Dubai: The elevation to an Olympic sport has helped sevens rugby draw more fans and corporate interest over the past one year, according to one of the game's top officials.
Speaking exclusively to Gulf News on the eve of Dubai Rugby Sevens, Beth Coalter, International Rugby Board (IRB) Tournament Operations Manager said roping in a title-sponsor for the Sevens World Series is a testimony of this format's growing popularity.
"It has been a busy few months getting the first ever title sponsorship in place before the Series started, so having HSBC now as a title sponsor is a major step forward," she said.
Coalter, a regular at the Dubai event which acts as the series opener to the World Series, was bowled over at the response the event attracted at the just concluded Asian Games in Guangzhou.
"It was simply amazing - a 38,000-seat stadium was choc-a-bloc when China and Hong Kong men and women's teams were playing and then around 20,000 for the rest of the time — and this was over all three days of the competition," Coalter said.
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The last couple of months have served as a good advertisement for the sport as Sevens made its debut first in the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and then the Asian Games. "As everyone knows, there were issues with the organisation of the Commonwealth Games but the Sevens event attracted more broadcast interest and was the best presented sport at the Games," she observed.
Asked how the IRB plans to leverage on the sudden buzz around the Sevens, Coalter said: "We have also been working on the Sevens Strategic Plan which is now being reviewed by all our member unions. So after so much talk about Sevens and the Series, it is great to be able to actually be in Dubai to get started."
The governing body, however, is in no rush to add new stops to the existing eight events in the World Series. "The 2010-11 season is the last year of the current five-year series and we may have to add a few more stops next time. However, we do not intend to have more than 10 tournaments in the series," she said.
The shorter format of the game has, over the years, produced its own heroes like a Waisale Serevi or Ben Gollings in recent times. Asked if the IRB has plans to start an exclusive Hall of Fame for them, Coalter said: "Yes, we really want to have this up and running now that we have key players who have become so competitive. The Series is in its 12th year, so we have some good names to include should this get started."
Traditional game
The popularity of the Sevens game does not pose a threat to the traditional 15-a-side rugby, according to Beth Coalter, the IRB Sevens Manager.
"We have RWC (Rugby World Cup) 2011 in New Zealand next year which is a fifteens tournament and the interest in that is massive. Sevens offers teams other than the big nations such as Russia, China, Portugal, Zimbabwe, the opportunity to compete on an international level," she felt when quizzed on the subject.
"Sevens, in a way, offers players the opportunity to play on the world stage where they get noticed by their national Fifteens teams and get selected to represent them in the traditional game," she added.
