The last couple of weeks have been big in terms of rugby in North America.
To begin with Rugby 7s made its debut at the Summer Olympics, which of course is huge in terms of the sport worldwide, not just on this continent.
Canada’s women’s team had a stunning opening day rolling over Japan 45-0 and then blitzing Brazil 38-0 Saturday.
Sunday Canada would find itself shut out in a 22-0 decision to Great Britain, but they rebounded later in the day to defeat France 15-6.
The Canadian gals then moved on to the Games semi-finals, dropping the contest 17-5 to Australia, relegating them to the bronze medal contest where they again faced Great Britain, exacting some revenge for the round robin loss winning 33-10 and winning the bronze medals.
It was a very satisfying result for rugby 7s in our country.
Unfortunately, the Canadians did not qualify on the mens’ side, but hopefully in four years.
Having rugby at the Olympics certainly raises the profile of the sport, and that says a lot for a sport already popular worldwide. While personally the Olympics are not high on my list, I do recognize the event is one all sports aspire to be part of. In some sense it is the pinnacle of sport achievement in terms of a sport achieving its highest level when it can find its way onto the limited list of sports in the Olympics.
I should note why, even as an ardent sports fan, I don’t get very excited by the Olympics, even less so for the summer version.
To begin with I am fiercely Canadian, so I appreciate when Canadians do well at sports, but therein lies my two core issues which combine to dim my interest in the Olympics.
Canada is simply not a particularly powerful country in terms of Summer Olympic sports. That is a result of several factors including a smaller population base, the tendency of athletes here to gravitate to sports with a possible pro future, (hockey, football, baseball), and a lack of government and corporate dollars to finance athlete development in Olympic sports.
In addition, most Summer Olympic sports just don’t make my interest list. In the past, at some point of boredom, I made a list of my favourite sports. Summer Olympic sports are not prominent on the list.
Basketball is on the list, but Canada’s men’s team disappointingly failed to make the Olympics even with two win and in games.
Rugby 7s is a list sport, but the men failed to make the cut. I’ll likely watch the Canadian women, but in general I don’t follow women’s sports very much.
I love badminton, but Canada is not likely in the mix barring a monster effort, and finding isolated badminton coverage is not easy.
But back to the important time for Rugby, one of the sports I do love.
The inaugural PRO Rugby North America season is in the books. I’ll refrain from mentioning the champions so those reading this can still search out the game and watch it fresh.
The league had only five teams to start the loop with, but regular readers will recall previous articles with Canadian players Ray Barkwill and Hubert Buydens talking about the league and its possible expansion into Canada in 2017.
Fledgling leagues rarely publicize crowd sizes, so it’s not immediately clear how successful the league may have been in that regard.
However, it is likely those involved with the PRO loop were aware going in it would take time to build a fan base in the US where a number of massive sport leagues are already deeply entrenched. Rugby, as great as the sport is, has to educate the North American fan, get them away from baseball or basketball once a week in favour of 15s rugger, and that will be a process.
A five-team league doesn’t draw national sport media attention either. The league has to grow numbers, with a dozen teams seeming the minimum number suggested by most. With luck one, or two of those teams will be in Canada.
PRO Rugby had expected to launch with six teams, but settled on five. I would anticipate they want hit 12 by next season, but that will depend on what the results of the first season suggest is realistic moving forward.
You will note I mentioned media not exactly rushing to follow the new PRO Rugby league.
Sports media has become infamous for taking the easy road to filling the myriad of channels these days.
A Junior hockey showcase in August with basically no fans in the stands is on TV. Reruns of last week’s CFL games, Aussie rules football from ‘Down Under’, etc find airtime.
The PRO Rugby league with a spattering of Canadian National Team players, and the prospect of Canadian expansion doesn’t make the cut.
Of course in winter the National Lacrosse League, with four Canadian teams doesn’t warrant a regular game of the week in a cable world with a growing number of Canadian sports channels.
A bit greater diversity in sports offerings would be great to see in Canada, with lots of opportunities for just that, from college football and basketball, to the NLL, and numerous other ‘non-traditional’ sport offerings.
I for one, can only watch so much hockey, especially in its current state, and we could certainly do with a few less basketball and baseball games with non-Canadian teams, in favour of something different, some fresh, something new.
