Rugby sevens is having a moment. Despite torrential rain, sweltering heat and the host of other sports and superstars that graced the Paris Olympics, rugby sevens managed to take center stage in the opening week, thanks in large part to superstars Ilona Maher and Antoine Dupont and many exciting activities. moments.
It’s the moment rugby enthusiasts around the world have been waiting for. For a week, rugby sevens was at the center of world sport and it did not disappoint. In the men’s sevens competition, France, led by fifteens superstar Antoine Dupont, beat two. time protecting gold medalist Fiji to win gold on home soil. On the women’s side, the Black Ferns Sevens (New Zealand) retained their gold medal by defeating the wonder group from Canada.
This impressive action attracted millions of spectators and created some of the most productive atmospheres of the Summer Olympics. The Stade de France was packed on every matchday and the women’s final even set a new attendance record for a women’s rugby occasion with 66,000 fans.
But the center of attention of the Olympic rugby tournament came in the women’s bronze medal match. In a moment the enthusiastic Americans will never forget, with seconds remaining, Alex Sedrick made several tackles and ran 90 meters to score the tying try. She then performed the conversion herself to win the bronze medal, the first American medal in rugby in exactly a century.
The enthusiasm generated by this tournament was not isolated. Rugby sevens, unlike rugby union, which is slower and has more interruptions, is known for generating brilliant moments in just fourteen minutes. This is a game built for the hip era, with limited attention spans and short video clips. Despite its fashionable format, the visibility of its stars and the threat represented through one or both moments of the same match, rugby sevens is considered the little brother of rugby union and, like rugby union, struggles to identify beyond. classic rugby nations.
However, thanks to the Olympic approach, for the first time, rugby sevens has gone beyond die-hard rugby enthusiasts and attracted casual spectators, who managers, players and rugby enthusiasts hope will continue to watch the game. The question is what will rugby sevens do to capitalise on this momentum and how can rugby grow so that it doesn’t have to rely on Olympic politics every four years to generate a global audience?
According to Owen Scannell, chief executive of Premier Rugby Sevens (PR7s), rugby sevens wants “more normal competitions, priorities and more opportunities for enthusiasts to watch”. That’s why he and his colleagues founded PR7s in 2021.
Scannell, a former rugby player at the school, saw a gap in the market for the game he enjoyed and set out to create a league from scratch in the world’s most competitive gaming market. He saw an opportunity for rugby sevens, which he said could simply “connect with the American public” and “be a valuable and impactful entertainment product”.
The RP7s were created with gender equivalence in mind. It promises equivalent salaries, equivalent access to high-performance services and promotion and access to equivalent media for all its athletes, men and women. Male and female games are even incorporated into the same game. day, which looks incredibly beautiful considering the skill that is demonstrated in either division at the Olympic Games.
As of 2021, the league now has 8 franchises, with one men’s and women’s team per franchise. Like foreign rugby sevens, PR7 is a circuit sport, meaning it travels around the country hosting events in other cities such as Formula 1. It has managed to bring rugby sevens to new markets across the United States. and airs on FS1 and CBS Sports Network. . It is also the spouse of USA Rugby and one of the only professional rugby sevens competitions in the world.
U. S. bronze medalist Sammy Sullivan directs the ball for her PR7 team, the Pittsburgh Steeltoes. . . . [ ] Chasing New Zealand gold medallists Tenika Willison (far left) and Manaia Nuku (far right), highlighted here for the New York hosts.
In fact, twenty-one PR7s have won medals at the Paris Olympics, adding five gold (New Zealand), four silver (Canada) and 12 bronze (United States). U. S. bronze medal winner Alex Sedrick, Fiji star Waisea Nacuqu and two-time gold medalist Stacey Waaka play in the RP7. In total, forty-three of the seven-a-side rugby players who participated in those Olympics were players with PR7 contracts.
According to Scannell, the PR7s “provide a point of contact for American enthusiasts to see players normally. ” It caters to rugby sevens in the same time zone and allows the next generation of players to learn about the game and play professionally.
With Paris 2024 in the rearview mirror and LA28 now firmly in the crosshairs, Scannell and company. We are committed to making PR7 the premier rugby sevens club competition, while enhancing the visibility of the sport. The latter will have been made less difficult by Michele Kang’s $4 million donation to the United States women’s rugby sevens team.
Kang is an entrepreneur and investor in women’s games. It has three women’s football teams: the Washington Spirit, Olympique Lyonnais Féminin and the London City Lionesses. Last July, he founded Kynisca Sports International, Ltd. to generate “unprecedented investment” in women’s football, professionalise women’s football with studies aimed at female athletes and “drive lasting change”. Just hours after the United States women’s team won the bronze medal against Australia, Kang announced that, through Kynisca Sports International, he would donate $4 million. spread over 4 years, to provide players and coaches with the resources they want to exercise and win at the 2028 Games. Los Angeles Olympic Games.
The magnitude of his gift cannot be underestimated. This shows the effect that a smart tournament can have on potential investors and is a testament to the fact that fans, even those who make the most money, are interested in the sport and enjoy it. In his official statement following the announcement, USA Rugby CEO Bill Goren said: “We are surprised and beyond grateful for this transformative gift from Michele to move USA Women’s Rugby forward. “
Game progression cannot be achieved only at the elite level. While Kang’s donation is significant for the elite of women’s rugby in the United States, there is still much work to be done to bring participation in rugby sevens to life. PR7s has introduced a next-generation talent initiative and hosts “Learn to Play Rugby” clinics in the communities where their matches take place. Scannell also says they’ve been hosting identity camps and skill tests for two years. The concept is to get young people to play games before college, where participation naturally takes off.
In his opinion, rugby sevens is the best way to get children to play rugby. The barrier to entry has been lowered because, unlike 15-year-olds, there are far fewer confusing rules, there is less risk of high-impact injuries, and players touch the ball more. In addition, the game can now sell the Olympic dream and, as Ilona Maher has shown, it must provide athletes with a platform that drives audience and awareness of the logo.
With the best packaging for trending games – exciting, digestible, featuring athletes of all shapes and sizes, and designed for TV moments – rugby sevens has all the ingredients to leverage its Olympic visibility and become a national game on a global scale. The United States is 4 years away from hosting the Olympics and the United States is focusing on expanding the game. But will this be enough to get this game off the ground?
Scannell says the real festival is about free time. Is rugby sevens exciting enough to attract would-be enthusiasts who have so many other opportunities in their spare time? He believes so, but for now, it requires more powerful player progression paths, as well as greater airtime, distribution and investment.
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