NICK JORDAN
back to news »How the IRB Sevens could get bigger and better
In my last blog I looked at which teams might make the Olympic Games men’s competition in 2016. How they get there is another interesting exercise. Also in this blog edition, I'm going to pitch my ideas on what should happen to the IRB Sevens when the contracts end on each of the eight tournaments in mid-2011.
The IRB’s successful pitch to the IOC included a description of their preferred qualification process, one structured around six regional tournaments - Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, North America & the Caribbean and South America – and be scheduled for 2015 and early 2016.
All member unions would be required to attend, which means no automatic qualification for anyone, not New Zealand, not Fiji, not the United Kingdom!
This is very much like the RWC Sevens qualifying system so, based on Dubai 2009, the Rio 2016 qualifiers are likely to be staged as follows:
July 2015 Europe
August Oceania
September Africa
October Asia
October North America and the Caribbean
January 2016 South America
These qualifiers add a bunch of tournaments to the calendar alongside the IRB Sevens, which currently takes in five regions, however the time is fast approaching for the IRB to 'lock in' these regional championship events, not only in Olympic qualifying year but in every second year at worst.
Europe currently has a strong circuit (six tournaments with a final in Hanover in 2009) and Asia has a new series, however none of the other regions could yet claim to produce a ‘continental champion’ every year or two.
How about seeing the FORU, CAR, NACRA and CONSUR regions produce a top team in the years when they don’t have their multi-sport games - the South Pacific Games, Pan American Games and All Africa Games which are to be held in 2011?
This constant diet of Rugby Sevens would not only spread the game globally, reaching out to new audiences and commercial partners, it would give more teams an opportunity to play at the international level and strengthen their development in the quest for an Olympic gold medal.
IRB Sevens set for rejig
Furthermore, the time is right for an expansion of the IRB Sevens and the IRB has already hinted at this at the recent Dubai Sevens. Contracts are due to end for each of the eight tournaments in mid-2011.
What Dublin (IRB HQ) will probably do is expand to 10 events, what they might do is go to 12, what they should do is something quite different again!
A 10-round series running from September to March to finish in Hong Kong is what will probably happen, according to those in the know at Dubai. This scenario would need two new events and two calendar re-shuffles, the obvious two being London and Edinburgh from late May.
Add Punta del Este and Mar del Plata in January, retain the other six tournaments and there you have the new season.
But why simply stick with the same old same old? How about taking the plunge to 12 tournaments and restructuring the season, with half pre-Christmas and half post?
Twelve tournaments theoretically offers the chance for two per region, but logistics might dictate otherwise, so let’s consider the following.
Start the season in September with a proper launch at Twickenham, which after ten years has finally got a tournament to be proud of, but offer the Murrayfield event to Portugal, Russia or Germany (especially if one of the latter two are selected to host RWC Sevens 2013).
Portugal arguably deserve to host an event on the relative playing strength of the two nations and even my Scottish friends would agree a week on the Algarve has it over their capital city!
Dubai would stay in its timeslot but George, although it has done well to support the Series for eight years, is now too small for the burgeoning sport and a new location such as Port Elizabeth or Cape Town, both with sparkling new FIFA World Cup 2010 stadiums, should be considered to host the South African leg.
Moving into a new year, why not give a leg to Rio now, especially as Mike Miller says “Rio and Rugby are made for each other”. Sad, admittedly, for one of Punta or Mar del Plata but a very strategic move to get the Brazilians ready for 2016.
Wellington ain’t broke so doesn’t need fixing and Las Vegas is an exciting addition, although they said that about Los Angeles and San Diego when they made their debut, so let’s not count any chickens until at least February.
In fact, let’s head back a step and for now stage Vegas in October, not February, and partner it with a NACRA nation like Mexico, Guyana or the Cayman Islands. Fancy a week in Cancun just as the north heads to winter anyone?
Wellington could then twin with Fiji, if they can sort out their political issues, or Samoa or Tahiti at a stretch. No one can argue the playing strength of the first two options and there would definitely be standing room only at both venues!
