Ever since 1987, the Rugby World Cup has been regarded as the pinnacle of the international game, held every four years.
Prior to its inception, there was no truly global tournament other than regional competitions, beginning with the Home Nations Championship. This featured England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, expanding to become the Five Nations with France in 1910, then the Six Nations with the addition of Italy in 2000.
Nevertheless, due to the growing popularity of the sport and increased participation globally, the idea of a worldwide competition was repeatedly suggested, particularly during the 1950s. However, any proposals for a World Cup of rugby were often met with opposition, amongst the national unions within the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB). But when the concept of a World Cup surfaced again in the 1980s, it finally gained approval.
The inaugural tournament was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 1987, which is interesting when considering they were two of the keenest advocates, featuring the strongest 16 national teams from around the globe. The IRFB later transitioned to become the International Rugby Board (IRB) in 1998, then changed again to become World Rugby (WR) in 2014.
FIFA World Cup evolution
Not without some irony, considering the fact that association football actually has roots in the original game of rugby union, it is the football World Cup that has become one of the biggest events on the global sporting calendar. As football (or soccer) quickly became a professional sport, while rugby union remained steadfastly amateur for so long, inevitably it was the ‘beautiful game’ which rose to become the most popular sport globally.
The very first FIFA World Cup was hosted by Uruguay in 1930, featuring 13 teams and notable for the absence of the ‘home nations’ of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, who had their own championship which they considered to be superior. But following the success of that event, plus the subsequent tournaments in 1934 and 1938, after WWII those ‘home nations’ decided to participate, using their original ‘Home Nations’ championship to qualify.
There were 13 teams at the 1950 World Cup, although as the global impact of the tournament continued to grow, the number of participating nations continually increased. By 1954 there were 16 nations, then 24 by the time Spain hosted the World Cup in 1982. Since the 1998 World Cup in France, the tournament grew again to feature 32 teams and will be the same in Qatar 2022, before expanding to 48 teams for the 2026 World Cup.
The need for a Rugby World Cup expansion
While there is a clear base of power within the international rugby union scene, there is growing acceptance that the sport could benefit from further inclusion, particularly in such an important competition as the Rugby World Cup. The current number of 20 participating teams is genuinely too few, especially considering there are 93 who feature in qualifying stages, and 109 countries in the official World Rugby rankings.
Indeed, rugby is now played seriously in more countries around the world than ever before, suggesting that World Rugby might be wise to consider expanding and including more teams in their flagship international competition. When the France 2023 Rugby World Cup begins there will be just 20 teams, which will remain the same for the Australia 2027 Rugby World Cup, and again for the USA 2031 Rugby World Cup.
But will World Rugby follow the example set by their cousins at FIFA, by deciding to increase participation in the Rugby World Cup? This remains an open question for now, albeit one that genuinely needs to be taken seriously, particularly considering the constantly growing popularity of the sport. Furthermore, there is growing evidence of significantly improving quality, amongst nations that have never even competed at a World Cup before.
Approval is required for big improvements
When it comes to evaluating the need to expand the Rugby World Cup, we only need to look at examples in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Football fans will undoubtedly be looking for Arabic betting sites options at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, given that five teams from across this region will be participating, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, alongside host nation Qatar, plus Morocco and Tunisia.
Yet fans of those teams will not see their cherished rugby teams participating in the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which is actually quite frustrating for them, considering that sides like Tunisia and Morocco are within the top 60 nations of the official Rugby World Rankings. Indeed, Tunisia currently ranks 40th in the global rugby rankings list.
Up until the USA 2031 Rugby World Cup and planning for beyond, World Rugby should perhaps give serious consideration to expanding their tournament, maybe following the same example set by FIFA with the football World Cup. Nothing enthuses fans of a sport more than greater inclusion, which is precisely how rugby can cultivate stronger support in the future.