DUBAI: Wales and Australia were only two of the winners at the Rugby Sevens World Cup in Dubai on Saturday. Seven-a-side rugby as a completely independent sport was the third and perhaps the most important winner of all was the bid to include the game as part of the 2016 Olympics. It was the first ever women’s World Cup that gave a powerful argument to the IRB bid to have the sport at the Olympics as it proved beyond doubt the global inclusiveness of the sport by gender, race and nationality.
“This was a tremendous tournament this year for the men and women playing at the same time. We also had some delegates from the IOC here for this tournament and I am sure they were appreciative of what we have done,” said Bernard Lapasset International Rugby Board chairman.
Two delegates from the International Olympic Committee were at the tournament and saw Wales produce a major upset to the seeding-tables to emerge champions, while Australia won the inaugural women’s World Cup.
Rugby Sevens will compete with baseball, softball, golf, squash, karate and roller-sports for two available spaces in the 2016 Olympics. The decision will be made at the International Olympic Committee session in Copenhagen in October.
The campaign for inclusion received another boost on March 5 when the International Rugby Players’ Association (IRPA) and England’s Rugby Football Union both put their support behind the bid.
Word from the organizers is that the Olympic delegates “were impressed by the color and diversity of the two tournaments” that saw teams which featured teams from, apart from the traditional rugby nations, Brazil, Uganda, Tunisia and the Gulf. The final day produced rugby of the highest order from the men’s teams when completely against the best predictions from the sports pundits, favorites England, New Zealand, Champions Fiji and South Africa all succumbed to unfancied opposition who simply played their hearts out on the day.
“I think those upsets just underlines how competitive Sevens is generally,” reflected Kit McConnell, head of Rugby World Cup. “In terms of the Olympics it shows how many regions and countries around the world are now competitive at the top level.” It was though the success of the women’s tournament that strengthened the sport’s argument for inclusion in the 2016 Olympics. Always with an eye on the media and entertainment value of the games, the Olympic officials were rewarded with a 16-team tournament that produced athleticism and spread of nationalities equaling the men’s tournament and laid to rest any lingering thoughts of women’s rugby simply being a rather odd pastime for rather stern ladies. The final was as hard fought and gruelingly physical as the men’s and the capacity 34,000 crowds was on its feet with excitement. Match winning Australian try scorer Shelly Mitcham, still coming to terms with the team’s victory, knew exactly what had been achieved.
“It’s the start of something big I think. We’ve set a platform now and there’s the possibility of the Olympics coming up. It’s an exciting time to be involved with the rugby sevens,” she said in an interview just after arriving in Australia yesterday.
Sevens, apart from the sheer excitement, inclusiveness and crowd pulling potential has history on its side. The game is over 100 years old and the fifteens game was once an Olympic sport, but dropped after the 1924 games. Most importantly for the Olympic committee is sevens appeal as a television friendly sport with worldwide appeal. The Rugby World Cup Sevens was broadcast in 140 countries including the United States where it could well take root if given the extra exposure that would come from the Olympics. So thinks Tim Lacey, ex-player, investment banker and founder of a website promoting events for inclusion. He has experience in the business of sport as he acted as a consultant for the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles. “There are so many athletes there, the sport can attract players from athletics and American football.”
As with the winners of this year’s World Cup, the outcome of the bid for inclusion in the Olympics is unpredictable. Refused by the IOC twice in the last decade, the sport is generously qualified for inclusion; but then life is full of surprises is it not? And rugby would be the winner.