And prior to Hong Kong, let’s stick with Australia (even though that makes three tournaments in FORU and only one in CAR) though farewell Adelaide to go to the Gold Coast to reinforce that sunny, summer, beach party feel.
Grand Slam?
Another innovation which a 12-tournament series opens up is the tennis and golf-style Grand Slam.
Involving 24 teams over three days, like Hong Kong is now, the Grand Slams would be considered as showcase events representing the excellence of the circuit, and therefore more prestigious.
Levels of promotion, media coverage and hospitality would be higher and it would be expected that competition for hosting these events would be intense. The obvious candidates for the first cut, however, are London, Dubai, Wellington and Hong Kong.
So the possibility exists for a circuit from 2011 of:
September: London (GS), Portugal
October: Las Vegas, Cayman Islands
December: Dubai (GS), Port Elizabeth
January: Punta del Este, Rio de Janeiro
February: Wellington (GS), Suva
March: Gold Coast, Hong Kong (GS)
With a bit of forward thinking, Dublin could implement this from 2011, however, what I would like to see is the 12 tournaments staged in a calendar year - Dubai finishing the season rather than starting it – and what I would really like to see is a plan to increase to 18 events (three per region) after 2016 when interest in the sport will be even higher than now.
How about this for 2017 onwards?
January: Punta del Este, Rio de Janeiro
February: Wellington (GS), Suva
March -
April: Hong Kong (GS late March), Asia
May: Tangiers, Europe
June: Cayman Islands, Nairobi
July: Las Vegas, Canada
August -
September: London (GS), Portugal
October: Gold Coast, Port Elizabeth
Nov: (late)/Dec Mar del Plata, Dubai (GS)
December -
Expansion crucial
The competition for the Asian event would probably be between Japan (hosts of RWC 2019 of course), Singapore (previous hosts and with a new stadium being built) and Malaysia (Borneo have expressed some interest after the inaugural Asian Sevens Series).
Likewise, the European sojourn in May could either be to Amsterdam (one of the highlights of the club circuit), Rome (which stages a spectacular party in early June) or in fact many other FIRA-AER members.
Morocco and Kenya have shown both with team performances and their annual ‘satellite’ Sevens that they are worthy hosts and the Abbotsford Sevens in Canada made an impressive debut in 2009.
The USA should be encouraged to have their tournament moved to around the Fourth of July and partnered with Canada. The summer sevens season in North America is peppered with club tournaments and an international component would make a worthwhile addition.
An October time slot on the Gold Coast would be at the end of the Australian season, and thus away from the clutter of the AFL and NRL, and likewise with South Africa and the Currie Cup.
In awarding tournaments to get to 12 and then 18 events, the IRB should consider beefing up the criteria for hosting that includes the participation of the national team in a minimum number of events on the IRB Sevens, a national circuit (or at least championships) and a commitment to develop both youth and women’s events running alongside the senior tournament. That would really see the game develop!
By doing this, a series of satellite and challenger tournaments are likely to sprout for teams wanting to crack the IRB Sevens tour, and ensure the sport is indeed a big deal by the end of the decade.
This calendar, admittedly a massive increase in a short period of time, also leaves the door open for continental championships (or dare I say it the RWC Sevens) in March, August for the Olympics and December for an end-of-season spectacle along the lines of the Tennis Masters Cup.
