Sports injury in Australia

The term ‘rugby’ includes rugby union, rugby league, and rugby (unspecified) (see technical notes for more detail). Hospital records often do not specify which type of rugby an injured person was playing.

An estimated 244,400 Australians aged 15 and over played rugby in 2023–24 (ASC 2024). During this period, there were about 4,600 injury hospitalisations attributed to rugby: around 3,700 males and 910 females. The highest number of injury hospitalisations was among those aged 15–19 (nearly 1,400 cases), while the 55–59 age group had the lowest reportable number of hospitalisations (19 cases) (Figure 29).

For more detail, see data table 4.

Trends over the past decade

Between 2014–15 and 2016–17, the age-standardised rate of sports injury hospitalisations from rugby was increasing for females from 2.5 to 4.2 hospitalisations per 100,000 population (Figure 30). The rate of hospitalisation for males was decreasing during that time from 37 to 35 hospitalisations per 100,000 population. During this same period, the number of hospitalisations ranged from 4,000 to 4,200 for males and 280 to 465 for females.

Figure 30: Number and age-standardised rate (per 100,000 population) of injury hospitalisations from rugby by sex, Australia, 2014–15 to 2023–24

For more detail, see data table 5.

From 2017–18 to 2023–24, the number of hospitalisations ranged from 2,200 to 4,300 for males and 435 to 910 for females. Between 2017–18 to 2018–19, injury hospitalisation rates were relatively stable for males and females.

From 2019–20 to 2021–22, injury hospitalisations fluctuated noticeably – a likely effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitalisation rates were at their lowest in 2019–20 for males (19 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) and females (3.8 hospitalisations per 100,000 population). Hospitalisations were highest for males (36 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) in 2020–21.

Across 2022–23 and 2023–24, injury hospitalisation rates had stabilised for both sexes, at an average of 29 hospitalisations per 100,000 population for males and an average of 7.3 hospitalisations for females. Hospitalisations were highest for females (7.6 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) in 2023–24.

Nature of injuries

For injury hospitalisations from rugby in 2023–24, the top 3 most injured body parts across all ages were:

• hip and lower limb, excluding ankle and foot (28% of injury hospitalisations or 1,300 cases)
• head and neck (26% of injury hospitalisations or just over 1,200 cases)
• shoulder and upper limb, excluding wrist and hand (20% of injury hospitalisations or 940 cases) (Figure 31).

Figure 31: Common injuries and causes of sports injury hospitalisations from rugby, Australia, 2023–24

For more detail, see data table 12.

Fractures accounted for more than half of all injury hospitalisations (or 2,400 cases), followed by soft-tissue injuries (21% of injury hospitalisations or 950 cases) and intracranial injuries (8% injury hospitalisations or 370 cases). About 96% of these intracranial injury hospitalisations were concussions: around 265 males and 87 females.

The top 3 common causes of injury hospitalisations from rugby in 2023–24 were: 

• falls (43% of injury hospitalisations or 2,000 cases)
• contact with living things (27% of injury hospitalisations or 1,200 cases)
• overexertion (7.2% of injury hospitalisations or 335 cases).

Other causes not listed (including those unspecified causes of injury hospitalisations) contributed to about 19% all injury hospitalisations from rugby.