Rugby sevens seems to fit the Olympics. The sport has, to a greater or lesser degree, the physicality of judo, the skill of rhythmic gymnastics, the athleticism of the 400m dash, the aggression of sprint cycling, and the gut-busting endurance of rowing. It’s fast and funky and fun. And it’s ready to bust out all over.
Sevens athletes range from amateur to semi-professional. They are among the fittest people at the Games. They mix sub-optimal endurance with high-octane effort. They need mental clarity under high fatigue. They train so hard they vomit. They run and run and run.
You wonder why it’s taken so long to be an Olympic sport. (And then you think, oh yes - the IOC.) Rugby, in one form or another, is played in 121 countries. There’s a sevens world series contested by 19 countries in 10 cities.
And did not Matthew McConaughey turn up to watch New Zealand play USA? And art met sport, and Twitter went bat-crazy. And the game went everywhere. For in America and by extension the world, star power has cachet. Star power is money.
Look at Australia’s best player, Charlotte Caslick, tearing about in her pig-tails, blowing hard around a mouthguard, all skinned knees and dirt and sweat. And that try-saving tackle against flying US winger Victoria Folayan – how about that? To the kids she’s Tank Girl, she’s girl power in green-and-gold. She’s fit, cool and a winner. Kids want to be her.
Fiji, too, were winners, capturing the country’s only medal of any colour ever. If Fiji was going to win an Olympic medal, it was going to be in rugby sevens. And even Great Britain, flogged in the final 43-7, appreciated the story of it, and their place in it.
The women’s sevens team has arguably been Australia’s greatest success at these Games. Unless the nation’s expectations were too high, their swimmers under-achieved. Rowers and cyclists were tipped for big things. A fancied long jumper didn’t make the final. Hockey was hopeless.
Little wonder that ARU chief executive Bill Pulver waxes so lyrically about the women, describing them as “wonderful, athletic, articulate, intelligent young Australians” who are “just extraordinary role models for any young girl thinking about picking up a rugby ball”.
Sure, the CEO would say that. But you can forgive the man for being bullish. Outside of the Rugby World Cup, the game’s been in the doldrums, somewhat, a clear third behind fellow professional football codes rugby league and Australian rules. And if the ARU can stake a flag in the ground on the back of sevens, well, they will.
“Rio will have a game-changing effect on the entire landscape of women’s sport,” reckons Pulver. “As a young girl considering what sport to play, not only is there an established world series in sevens rugby, there is now the ultimate carrot of becoming an Olympian and having a chance to compete on sport’s ultimate stage.”
Whatever else you say about the maggoty old sports carnival infused with drugs, corruption and political malarkey, there is cachet in the Games. Tax-payer-funded cachet. And rugby sevens funding will be secure right up to Tokyo. Because: gold medal.
It’s the same for other countries. Since rugby was announced at the Olympics, super powers like the USA and China have increased funding and playing numbers. Governments and national Olympic committees have invested in the game. Rugby is being taught in schools for the first time. Rio is a game changer for the sport.
World Rugby points to record participation growth since sevens was awarded an Olympic place seven years ago. Player numbers have doubled, according to WR, with 7.73 million players in 121 member unions worldwide. Women are the fastest-growing area, with 2 million players – up from 200,000 seven years go – representing 30% of that total.
And if Australian rugby is smart, the women will be everywhere. Rugby needs to capitalise on their talent and effectively sell them as the face of the game. Caslick, Ellia Green, Sharni Williams, Emma Tonegato, Chloe Dalton, need to be launched. And money will follow. Endorsements. All sorts of stuff. Caslick has a deal with Nike. You’ve got to think there’s more coming.
Few years ago when James O’Connor was just busting out and running around for the Wallabies, this tousle-haired 20-year-old, equal parts Justin Bieber and Tim Horan, Inside Sport put him on the cover, the first rugby union player in four years. Six months later he was the face of Swisse, the vitamin mob, heir apparent to Ricky Ponting. Perhaps it was coincidence…
But you can bet the Australia-centric Australian Football League – which kicks off an eight-team women’s competition next year – and the National Rugby League – which owns touch football – is watching. Caslick and a few of her team-mates came from touch footy. And they chose rugby sevens because, as Caslick says, they’d “done everything there was in touch”.
Aussie rules, rugby league and touch footy, by dint of their limited global appeal, have a ceiling. And rugby sevens has the Olympic Games.
If there’s a criticism of rugby in Rio, and it’s a valid one, is that the 15,000 capacity Deodoro Stadium never looked full, even for the gold medal matches. Pre-Games, organisers proclaimed that 70% of tickets had been sold. If that was true, some didn’t turn up. There was good noise made by those who were there. But the matches didn’t have that “thick” or “close” atmosphere big games can. You could put it down to Brazilians going through their worst recession since 1901. But it wasn’t a good look.
There’ll be a better look – and a better idea of where sevens rugby stands in the Australian sports-consumption market – when ARU hosts its Sydney Sevens in February 2017. Last time it was almost sold-out for two days, with nearly 80,000 party people dressing up and drinking down and watching footy in the hot Aussie sun.
And then, of course, there’s Tokyo, and the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in 2020. And they’ll just about fill the 45,000-seat Tokyo Stadium every day. The Cherry Blossoms (XVs) beat South Africa in the last World Cup. Millions of Japanese watched their sevens team beat New Zealand in Rio. These are the two biggest things to ever happen in Japanese rugby. Eddie Jones’s head was put on billboards 30m high. Japan is mad for it.
And rugby sevens is coming.
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