7. Rugby Player Population

Rugby in Japan

Week 7 

 

     Do you know how many people play rugby in the World? IRB says that there are about 5.5 million rugby players in the World. IRB is a meaning called the International Rugby Board. Now, IRB sponsors The World Cup. According to IRB's report, the competition population of Japan is about 120,000 people. In 2019, The World Cup will be held in Japan. JRFU (Japan Rugby Football Union) made an aim to gain the competition population to 200,000 people by 2019. This is too difficult to achieve. However, the host country is responsible for this big event. Japan is the host nation. Japan must make the big event a success. Japan must entertain people not only in Japan but also in the world. Japan has big responsibility. Among the 120,000 people playing rugby in Japan, a woman is about 5,000 people. I hope that rugby spreads among men and women.

     In Australia, the competition population broke through 300,000 people last year. The Australian Rugby Union says that over 320,000 people play rugby now. The competition population increase year by year. The population of Australia is 21 millions.  Incidentally, New Zealand's competition population is about 150,000 people, France's is about 360,000 people, USA's is about 460,000 people, Republic of South Africa's is about 650,000, and England's is over 2 million people.  Do you know which country is the highest of tha ratio of the number of persons playing rugby to the population of the country? The answer is maybe Fiji. Fiji has a population of about 850,000 people, and about 80,000 people play rugby. It is surprising that the one plays rugby to ten people.

     By the way,  Sevens was adopted as an Olympic event formally last year. Sevens is the sevens version of rugby, a team has 7 members to play.  At the Olympics in 2016, Sevens will become an official event. IRB says that we will greet a historic moment in Rio de Janeiro.  Because Sevens was adopted as an Olympic event formally, the rugby population increases in all the countries of the world now. IRB advocated an aim to gain competition population to 6 million people from 5,500,000 people by 2016. The keyword is "Try, Play, Stay." IRB's chairman says "The aim of the programme is to encourage players of all ages to Try, Play and Stay in Rugby, with a target of attracting one million new players and 15,000 new coaches and referees over the next four years. Get into Rugby will promote the values of the Game and ensure children are encouraged to try Rugby in a safe and progressive environment." I think that Japan should be able to take advantage of this flow.


(JRFU Offical Site, IRB Offical Site, Rugby Republic)

Nelson Mandela: Breaking News

    Do you know Nelson Mandela? Many people  say ”Yes.” He is a politician of the Republic of South Africa.　 He became the first black president of the country in 1994. He was the president for 5 years from 1994 to 1999. While he was politician, he did a lot of great things. For example, he abolished the apartheid in 1991. The apartheid is a segregation by race, in other words, racial discrimination. Between 1948 and 1994, there was this policy in the Republic of South Africa. Apatheid said that Black cannot do anything White do. Naturally, the life of black became poor. The United Nations criticized the Republic of South Africa every year from 1952. In spite of this criticism, the apartheid was not abolished until 1991. I think that this is crazy. Nelson Mandela's activities were evaluated, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.  In 1994, he became the president. Then he pushed forward a race settlement and cooperation and carried out revival development program (RDP) as an economic policy. In 1999, he retired from the politician. 
 (Wikipedia)

     There is news of death. Nelson Mandela died on December 5, 2013. This was a sudden unexpected event. A memorial service of Nelson Mandela was held in the stadium of the Johannesburg suburbs on December 10. Many well-known people gathered from the world. Of course, the bereaved and friend of Mandela, Diet member and domestic citizen gathered too. I want to introduce some speeches in the memorial service. Secretary‐General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon said "he was 'a giant for justice and a down-to-earth human inspiration'. Many around the world were greatly influenced by his selfless struggle for human dignity, equality and freedom. He touched our lives in deeply personal ways."  Barack Obama, president of the United States of America, said "It is hard to eulogise any man... how much harder to do so for a giant of history, who moved a nation towards justice. We will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again. While I will always fall short of Madiba, he makes me want to be a better man."  Tens of thousands of people participated in a memorial service. British Prime Minister Cameron or American Former President Clinton attended, too. Crown Prince and Former Prime Minister Fukuda attended from Japan. In the memorial service, people were very lively. Her body was laid away in his hometown.

He died, but I think that Nelson mandela's mind is immortal forever.

(Yahoo! News, Wikipedia)














 

6, Result of National Team

Rugby in Japan
Week 6

        Many people think that Japan national team cannot beat other country's team. The Japanese rugby level is low down in the world. Now, Japanese team is the strongest in Asia. However, most people do not evaluate the result. Japanese baseball team had won World Baseball Classic twice. The soccer team advanced to the final round. In other sports, for example tennis, volleyball, judo, and so on, many athlete play an active part in world stage. Most people is not only hoping for rugby team's success but also demand. JRFU think that it have to make the strong team.  
　　
　　Japan national team participated in all the past World Cup. The World Cup was held seven times in the past. Japan had played 24 matches, but the results were not good. Their record was 1 win, 21 defeats and two draws. Japan only won once in 1991. Since then, Japan could not win for twenty years. This made people think that Japan national team is weak. JRFU want to improve this situation. In next World Cup, Japan must beat other teams in order to make people recognize that Japan national team are strong. Incidentally, Japan is the number 15 in the world rankings. Of course, New Zealand is ranked  number 1 in the world. Lower than number 2 are Australlia, France, South Africa, England and Ireland.

         There are national team according to the generation, sevens national team and women national team. Japan's youth team, mens sevens team and women team participated the Asian Games this year. Japan teams of all category won the Asian Games. This is an excellent thing, at the same time, this may be a natural thing. In order to make people say that Japan team is strong, Japan team must beat other country expect Asia. 

          
          By the way, do you know that a foreigner belongs to the Japan national team? Indeed, rugby players can belongs to the team of the country which is not a mother country. In an international rule of rugby, the participation of the foreign players as national member is accepted. In other words, players different in the nationality can wear the same uniform. Of course, there are  requirements that they should meet some. One, their birthplace is Japan. Two, birthplace of their parents or grandparents is Japan. Third, they live in Japan for more than three years. They should clear a condition of either, not all. Rugby players can become the member of a national team regardless of nationality. I think that this may be fascination of the rugby.
 (Sports navi)

(JRFU official website, Yahoo! Japan news)