Rugby World

About Rugby World

Rugby World is the world's best-selling rugby magazine — a monthly celebration of the fifteen-a-side game that has chronicled rugby union continuously since October 1960. Through six decades it has covered the amateur era and the professional revolution, five-yearly British & Irish Lions tours, nine men's Rugby World Cups and the rise of the women's game, always with the authority of writers who live and breathe the sport. For rugby supporters across the globe, it remains the essential monthly read.

Published monthly in London by Future plc and edited by Joe Robinson, Rugby World combines in-depth features, exclusive interviews, tactical analysis and stunning photography, with the website rugbyworld.com providing daily news and digital content. Its 60th anniversary edition in July 2020 — featuring an exclusive interview with Warren Gatland and the readers' icons of every decade — was a landmark celebration of the magazine and the sport alike.

History and Founding

The first issue of Rugby World was published in October 1960. The magazine was initially published on "the third Wednesday of every month" by Longacre Press Limited, part of Odhams Press, and was available through INI Sales and Distribution at 161–166 Fleet Street, London. The original cover price was two shillings — a modest sum for a magazine that would become an institution.

The title's early years coincided with a golden age of the amateur game. By the end of 1962 the price had risen to two shillings and sixpence, and the magazine was establishing itself as the indispensable companion of the rugby supporter: match reports, player profiles, tour coverage and the debates — over amateurism, tactics and selection — that have always animated the sport.

Ownership and Publishing

Rugby World's publishing history mirrors the consolidation of the British magazine industry. Longacre Press merged with Fleetway Publications in 1961, and in 1963 Fleetway merged with other publishers to form IPC Media (Odhams remaining a distinct sub-company until 1968). The magazine was an IPC title for more than half a century, through the company's incarnations as IPC Media and TI Media.

In 2020 Rugby World came to Future plc as part of the £140 million acquisition of TI Media, cleared by the Competition and Markets Authority — a deal that made Future one of Europe's largest magazine companies. Today the magazine is published monthly by Future from London, with Joe Robinson as editor, as part of a sports portfolio that benefits from the group's digital and subscription expertise.

Print Editions and Frequency

Rugby World is published monthly in print, a rhythm it has maintained since 1960. Each issue combines big interviews with the game's stars, in-depth features on teams and tours, grassroots coverage, kit and training advice, and the photography that has always been central to the title's appeal. Average monthly circulation for 2022 stood at 26,964 copies — a solid performance that underpins its claim to be the world's top-selling rugby magazine.

Special issues punctuate the calendar: World Cup previews and reviews, Lions tour specials, and the celebrated 60th anniversary edition of July 2020, which looked back over six decades of the sport with the help of greats past and present — Richie McCaw, Brian O'Driscoll, Gareth Edwards, Dan Carter, Siya Kolisi and many more — and asked readers to vote for the icons of every decade.

Digital Presence

The website rugbyworld.com extends the magazine's reach with daily rugby news, features, interviews and video, serving a global audience of fans. Digital editions of the magazine are available for tablets and phones, and single issues can be ordered online for home delivery — a service that proved its worth during the pandemic-disrupted summer of 2020.

Social media and newsletters carry the brand's content to supporters worldwide, from breaking team news to the long-form interviews that remain the title's signature. The digital operation complements rather than replaces the print edition: the monthly magazine is still where the definitive interviews and the big set-piece features appear.

Editorial Focus and Audience

Rugby World covers the whole of rugby union: the international game — Six Nations, Rugby Championship, autumn internationals and World Cups — the British & Irish Lions, the English Premiership, France's Top 14, the United Rugby Championship and the grassroots club game. Its audience is the committed rugby supporter: players, coaches, former players and fans who want intelligent, well-informed journalism rather than hot takes.

The magazine's tone is knowledgeable and celebratory without being uncritical. Its writers include some of the most respected names in rugby journalism, and its interviews — the "Big Interview" is a flagship format — are prized by players and coaches as a serious forum. Coverage of the women's game has grown substantially, reflected in features such as the all-time Women's XV compiled for the 60th anniversary issue.

Iconic Features and Sections

The Big Interview is Rugby World's signature: an in-depth conversation with one of the game's leading figures, from Warren Gatland — voted by readers the greatest coach in rugby history — to the world champions and Lions legends who have graced its pages. The readers' polls are another institution: the icons-of-every-decade vote for the 60th anniversary, crowning figures such as Richie McCaw as the greatest player of the 2010s, generated enormous engagement.

Regular sections include "Rugby in Pictures", the archive photo features that draw on six decades of the magazine's history, tour diaries, grassroots club features, and the practical content — training, nutrition, kit — that serves the magazine's playing readership. The July 2020 anniversary issue's ten highlights, from the all-time Women's XV to behind-the-scenes access at World Rugby, showcased the full range of the title.

Notable Editors and Contributors

Paul Morgan, editor until January 2012, was long considered a leader in rugby journalism; his twelve years in the chair (following his succession of Alison Kervin in 1999) defined the modern magazine, and he went on to chair the Rugby Union Writers' Club. Morgan began his career at the Richmond and Twickenham Times and served as co-editor of the IRB World Rugby Yearbook, embodying the title's deep roots in the sport's journalism.

Owain Jones, appointed editor in late 2011, brought experience from the Welsh Rugby Union, the British & Irish Lions and the 2011 Rugby World Cup, along with a focus on digital publishing and social media. The current editor, Joe Robinson, continues the tradition of editors who are genuine rugby people. The magazine's contributors have included leading rugby writers on both sides of the Severn and across the rugby world.

Cultural Impact

Rugby World has been the sport's journal of record for the English-speaking world for over sixty years. It chronicled the end of amateurism and the birth of the professional era; it has covered every Rugby World Cup since the tournament's inception in 1987; and its Lions tour coverage is the definitive account for supporters who cannot make the trip. The magazine benefited enormously from the worldwide rise in rugby's popularity following the 2003 Rugby World Cup, cementing its status as the game's leading monthly.

Beyond reporting, the magazine has shaped the sport's culture: its polls and awards give fans a voice, its interviews set the agenda for the game's debates, and its celebration of the grassroots — the clubs, schools and volunteers — honours the community spirit that distinguishes rugby.

Awards and Recognition

Rugby World's journalism has been recognised across the sports-media industry, and its editors have been honoured within the profession — Paul Morgan's chairmanship of the Rugby Union Writers' Club testified to the standing of the title and its editor among their peers. The magazine's special issues, photography and digital content have regularly featured in industry awards.

The title's greatest accolade, though, is commercial and cultural: six decades of continuous publication and its position as the world's best-selling rugby magazine, in a sporting media landscape where print titles have fallen by the wayside.

Recent Developments

The 60th anniversary in 2020 was both a celebration and a statement of intent: a bumper edition packed with stars, readers' votes and six decades of photography, published in the midst of a pandemic that had suspended the sport itself. It demonstrated the magazine's resilience and the depth of its relationship with its readers.

Under Future's ownership, Rugby World continues to invest in digital growth while the monthly print edition remains the flagship. With women's rugby booming, the professional club game evolving and the next World Cups on the horizon, the world's best-selling rugby magazine enters its seventh decade with the sport — and its own future — in good health.