Scotland National Rugby League Team - Support

Support

Rugby League is not a hugely popular sport in Scotland, with the country never having had a professional club. This means that the national team is nowhere near as well supported as the countries football or rugby union teams. Usually matches get between 1,000 to 2,000 supporters, and those figures haven't really increased or decreased since the teams first home international in 1996. Participation in rugby league has increased though, with a Scottish division in the Rugby League Conference with seven teams, including four in the Glasgow/West Scotland area having formed in 2006. But, unlike in England, rugby league is not one of the ten most played sports in Scotland amongst adults. Junior development has been much more rapid, with several Conference teams having junior squads as well as other clubs who don't run an open-age squad having various junior squads. An estimated 2,500 children play rugby league in Scotland, with that figure growing to 12,500 when you add the amount of children who play the sport in various school programmes. In terms of media coverage, apart from Challenge Cup matches rugby league is not shown on Scottish terrestrial television and no matches are usually broadcast on radio. However, Scotland international matches usually get reported in national newspapers like The Scotsman and sometimes in Scottish editions of London based newspapers. In 2009, the Magic Weekend was held at Murrayfield with an average attendance of 60,000 spectators, including ticket sales of just under 7,000 in Scotland alone, making the event a success.