Abundant coat, body built of a mixture of muscles and fat, more or less keen eye and excessive love for paquitos… On the occasion of the World Cup, it will be possible to observe in France herds of supporters of rugby from all over the world. An exceptional phenomenon, the oval ball fan normally hibernating at this time of year, preferring to go out only in the coldness of February and March for the 6 nations.
If you come across one of these specimens, don’t panic, feed or hydrate it – it takes care of it very well on its own -, and don’t worry too much about it: it will be treated very well in France. Because far from being a threat to the surrounding fauna and flora – despite his dense stature, the oval player is relatively peaceful – the rugby supporter is seen as a financial boon for the country, and bears more of the characteristics from the perfect consumer to pamper than from a dangerous predator to hunt.
A population from rich countries
It all starts with his place of birth. With the exception of the French native, the rugby supporter is Anglo-Saxon or is not. Taking into account the countries of the former winners of the Webb Ellis trophy (New Zealand, England, Australia, South Africa), we obtain an average GDP per capita of 40,500 dollars. Add Ireland (100,000 dollars of GDP per capita) and France (43,000) as favorites for this 2023 edition and you get a nice panel of wallets. In comparison, the last winner of the Football World Cup, Argentina (yes we know, it’s painful), only has a GDP of 10,500 dollars per capita. The country with the most titles in football, Brazil, does even worse with 7,500 dollars per person.
So certainly, when a football fan travels for a world, he has a good chance of coming from the wealthy classes. “This applies less for a World Cup in Europe, where supporters with fairly modest incomes can come given the low cost of the trip, but are not going to spend too much on site, the ticket and the trip being already quite expensive as it is. “Notes Jean-Pascal Gayant, sports economist at the University of Rennes. None of that in rugby, with European fans made up of English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish, in short, at least well-off countries. During Euro 2016, the last French international competition (yes, we know, it’s painful too), the foreign visitor had slammed 125 euros on average per day. According to a 2022 BVA study, non-French rugby supporters should spend twice as much daily during the World Cup.
Beer, beer and beer
The reputation of the perfect consumer of the ovalist does not only come from his wallet, but mainly from his foolproof liver. You have probably already seen him grazing alcohol in the surrounding pastures, with a fascinating flow. During the 2015 Rugby World Cup, located in England, beer consumption had – on average – been six times higher than that recorded during matches in the Premier League, the national football championship, notes Pierre Rondeau, economist of the sport. On the occasion of the Japanese World Cup in 2019, the country’s annual beer production had increased by more than 70%.
For Tom, pub manager The black sheep in Montpellier, there is not even a match: “Compared to soccer players, the rugby fan drinks a lot more – and a lot longer. It takes 2 or 3 football fans to have the slate of a single rugby supporter”. The perfect competition for a bar, in a way: “The Olympic Games end up putting people to sleep or bringing in a more family-oriented public – and therefore less of a drinker. Football brews too broadly and brings in people who are less wealthy, too young or, on the contrary, too old to really consume a lot”.
Cheap to maintain
Added to this is a lesser organization in relation to the management of homo footixus, distant cousin. Without falling into clichés, the rugby supporter is deemed to be calmer. As a reminder, during the last Rugby World Cup in Japan, the biggest fan scandal was… a very innocent paquito of French fans in a metro. Far from the dramas and violent actions that sometimes punctuate football. This further increases the profitability of the ovalist, specifies Jean-Pascal Gayant: “A Rugby World Cup costs much less in terms of organization and crowd management. Fewer police officers, less control, less protection… It is therefore all the more interesting to organise: the supporters welcomed spend a lot and cost little. »
Fewer people too. Some 600,000 foreigners are expected for the event, twice as many as for the 2024 Olympic Games, but also a score far from the million supporters of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and light years away from the 3.4 million the previous edition in Russia.
An ephemeral species?
To perfect the analogy with football one last time, 600,000 supporters is roughly the number of people who came to Euro 2016 in France. If the latter spent twice as much per day, thehomo footixus stayed on average… twice as long: 7.9 days for the round ball, 4 for the oval, according to the BVA study. A situation which can be explained by the gap between the matches on the occasion of this 2023 vintage. To preserve the organizations and the athletes, a team cannot play more than once a week, which makes the visit of France sometimes very long, where in 7.9 days at the Euro, you could see two or three matches of your team.
What lessen the economic balance sheet? Not really. “Between one person drinking ten pints and two people drinking five each, I prefer the first option,” says Tom. Ditto between a guy who drinks these 10 pints in one evening and another who takes twice as long. It frees up more space in my bar for other people. If rugby fans stay for less, are less numerous, but spend the same, that’s fine. The rugby fan remains the perfect consumer, even in his rarity.