interact with each other with a degree of politeness that is often lacking in other sports. This fosters a sense of community among rugby fans and creates spaces that are void of the common toxicity of sports fandoms.
Fan forums are especially lively, with quizzes, player assessments, potential moves, and sometimes outlandish predictions for the new season.
Rugby teams have been paying attention to the digital trends present in other sports and have been making efforts to increase fan engagement through social media channels.
As a primarily grassroots sport with no billion-dollar deals and an understated feel, rugby feels like home to most fans and offers a topic of discussion that they are passionate about, minus the altercations that are so common among football fans.
Grassroots Events and Test Matches
Just because the active season is over does not mean that there are zero rugby matches. In most cases, national teams use the off-season breaks to play test matches against challenging opposition. While these matches are virtually friendlies, they typically do not suffer from low attendances.
The official World Rugby website includes a schedule of upcoming matches for fans to follow along and find out where to watch them.
Some fans may choose to actively play their favorite sport with their mates. Rugby is known for its lively amateur scene, where the most physically fit and active fans play against each other and take part in the sport they love so much.
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