Relative age effects in Rugby union and Rugby league: a systematic review and meta-analysis
P. R. Brustio, S. Cobley, A. N. Ungureanu, A. B. T. McAuley, C. Lupo, G. Boccia, K. Till, A. L. Kelly · 2026
Read Relative age effects in Rugby union and Rugby league: a systematic review and meta-analysis by P. R. Brustio, S. Cobley, A. N. Ungureanu, A. B. T. McAuley, C. Lupo, G. Boccia, K. Till, A. L. Kelly (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13279214.txt.
Description
P R Brustio and colleagues published a 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis of relative age effects in rugby union and rugby league. The effect describes how children born early in a selection year are overrepresented because they are older and bigger than peers born later. Searching six databases, the team pooled 26 studies and compared the share of players born in the first versus the last quarter of the year.
Among male players, 34.8 percent were born in the first quarter against 16.9 percent in the last, roughly doubling the odds. The bias was smaller in female players and strongest in youth categories, fading but not disappearing at senior level. Higher competition levels showed descriptively larger effects, particularly for youth males. Wide differences between studies urge caution about the exact size, yet the direction is consistent. The authors' synthesis gives selectors a quantitative basis for correcting birth-date bias in talent pathways.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | P. R. Brustio, S. Cobley, A. N. Ungureanu, A. B. T. McAuley, C. Lupo, G. Boccia, K. Till, A. L. Kelly |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 51 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |