ArticleChildren (Basel, Switzerland)2022
The Influence of Contextual Factors on the Relative Age Effect in Male International Rugby Union: The Impact of Sociocultural Influences and Playing Position.
Article in Children (Basel, Switzerland), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact characteristics of suspected concussions in elite Gaelic football and hurling: a video-based analysis.Irish journal of medical science · 2026Article
- Relative age effects in Rugby union and Rugby league: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Review
- Positional relative age effect in europe's top ten football leagues.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Relative Age Effect Is Widespread among Most Successful Youth, but Not in Senior Olympic Weightlifters.Journal of human kinetics · 2025Article
- Disentangling Gender and Relative Age Effects in Women's and Girls' Rugby Union.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2024Article
- The prevalence of relative age effects in a nationwide analysis of racket sports: Happy birthday?PloS one · 2024Article
- Talent identification and development in an English Premiership rugby union club: the perspectives of players and coaches.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The purpose of this study is not only to establish whether the relative age effect (RAE) exists in male international rugby union players, but also to investigate the impact of sociocultural influences (i.e., northern and southern hemispheres) and playing position (i.e., backs, forwards, and scrum-halves). The birth date and the playing position of 7144 senior male professional rugby players included in the rosters of the season 2020−2021 were collected from the top 10 nations of the World Rugby rankings (i.e., Argentina, Australia, England, France, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales). Data were analyzed using a chi-square goodness-of-fit test to compare the observed and expected birth quarter (Q) distributions. Results showed that relatively older players were overrepresented in all the sample (p < 0.001; Q1 = 28.8% vs. Q4 = 20.3%). In players competing in both hemispheres, the RAE was weak despite a more pronounced RAE emerging for southern players. In addition, the RAE was present in backs and forwards, but inconsistent for scrum-halves. In general, the data suggest that relatively older players may be more likely to reach expertise at senior levels than their later-born peers, and that the effect was consistent in different sociocultural contexts as well as in backs and forwards.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.