How social media holds the key to turn Rugby into a truly global game

As World Rugby enters into a seven-year partnership with NBC in the US, it looks like we are embarking on an exciting time in the sport’s history.

Rugby union may only have been a professional sport for a matter of years, but there has been growth. In the southern hemisphere it’s always been big business, in the north, the European Champions Cup gets more popular year on year and the sport is thriving.

And yet, rugby still remains a minor pursuit in many corners of the world, and the USA is perhaps the chief one. As soccer, too, hopes to prove, if you crack America, you crack the world.

Rugby still has some way to go in order to rival even soccer in the US, though. The power of the other sports makes it more and more difficult for other sports to get a look in, and then there’s the question of just how you expect people to find time for something new. After all, no sport should expect that a US audience would ever give up on their traditionally big sports in order to adopt, say, rugby or soccer, as their main pastime. Should the strategy, then, just be to add rugby to the list rather than aim for the top?

Time is the crucial factor, though. More and more modern life feels fast paced, and good intentions are brushed under the rug for lack of time: that book you should read, the language you should learn, and the gym membership you should use are all gathering dust, and it’s not all through lack of desire…. Not totally, anyway.

But maybe the sport should be looking to social media just as much as it should be looking to big-name broadcasters like NBC.

Of course, all big sports want to be on TV, and clearly striking a deal with such a well-known broadcaster helps: it helps to broadcast the sport into people’s homes and it also lends a certain clout and prestige, too. And perhaps without such a presence, the sport would be less likely to take off on social media, too.

But one of the interesting lines to come out of the story is that NBC will be covering rugby sevens as well as 15s.

After the success of the rugby sevens tournament at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, rugby is growing in popularity around the world. Canada, for example, won a bronze medal in the women’s competition, whilst the USA were competitive, too. Both the Canadian and US sevens teams are forces in the sevens world in a way they could only dream of in 15s.

The shorter format – seven minutes per half – means multiple games a night and keeps things interesting. You don’t really have to be a fan of rugby to enjoy a sevens tournament. Especially if your country has a chance of winning – then there’s really something to get behind.

There’s something about such a short, fast-paced form of the game that lends itself to social media. Fewer players on the pitch – which is the same size – means more space to play in. And that, in turn, favours speedy, agile players rather than the bruising hulks that 15s often has on display. It all lends itself to a faster game with more scores and more spectacular plays, and is perhaps the sort of game many could get into whilst second screening social media or just browsing their normal evening internet scroll.

Rugby is a great sport at all levels of the game, but perhaps the secret to entering their new market isn’t the pure, long form of the game but the shorter, more spectacular form. Whilst the 15s form may be the version loved by most of the world, it might just be sevens that holds the key to real international participation of the game, or at least serve as the gateway drug to a new market. But one thing’s for sure – fighting your way into a new market relies on gaining interest quickly. And that’s something only sevens can achieve for rugby.

About author

Chris McMullan
Chris McMullan 831 posts

Chris is a sports journalist and editor of Digital Sport - follow him on Twitter @CJMcMullan_

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