In my next blog I will expand on this concept.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nick’s our voice from Down Under. He has an eye for stats and is constantly thinking ahead to future events and the ramifications that structural changes in Sevens could bring. A former Tournament Director of the Wellington and Singapore Sevens, Nick has also consulted for the London leg of the World Series while also contributing for the Rugby Times and Rugby News. All blogumnists views published here are that of the author and not UR7s.com
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Flickr
COMMENTS
Calvin White Sun 17 Jan 2010 02:44
Nick, you have some good points. I want to educate you about CONSUR & NACRA. They have a tournament every year. NACRA is in November, CONSUR in January. the rest of the global schedule seems to be missing some massive countries. What about Russia? What about China? You have to include them. Not sure we need Tangiers, Portugal, Punta or MDP not both. Cheers, CW
Reply | Report this PostCalvin White Sun 17 Jan 2010 02:46
Nick, you have some good points. I want to educate you about CONSUR & NACRA. They have a tournament every year. NACRA is in November, CONSUR in January. the rest of the global schedule seems to be missing some massive countries. What about Russia? What about China? You have to include them. Not sure we need Tangiers, Portugal, Punta or MDP not both. Cheers, CW
Reply | Report this PostJohn Sun 17 Jan 2010 09:47
As we have seen with 15s Rugby don't we need to be careful not to overload people with 7s rugby? having so many tournaments in many coutnires is great for expansion in those countries holding the event. Will nterest and television numbers still be high with so many tournaments? with less tournaments comes a small window of opportunity for smaller nations to upset the more dominant teams which becomes unqiue, special and one to remember. With more tournaments will this still be the case? having one 'grand slam' such as Hong Kong is what makes Hong Kong so special . Some teams even define thier IRB season by thier success at HK.
Reply | Report this PostIRB circut should be the premier 7s league, the Olympics the world wide event, having onlyt 8 tournaments keeps the fans keen and the players hungry and excited that they cant wait for next leg or the next season. Having too much could change this. Just my thoughts, the postitive......who ever thought we would be talking about sevens in such a way?
mark Thu 28 Jan 2010 18:23
good idea, but what about tradition how can there not be 7's in the birthplace, Scotland.
Reply | Report this PostI'm in the US so dont have any connection but like the idea of continuing to play where it all began.
Jamie Sun 31 Jan 2010 02:21
what grand ideas! Some great plans Nick. Some observations. 1) As suggested already we need to be very careful about overload there is far too much 15's, we do not want 7's go the same way. I agree with 12 events. 2) Some excellent ideas for potential locations - Suva certainly needs to happen ASAP! (Nairobi & Rio/MdP too?!) Additionally as someone else pointed out surely there needs to be a tourney in Scotland? Yes it has been poorly supported at Murrayfield but get Melrose off the ground! There would be no concerns over support there, and starting the season at the home of 7's would bring a unique element... I can hear the great B Mclaren describing it as "One of the great occasions in rugby football" it would further develop both the cultural richness of the series but also the history and tradition. It would also fit very well with your idea of finishing the series in HK. 3) Grand Slams - a nice concept but is it a little bit artificial creating them intentionally? will people get into it or will they go for it because they have to? 4) IRB WSS in 2015 as well as Olympic qualification tournaments do I understand correctly? Surely they can be fused together?
Reply | Report this PostSimi Su Wed 9 Jun 2010 04:55
Sevens rugby in Vegas in July ??? ABSOLUTELY NOT !!! Average temperature in Vegas from late May to late Sept is 105-110 degrees! Nobody goes outside let alone can play in that weather until after midnight. Vegas is a great location with accomodations and entertainment but the actual field is not to rugby regulations. However the best rugby stadiums in the US are Home Depot in Carson, CA and the new Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, UT. If you're going to hold a US leg after April why not Utah? (stop laughing) They have the best high school rugby teams in the US the past 12 years and two of the top university teams in the US, along with the many rugby clubs and has one of the largest concentrations of rugby fans in the entire US. If you had a Canada stop in May or June, you could pair it with a US stop in Utah.
Reply | Report this PostKenny Thao Tue 15 Feb 2011 20:14
Hmong Classified (www.hmongclassified.org) is a Hmong community online marketplace for personal or business advertising and free of charge. Sign up and start submitting ads today. Keep our site in mind for future advertisement, when your organization has something (events, rental, program, etc…) and would like the Hmong community to know about. Thank you for your consideration.Kenny Thaowww.hmongclassified.orgceo@hmongclassified.org
Reply | Report this PostAngel Sat 14 Apr 2012 09:55
Thanks Kermit, the site has not seen much action reelntcy and needs to be updated both content and layout. It is running the latest wordpress but I think some of the plugins could do with some work. The navigation needs to be overhauled as the plugin doesn't do the best job. We are looking at a number of other themes and CMS options.
Reply | Report this PostPOST A COMMENT