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To mark the one year anniversary of rugby’s inclusion into the Olympic Games, Nick Jordan analyses the current state of the global game and assesses the developing regions' prospects of joining the Rio de Janeiro 2016 party.

One year has passed since Rugby Sevens was included in the Olympic Games and it has been twelve months of success.

This week's announcement that HSBC will sponsor the IRB Sevens World Series for five years comes on top of record broadcast figures for the last edition, with 325 million homes in 141 countries taking over 3500 hours of coverage.

The spread of the game to new territories saw Russia named host of the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013, several nations express interest in becoming part of the Series and a satellite series develop in Asia.

Club, invitation and college tournaments surfaced around the world while others have grown in both size and strength. The new series in Canada, the USA and the UK, for example, look certain to grow in the years ahead.

The base is building, while at the top of the pyramid Samoa won their first IRB title and the USA made their first final at IRB level.

The victory of Samoa (population 180,000) proves again that smaller countries can foot it with the larger ones, while the USA's achievement is likely to be repeated many times, given that one of the consequences of Olympic inclusion will be the opening up of funding, facilities and coaching in major economies like Russia, the USA and India.

The latter gets to see what lies ahead in the next few days as host of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Indian RFU President Pramod Khanna will proudly watch his national team play on the biggest stage in their lives and is witnessing the Rugby Sevens revolution every day.

India heading to Rio?

"The very inclusion in the Olympics is most exciting as it is bound to open up many avenues such as Government funding, sponsorships and promotion of the sport, particularly within the services, education and corporate sectors," he said. "Every one in India who is aware about its inclusion has only one question - will India qualify for the Rugby Sevens at the Olympics? That is a challenge for us."

India certainly could qualify. In fact, with their huge population and their time in the spotlight, they may become the model country of this new age of Sevens.

The team has the strength, speed and agility to achieve success in the abbreviated game, and their time at the International Rugby Academy New Zealand (IRANZ) in the hands of New Zealand greats Craig de Goldi, Karl te Nana and Christian Cullen, produced rapid results as they went on to win tournaments in Istanbul and Bradford.

Of course, most of these matches were against club teams and they face a daunting task in the Commonwealth Games where they take on South Africa, Wales and Tonga.

Murray Mexted, the former All Black who is Managing Director of IRANZ, believes India, and others like them, will need to take a long-term view.

"Many of the players have only started to play the game of rugby in their teenage years, which means they are at a disadvantage when it comes to what we call "rugby nuance", that instinctive feel for the game."

However, the 72-match back row forward saw several encouraging signs in his time with the Indian team.

"We saw significant improvements and behaviour changes during the 10 day programme. The most significant difference we saw was in the work ethic and attitude to training. It was extremely satisfying to see the improved performance in their internal trial that took place at the conclusion of the programme."

"It is important that there is a competitive and meaningful competition within India, and the players have opportunities to play the game at the highest level possible. The National Federation must continue to seek assistance from rugby specialists like IRANZ who are able to provide high-level, specialist expertise in all areas of the game." 

Buzz for 7s

India will rely heavily on the support of the Government and corporate sector to deliver these programmes for the players, but Khanna sees a bright future.

"The Olympics is the maximum any sport discipline can be included in," he says. "There is bound to be a lot of awareness among the public, the Government as well as with potential sponsors. Suddenly there are lots of people asking about Rugby and this is a reassurance that even the world Olympic body is looking at Rugby favourably."

Another seeing investment from its government is Jamaica, a country well known for its sprinters, although Jamaican Rugby Union Chief Executive Anne Shirley says more is needed.

"We are receiving some sponsorship through the Sports Development Foundation, but given our current economic situation, I do not expect that there will be much more coming from that source," said Ms Shirley. "We have to join the line behind football, netball and track and field, and to a certain extent other minor sports such as basketball and volleyball.

"There is no question that we possess the raw talent to play the game of Rugby Sevens - what we need to do is to harness this."

The potential in Jamaica if young athletes crossed over to Rugby Sevens is enormous, leading Ms Shirley, who has been in the job for just under 12 months, to develop a strategic plan with the exciting title of "The Road to Rio 2016."

Jamaican potential

"We are rebuilding to programme around our two senior national teams, men's and women's, who preformed credibly in Guyana at the North American and Caribbean Championships in July and we have targeted the Las Vegas Sevens next February for both teams."

The hosts of that Las Vegas event are also decidedly positive about the benefits that flow from the Olympic fountain. USA national team coach Al Caravelli cites "legitimacy" as one of the greatest outcomes of the vote last October.

"We have been voted in as a Sports Member in the US Olympic Committee, one of 49, so that leads to more awareness outside of the rugby community for top tier athletes and more growth of the sport in the general USA public.

"We need increased funding for athletes to be fulltime and for identifying athletes across the USA and getting them up to speed with the basic rugby skills so they can compete on the international arena and be more than competitive," he said.

The USA public will expect nothing less than excellence from their Olympic team which Caravelli believes will come with additional resource, sports science and medical support from the USOC.

And, of course, the support is not confined to the men's game with 12 women's teams scheduled to take the field at Rio 2016.

"Indian women seem to have taken on to rugby with a passion," said Khanna. "Women's rugby is gaining huge popularity and it is unfortunate they do not figure in the Commonwealth Games."

Nor do they yet have an international circuit, despite pockets of activity in Las Vegas, Hong Kong and on the European circuit, and it remains a significant challenge for the IRB to grow the women's game to Olympic standard.

Other challenges include living up to the promises made to the IOC of thousands of travelling fans filling the venues. The tournaments in George, Adelaide and Edinburgh still do not attract the crowds so it is time for changes. And it is believed that these events, and at least one other, are being supported financially by the IRB, although the HSBC deal will alleviate that to some degree.

With so much good news and so much to look forward to, the strategic direction due to be finalised by the IRB in November is going to be critical.

Everyone's road to Rio will depend on it.

Related Articles:

Craig de Goldi on helping India Sevens
Guyana win CACSO gold

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