IRB President Bernard Lapasset says "the addition of Rugby Sevens to the Olympics would be a positive move for the sport -- and the 2016 Games." (Getty Images)
I read with interest John Goodbody’s comments in his opinion piece on Around the Rings this weekend.
While the IRB can accept constructive criticism, the article was inaccurate in several areas and highlighted a clear lack of understanding about Rugby Sevens and why the IRB is proposing this exciting sport for Olympic Games inclusion.
Rugby Sevens is increasingly the vehicle for Rugby to reach out to new players and fans in new markets. While the number of nations capable of winning the Rugby World Cup at fifteens may not currently reach beyond eight or ten nations, Rugby Sevens continues to demonstrate that it provides many nations across the world with an exciting sport and perhaps an opportunity to win an Olympic medal.
This year’s Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in Dubai was a spectacular event that delivered incredible action on the pitch and a memorable festival atmosphere off it. It was a landmark occasion, the world’s biggest international Rugby tournament ever hosted with 31 nations represented across the 24-team men’s and first-ever 16-team women’s tournaments. This was backed up by a regional qualification structure that involved 87 men’s and 83 women’s teams.
Such competitiveness is not a one off. The beauty of Sevens in its exciting, fourteen minute format is that the so called smaller Rugby nations can compete with the elite. This year alone Kenya reached their first ever IRB Sevens World Series final, while Argentina and Fiji both won Series events, and in the women’s game Brazil, Thailand and Uganda all qualified for Rugby World Cup Sevens. The men’s semi-finals at Rugby World Cup Sevens saw four continents represented in the shape of Argentina, Kenya, Wales and Samoa following upsets in thrilling quarter-finals.
The universality is not limited to the pitch either. Sevens continues to attract new fans from all around the world. The IRB Sevens World Series attracts sell-out attendances year on year with over 500,000 fans attending one or more of the eight annual events.
Where else would you see Kenyans partying in their thousands next to Tunisians, Argentinean's singing with the Welsh and Fijian’s dancing with the Americans? It is a truly unique experience and one that appeals to youthful audiences.
Rugby Sevens is popular with sponsors and has a growing global television audience. The Dubai event was a resounding broadcasting success. Its winning formula was a major hit with broadcasters the world over and has proven highly successful in reaching out to new audiences with the tournament televised in 141 countries through 29 broadcasters in 19 languages. This is the event that would become the Olympic event, truly the pinnacle of the four yearly Sevens cycle and the top players have all said that they would be there.
Rugby Sevens is played by men, women and children in the 116 national unions worldwide. It is already a success in a number of the major multisport tournaments, such as the Commonwealth Games, where a record sell-out crowd of 120,000 attended the two competition days in Melbourne in 2006, the World Games, the Asian Games, and Rugby Sevens will join the Pan-American Games and All-Africa Games in 2011.
It has been well documented that it would be difficult to run a meaningful fifteen-a-side tournament within the framework of the Olympic Games. The IRB’s primary concern is for the welfare of our athletes and being a physically demanding Rugby Sevens (Getty Images)
game, fifteens requires a minimum of three recovery days between matches. A fifteens tournament simply could not be completed within the Games’ 17 days.
Indeed Goodbody quotes from a deeply inaccurate and anonymous document called“Putting Rugby First” as if it was an official report from the IRB – it’s not. The document for instance fails to mention that Olympic Games inclusion is one of the IRB's five strategic goals and fundamental to the growth of the sport worldwide.
It is also inaccurate to suggest that there is no support from within the British game for Rugby Sevens or the concept of a GB Team. This is simply not true. Wales are the reigning Rugby World Cup Sevens champions, while England and Scotland have been leading teams for over a decade with some of the finest Rugby players from each nation having represented their national Sevens Team. The final two legs of the popular IRB Sevens World Series are in England and Scotland.
There is widespread support for a GB team, with leading players and officials all backing the concept. Indeed in August an unofficial GB team participated in the UK's Middlesex Sevens tournament. It was a highly successful move combining players, coaches and administrative staff from each Union.
We believe that inclusion in the world’s greatest sporting event, the Olympic Games, will inspire a new generation of rugby players across the globe and it will add to the appeal and the spirit of the Olympic experience.
We are proud of our sport and proud of our campaign to become part of the Olympic sports programme and we are looking forward to presenting to all the Members in Copenhagen on 9 October.
Bernard Lapasset
President, International Rugby Board
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