Rugby in Scotland returns 8:1 on investment for Scottish economy

Community rugby in Scotland delivers an economic benefit of £159.1m per year, representing a 771% return on investment, according to a new report commissioned by Scottish Rugby.

The body responsible for Scotland’s international, professional and club rugby is launching the new Social Impact and Valuation Report at Wester Hailes High School today.

The estimated benefit was made up of £13.46m of value from economic benefits, £41.2m of value from social benefits and £103.3m of value from health and wellbeing benefits. The most significant contributions came from an equivalent value of volunteering effort, valued at £31m and £92m, from the subjective wellbeing benefits derived from being part of the rugby community.

Of the social and wellbeing benefits, the report found that participation in rugby had a quantifiable impact on reducing depression, anxiety and schizophrenia, while improving overall subjective wellbeing.

Rugby was also found to reduce crime, improve educational performance, drive volunteering and reduce instances of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

The report also highlighted that for non-professional rugby players in Scotland, their participation in the sport returned more than £3,000 per player between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 – a similar level to per player value in Scottish football.

There are an estimated 50,000 club rugby players in Scotland.

Participation in club rugby also drove ancillary spending by players, their families and friends, totalling £5.96m over the same time period. Players spent £3.12m on kit, £1.1m on food and drink, and £1.02m on trips and tournaments.

Between the 155 member clubs surveyed and Scottish Rugby, annual expenditure on club rugby was £24.4m in 2022/23. Some of that investment went into facilities, and use of 416 rugby pitches across Scotland delivered a gross value add (GVA) of £7.5m.

Clubs also raised £1.2m in charitable giving during the 12 months analysed.

Keith Wallace, vice president of Scottish Rugby and chair of its Club Rugby Board, said: “This report is a real game changer – for the first time it provides hard evidence of what we all strongly believed – firstly, that our thousands of volunteers deliver huge value, and secondly that participation in club rugby delivers benefits for players, clubs, communities and the Scottish economy.

“Scottish Rugby is proud to support and partner with clubs to grow participation, this brings a great opportunity to draw in new investment, with increasing focus in many organisations on environment, social and governance, which in turn will increase the positive impacts for all areas of our society and economy.”

Tim Crabbe, chief executive of Substance, the organisation that authored the report, added: “We are confident that they represent a minimum value that can grow based on further evaluation and service enhancements.