Success of sevens hailed as catalyst for global surge in rugby's prestige

Published on Thursday 7 April 2011 19:50

THE VALUE of sevens rugby to the sport as a whole is fast becoming recognised as rugby begins to take off in Russia and the USA and the home unions even come together to form a new Great Britain team to compete in the Olympic Games in 2016.

In tomorrow's programme for the QUBE GB Melrose Sevens, Dr Syd Millar, the former Ireland internationalist and IRB chairman, explains in some detail how central the sevens game has been to a new surge in growth of rugby being witnessed across the world.

The SRU is seeing growth too, reaching a new recorded high of 38,000 players last year, with pioneering work into all corners of Scotland paying off with more youngsters taking to the game. But there remain concerns in Scottish senior rugby, and not just stemming from the fact that that figure still leaves Scotland behind 13 other nations in terms of its number of players.

Highlighted last weekend by Hawick's failure to fulfil a fixture and the ongoing difficulty in 2nds and 3rds fixtures being fulfilled, there remains concern at the struggles, largely by volunteers, to bring players through to the senior game after they leave school.

The SRU were quick to state this week that the sport is in rude health and growing, but that is perhaps compared with five years ago and so does not quite ring true among those who remember famous senior clubs such as Hawick, Gala, Melrose, Heriot's and even relative newcomers Currie fielding as many as five or six senior sides on Saturdays when now they struggle to unearth enough players to fill two or three.

Where once the town of Hawick had as many as 12 senior male teams taking to the field on weekends, they are now working hard to find enough players for four senior sides every week.

It is ironic then that the game Scotland invented is now providing hope to other nations.

Dr Millar is a long-time supporter of the Melrose Sevens and was a fan of having the Greenyards as a new IRB World Sevens Series venue before the SRU decided that Murrayfield would be a better host venue.

The former British and Irish Lions front row, and successful Lions coach, is convinced that the sport worldwide is now experiencing its greatest-ever growth - and largely thanks to the seven-a-side game.

In the programme article, he writes: "As we gather at Melrose for the oldest Rugby Sevens tournament in the world, the phenomenal journey that began here well over a century ago is entering a new and exciting phase with the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 set to shape Rugby Sevens for generations to come.

"More than a year on from the historic International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote in Copenhagen to re-admit rugby into the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games, planning and preparation for this historic landmark in the sport's history are well under way …

"That has been the catalyst for unprecedented growth of Rugby with over 3.5 million men, women and children across every continent enjoying a sport with strong values that is suitable for all shapes and sizes.

"With inclusion secured the future of sevens is certainly rosy. This weekend will see a sport that delivers great excitement, skill, drama and ultimately unpredictability, and that is the beauty. Sevens is a sport where Kenya can upset New Zealand and Russia topple England. It is a sport that is suited to the Olympics, suited to television and suited to emerging countries.

"The knock-on effects of inclusion have been overwhelming. Rugby is now a school sport in Russia, who are also set to host Rugby World Cup Sevens 2014, and has enjoyed an unprecedented rise in player numbers over the past year with more than 600,000 new players joining the global rugby family"

There has also been a noticeable rise in interest in the USA, where Dr Millar stated that the new Olympic sport is the third fastest-growing across the nation. Mainstream broadcasters NBC screened the Las Vegas leg of the IRB World Sevens Series this year - the first time a rugby event has been broadcast live on network television in the US - and NBC have also now committed to provide live coverage of the Rugby World Cup from New Zealand.

Dr Millar adds: "These factors support the IRB's argument that Olympic inclusion was essential for the ongoing growth and health of the game."

As supporters turn up to or tune in to the event where it all began tomorrow, the sun bakes a club ground and a rare five-figure crowd, it might be worth pondering how the development it has spawned could again help rugby in Scotland.