October 9, 2009

Rugby Sevens – An Official Olympic Sport

Hi Friends

Tuning into CNN couldn’t have been a better start to this morning. Rugby Sevens is now an official Olympic sport - after years of lobbying by the International Rugby Board (IRB) and an excellent pitch by, among others, New Zealand legend Jonah Lomu and former Argentine captain Agustin Pichot, the International Olympic Committee voted 81/90 in Copenhagen and declared the inclusion of the sport at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Bra zil in 2016 and later in 2020.

So why is all this so important?

Firstly, Rugby Sevens is the sine qua non of Fijian culture and pride. I was born and bred in Fiji – a country which is fanatical about rugby. We have 5 Fijians in the top 20 all time try scorers in the IRB World Sevens series – on par with arch rivals and neighbours New Zealand. My good friend and national sports hero, Waisale Serevi a.k.a Small has been dubbed the greatest sevens player of all time. He is second in the IRB Sevens all time player points rankings.

Such is the dedication of the country to the sport that we went on to win so many international events and are considered amongst the top 2 rugby sevens teams on earth. Our performance history is rich, way back since 1977. The most notable was 2006 when we won the 2005/2006 IRB World Sevens Series. Sevens is somewhat innate to us – with anyone on the streets of Suva being able to recite names like Cama, Bari, Roko, Caucau, Serevi, Satala, Vunibaka, Ryder, Ligairi & Tuikabe in a snap.

Secondly, this announcement will be a great morale booster for the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) and may very well be the impetus to effect changes in the administration of the sport. Vodafone Fiji left the FRU on a lurch in 2004 by abandoning the sponsorship voluntarily in 2004 (citing team performance issues). Luckily Denis O’Brien had his sights set on launching his mobile company, Digicel, in Fiji (and the South Pacific). Digicel came to the rescue of Sevens in with an exclusive sponsorship package for the team around May 2006. Then Fiji won the 2005/2006 IRB World Series by winning the London leg of the series. This may be a bit self serving but when my company, JRA FIJI, was hired as the Advertising/PR agency for Digicel IRB SEvens Celebrations in 2006, I worked in unison with Digicel Jamaica and Fleishmann Hillard in Dublin, heading the strategic and creative direction for the campaign which was received extremely well in Fiji. This is when I got to know the team at a personal level with Serevi becoming a personal friend.

What now?

FRU needs to act – now. They need to draw up a strategic plan and together with the Ministry of Sports – get the country involved to prepare a winning team for 2016.

The Kiwis are already on it with an Olympic win being the ultimate goal. - NZRU CEO Steve Tew said: “Given New Zealanders shared passion for rugby and the Olympic Games, I am sure all Kiwi rugby fans would be excited at the prospect of our Sevens team representing New Zealand on the Olympic stage.”

Sponsorship for the Kiwis will be increased by 14-16 million dollars by the IOC’s announcement itself.

FRU will have to re-look at the development plan for the sport and re-engage Digicel and other possible sponsors to leverage the current sponsorship. The total demarcation of Serevi from the sport by the FRU also warrants an immediate review. He can not be considered passé anymore. I hope that Bill Gavoka, Keni and others at Rugby House are listening.

When the IOC made the announcement, IRB president Bernard Lapasset told reporters with a big smile, ”I am so excited so I will have to speak in French.” I await FRU’s reaction.

I will be doing my part to support the team in 2016 (details soon – exclusively on this blog).

To my fellow golfers – Yayyy! – we are in 2016 too.

On a humorous note however and lest I forget -