This weekend RSS attended the first ever Rugby Sevens Collegiate Championship Invitational tournament at Crew Stadium here in Columbus, Ohio. 16 of the best rugby programs from around the company competed in the inaugural event. The tournament was also the first national television exposure for the sport of rugby as the finals on Sunday and preliminary play on Saturday was shown on NBC. With rugby sevens becoming an Olympic sport in 2016, rugby seems to be on its way up in the American sporting landscape. So, can it make it as a cult sport, a must see event, or will it end up as an afterthought on the level of judo?
After being at the tournament this weekend, I'm cautiously optimistic about the future of rugby in the United States. Today's Championship Final, where Utah upset perennial #1 team and 25 time national champion California 31-26 in sudden death overtime, was as good as sports gets. There were 4 lead changes in the second half alone including a Cal try after the final buzzer to send the game into extra time and thrills from end to end throughout the game. Utah's Thretton Palamo (a US international 7's player above) was a beast on the pitch and shined as the tournament's best player, especially today. Let's look at some of the reasons why rugby can become successful in the United States on the heels of a fantastic tournament:
*Fast Pace - While I'm more of a fan of the traditional 15 man rugby version, sevens has a unique fast pace. Each game takes about 20 minutes to play (7 minute halves with a running clock and 3 minute halftime) and the games are played end to end at a fast pace. It's basically like watching the Phoenix Suns play Texas Tech football. With such a large field and so few players, one missed tackle can mean a run to the try line. Today's final featured 9 tries (touchdowns) in just over 20 minutes of action!
*Athleticism, Physicality, Speed, Big Hitting - Rugby features all of these great aspects of sport. The athletic ability of Utah's Palamo was ungodly to watch in person - think LeBron James on a football field. His size, speed, power and jukability was worth the price of admission alone. Watch these highlights and get an appreciation for all of the fantastic elements at work (Palamo is Utah's #2, sadly only one of his tries is shown). There's nothing quite as thrilling as watching players run in the open field and that is what Rugby 7s is all about. It's like playing backyard football, and who doesn't love that! When you add in the big hits, skill with the ball, and athleticism of the players - it makes for an exciting game.
*Scoring - As mentioned above, today's final between Utah and Cal featured a try almost every 2 minutes. When you consider a running clock for the conversion and kickoff, that's an insane amount of scoring in such a short time period. However, it's not like playing catch in the yard with the kids and everyone scores each time they touch the ball. Other games are played in the single digits and teens and even the thrilling final featured several huge tackles and takeaways. In rugby 7s there is a great balance between offense and defense that makes the game exciting.
With these positives, there are a few negatives that might hinder the sport's growth. The complexity of rugby and all of the various laws considering the tackle, lineout, and other penalties can make your head spin. Watching rugby on TV on the old Fox Sports World growing up, it took about a year of watching it to learn most all of the rules from scratch. You might have had fun watching it today for the first time on TV, but you probably didn't understand it fully if you're new to the game.
Also, being at the game, I definitely felt like an outsider to the rugby culture. Most of the people in the crowd seemed to know each other like they were all best friends and the casual fan felt somewhat out of place. You know what kind of people I'm talking about - big guys acting like meatheads and shouting weird things and girls wearing t-shirts that creatively use the word "ruck." There's a definite rugby culture in the US (especially at the college club level) that isn't necessarily mainstream.
So, all in all, the sport of rugby and rugby 7s specifically has a great potential to grow in the United States. It has the excitement, new Olympic pedigree, and most importantly - support at the national TV and grassroots level with more kids playing rugby each year to help it grow. With the evolving of the rugby culture and the gradual education of casual fans, the sport has the ability to take the 2016 Olympics by storm. At the very least, it could be the Summer Olympics version of curling!
2 comments:
I think that there is definitely room for rugby. As a comparision, I first saw Lacrosse 20 years ago, and I thought that it would stay in the Ivy League, but it has come on leaps and bounds here in Texas (great sport BTW).
My son is eight and he just started playing rugby. And already I have had lots of people interested, and a number of his friends have come along. The future of the sport has to start with the kids. When these kids reach college, they will bring the rugby ethos that is more 'family values' with them, rather than the 'give blood play rugby' tough guy type image.
Excellent point kevin, I think there is a good comparison to lacrosse, where there's been growth all over the country the past couple decades - the national title game is routinely seen on ESPN the past few years and there has been increasing TV coverage of the NCAA tournament. You are right that it really does start with the kids playing at a younger level combined with greater exposure (with an Olympic bounce sure to help as well). With so much on the American sports landscape, there should be room for rugby to at least sow a sizable niche out there.
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