It’s difficult to know how the Olympics will cope with a game whose supporters include a bunch of blue-faced smurfs, Scooby-Doo, Pacman, a cluster of Power Rangers, at least a dozen Wonder Women and a smattering of wayward sheiks and Aussie beachgirls thrown in for good measure.
Yet while the raucous costumed supporters of Rugby Sevens celebrate with a comical air at international tournaments, the action on the field is stamped with blistering speed and physical intensity – which is why this booming sport will feature as a medal contest from the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
As a game offering thrills and fun at a furious pace, seven-a-side Rugby Union is significantly different in tactics and outcomes to the more recognised 15-a-side rugby game, being designed around tearaway dashes and lightning fast passing of the ball more than heavy tackling – though big contact between players remains an integral part of the contest.
It’s a tantalising spectator sport, with matches divided into two seven-minute halves and games succeeding each other in rapid succession (usually 20 games scheduled each day of a tournament), thrilling packed stadiums of revellers.
Having a form of Rugby accepted back into the Olympic fold is already providing benefits for this sport across the world, with increased funding and promotional opportunities emerging in many nations.
The greatest boom will be in player participation – and nowhere is this more evident than in the United States. Already touted as the highest participatory sport in US Colleges (679 colleges have registered teams), Rugby Sevens is being taken more seriously in a bid to challenge the heartland rugby nations for successful results. US Sevens coach Al Caravelli is scouting the ranks of former college athletes who fail to win professional NFL contacts, using their elite athleticism to bolster the playing ranks – with current US Sevens squad member Leonard Peters having been a former NFL tryout.
This policy is already reaping dividends that have shocked everyone involved in the sport, as the United States worked its way into the final of the IRB Sevens tournament in Adelaide, South Australia, on March 21, finally losing to Samoa 38-10. This match culminated the fourth staging of the Adelaide Rugby Sevens tournament, featuring teams from 16 countries – part of an international cup circuit that runs through eight host countries each year.
The inaugural Adelaide event in 2007, which attracted 25,000 
people over two days, including 3500 interstate or overseas visitors to generate $A2.5 million in direct visitor expenditure, gave local audiences a taste of what to expect from this fast-paced spectacle. And it has since gained further traction – stretching to a three-day event, and being televised by 29 broadcasters to a passionate rugby international audience in 130 countries.
My appetite for Rugby Sevens had been whet several years earlier after travelling with a group of rugby-mad mates to the most famous sporting party in the world – the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens tournament. This is indeed a bizarre odyssey, being the largest and most prestigious of the annual Rugby Sevens tournaments; over the three-day event you witness 60 matches between 24 competing nations. Fierce rivalries between such teams as New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa ensure epic contests – and the frivolity in the stands is even more overwhelming.
On day two of the Hong Kong Sevens tournament, everyone in the South Stand at Hong Kong Stadium attends in costume, a bizarre tradition started by expatriate Englishmen in the late 1970s, with groups usually following a particular theme. So you’ll get a gathering of 50 Smurfs in blue faces and white caps, 20 Pink Panthers in fake fur mascot costumes, a dozen Zena warrior princesses in leather battle gear looking ready to take on all comers.
One particularly craggy bunch of blokes who could have all been retired front-row forwards were dressed as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Snow White, with wingnut ears protruding from a wiry black wig and heavy scar tissue across the brow, looked … erm, striking. And alcohol consumption is, shall we say, very enthusiastic. Beer is sold in two-litre plastic jugs rather than by the cup, as are mixtures of gin and tonic, Red Bull and vodka, Screwdrivers and Bloody Marys. Understandably, the singing in the stands is raucous indeed.
At new Sevens tourn
aments, such as Adelaide, the fancy dress option has quickly taken hold among the crowd – as has wild celebration of the other cherished attraction of this sport: upset results, with supposed minnows of the sport defeating leading rugby nations.
Adelaide got its first taste of this in 2007, while its large east African migrant community was sent into rapture when Kenya defeated England to gain its first ever semi-final berth in a rugby tournament – and Kenya has since progressed to become one of the six leading countries in Rugby Sevens.
Such upsets will be expected more frequently as more nations bulk up their Rugby Sevens programs in the lead-up to the 2016 Olympic Games. It’s a primary reason why Rugby South Australia’s chief executive and Adelaide Sevens director Rob Nelson says the tournament will continue to have a great future as a spectator magnet in Adelaide.
“We deliver something unique as a sports event that’s more like a carnival,” says Nelson. “We’re using that as a platform to appeal to multiple audiences; to families for a fun-filled day out with lots of entertainment scheduled between matches, to singles who want to attend a great party event, and to true rugby fans who want to see more of the game. We’ve even used the arrival of the tournament in Adelaide to help us start a version of Rugby Sevens at school level and with 2000 participants last year it registered the highest participation among team sports in the State’s primary school sports program. That’s a whole generation of Rugby Sevens fans in the making.”
Nick Farr-Jones, former ca
ptain of the Australian Rugby Union 15-a-side team, who lead the Wallabies to win the 1991 World Cup, was in Adelaide for the 2010 Sevens tournament and was greatly impressed by game – especially the pathway of opportunity it represents for young competitors.
“Sevens is a passport to the world for these players. It’s quick and fast and I think it’s a fantastic thing that it’s been readmitted to the Olympics,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for young kids to pull on that national blazer, to get in that opening ceremony, to potentially get on a dias and win an Olympic medal.”
Photo Credits
“In the infamous South Stand, beach girls mingle with the Italian team players at the Hong Kong Sevens tournament.” Photo © David Sly
The following photos of courtesy of Adelaide Sevens:
“Sean Foley of Australia”, “New Zealand fan”, “Lote Raikabula of New Zealand”, “Wally and Friends”
As an Adelaidean and ardent fan of Australian Rules football, maybe I should have exposed myself, metaphorically speaking, to the Rugby Sevens tournament in my home town this month. But David’s story has certainly piqued my interest for next time. I’m looking forward to the non-stop action, in contrast to what I watched on TV on my recent trip to the States – three hours of constant tactical meetings between two teams of about 100 players each, interspersed by brief bursts of action. This, I believe, is called American ‘football” even though actual kicking of the ball is performed rarely, and then by only one person deemed to have a trustworthy leg.
Woohoo! I love rugby! I played (okay, played is probably an exaggeration, I was on the bench most of the time) rugby at university for the first time. Winger. Awesome sport, and sevens is amazing. The level of fitness required is awe-inspiring.
OK, David, you definitely have my attention. Being a typical Canuck, I live and breathe hockey and personally have had little exposure to traditional rugby, with the only game I ever attended being in your home country many years ago. I am looking forward to checking out Rugby Sevens, and will start channel and web surfing in hopes of finding some games to watch. From the comfort of my La-Z-Boy, I thank you for broadening my horizons.