NSW rugby league passes 100,000 participation milestone

May 10, 2022

The NSWRL has announced that the game is on track for another successful season across the state with participation numbers officially going past the 100,000 mark as of yesterday.

There are currently 100,488 male and female participants registered to play rugby league in 2022 - slightly ahead of the record numbers achieved at the corresponding time last year.

Welcoming the growth, NSWRL Chief Executive, David Trodden stated “it is extremely satisfying to see the game on track for another successful season after the challenges we have all faced over the past few years and this is an achievement everyone in the game should celebrate and feel proud of.

“These figures show rugby league is in a strong state in NSW despite the bushfires, severe flooding, COVID-19 pandemic and other problems the Rugby League community and the NSWRL has been forced to deal with.

“Against such a challenging backdrop, this type of success with participation numbers doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because of the great work which is being done right across the state by NSWRL employees, by NRL game development officers and by our wonderful group of volunteers without whom we wouldn’t have a game.”

The 2021 season was one of record growth for NSW with 107,436 signing up to play rugby league; an increase of more than 5% from the previous pre-COVID-19 season of 2019.

Other positive figures from last year included the total number of male participants recording their highest growth in six years, female participants easily broke 20,000 for the first time in history, and participation increasing in traditional rugby league heartland areas.

Image courtesy of PCYC NSW.

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