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Soccer may be the world’s most popular sport by a pretty significant margin, but rugby isn’t doing too badly either, all things considered.

Among the nations of South Africa, England, Wales, Ireland, France, Australia and New Zealand in particular, there’s an appreciation for the sport that sometimes seems to verge on the religious.

And part of what’s remarkable about rugby culture, as a rule, is that it’s generally polite and civilised, in spite of the rugged nature of the sport. As the old saying goes, “rugby is a hooligans game, played by gentlemen.”

In recent years, rugby has been making inroads in places outside of its traditional “heartlands,” and many amateur and local level rugby teams are springing up all over the place.

As it so happens, there are a good few reasons why it might be worth visiting STC Teamwear to buy yourself some kit, and then getting in on the action.

Here are a few benefits of joining a rugby team.

• It can help you to develop a good balance of power and endurance

Rugby is a great sport for people who want to improve their athleticism in a variety of ways at once – particularly in terms of developing their cardiovascular conditioning, while also building a good deal of power and strength.

One of the major benefits of playing sports at an amateur level, is always the simple fact that they’re good for your health and overall fitness. But not everyone wants to develop a runner’s, or tennis player’s physique.

Rugby can help to get you toned up – or help you to bulk up – while simultaneously working wonders for your heart and lungs.

• It can work really well for getting your aggression out in a reasonable way

We all get angry, irritated, and aggressive from time to time – and if we don’t have good outlets for dealing with that aggression, it can work its way out at the wrong moments and in the wrong situations.

Rugby really helps you to get your aggression out, because chasing people down and tackling them is a pretty good proxy for getting in a fight, but without the same risk of getting seriously injured, or killed.

In fact, this could be a reason why rugby culture is generally considered so strangely civilised and polite – rugby players manage to work their aggression out on the field.

If you feel like you could use an outlet, joining a rugby team could be the right step.

• It can help you to overcome your fears and develop confidence and character

Rugby can definitely be pretty intimidating, and if you doubt that, just watch some footage of the New Zealand All Blacks Doing their famous pre-game Haka, and then imagine them charging you down shortly afterwards.