PAARLE, SOUTH AFRICA ; JUNE 14: Flooded rugby field and playing field in Makassar on June 14, 2023 at … [+]
“No part of our sport will remain untouched,” says David Pocock, former professional rugby player and current Australian senator, in World Rugby’s recently released report which predicts the immediate impact rugby will suffer globally in a warming world.
Scientific evidence, expert interviews and data from ten member unions, including the USA, South Africa and France, illustrate the predicted effects of climate change on rugby in a world warmed by 2 degrees or more from pre-industrial levels. The data shows that we are probably already over 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Impacts include heat waves that affect athlete performance and spectator health, an increased frequency of droughts that will affect turf fields, and infrastructure impacts from flooding and/or sea level rise.
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN – OCTOBER 10: A sign outside the Yokohama Stadium informs of the cancellation of … [+]
Of the ten nations included in the report, South Africa and the US are predicted to be hit the hardest within the available datasets. They have the largest increase in the number of hot days with temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius, increased frequency and intensity of droughts, increased frequency and intensity of heavy rainfall and floods.
The USA will host the Men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031 and the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2033. 2 of 13 Major League Rugby stadiums will be at risk of annual submergence into the sea in a two degree Celsius warming scenario, disappointing news for JFK Stadium in Hoboken, New Jersey and Veterans Memorial Stadium in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Jamie Farndale, captain of Scotland 7s and Scottish Rugby’s Sustainability Ambassador, commented: “This report will make difficult reading for the organizers of the upcoming USA Rugby World Cups. With the competition taking place in cities across the country, the races will face all sorts of different environmental hazards – from extreme heat and drought to increased rainfall and flooding. The ability to effectively organize an event of this scale will be greatly affected without urgent action.”
This urgent action can be manifested now through the report’s recommendations to strengthen rugby’s resilience to climate change. They include climate projections being integrated into relevant commercial and political decision-making processes, a solidarity funding mechanism to support rugby’s most vulnerable communities and rugby stakeholders developing and implementing plans to reduce environmental impacts.
Bill Beaumont, the chairman of World Rugby are summarized these efforts rise, saying “The choices before us may seem difficult and stark at first, but in reality, when faced with the alternatives, they are very simple.”
