Rugby World Cup (minus the U.S.)
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of traveling to France for the 2007 Rugby World Cup with my wife and some close friends. It was an experience of a life time and something I plan on sharing with my son when he’s old enough to appreciate the sport. The atmosphere of an international event such as this one (officially the third largest international event behind the Summer Olympics and the Soccer World Cup) was something incredible to be a part of. You had people from countries all over the world in France to support their country’s conquest to hoist the coveted Webb Ellis Cup. People drinking in bars, eating in restaurants all eagerly watching whatever match happened to be playing. It didn’t even matter what teams were playing, if it was rugby, they were watching. It didn’t matter what country you were from either, there were South Africans mingling with Australians, two countries who are fierce rivals.
Not only did I get to just be in France while all of this was going on, I got to actually see two live matches. What an experience this was! I’ve been an avid sporst fan all my life. I’ve seen football both pro and college live, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer and even golf. Nothing compares though to being a part of such a special international event like a World Cup, something that only comes every 4 years. I think it’s the fans that really make it different. There isn’t that fear that when you’re sitting amongst a bunch of fans that are rooting for the team you’re not, you might get stabbed, something anyone who’s been to a inter-division pro football game would know. Everyone there is there for rugby, not even necessarily for their team. That might be an exaggeration, but it’s not far off. Even when a fan’s opposing team is taking a penalty kick, they quiet down to allow him to take his kick. This level of sportsmanship and respect is unheard of in the U.S.
Something else that really impressed me was that after watching South Africa play Samoa, despite Samoa getting crushed by South Africa, everyone stood up and cheered for Samoa for their effort. The reason for this is South Africa is a rugby powerhouse in the world, they’re one of the favorites to win this year’s cup. No one expected Samoa to defeat South Africa, you only hope for a good match. Because of the great effort Samoa put in (despite losing I believe 56-12) everyone applauded them for their effort. The great thing is, the Samoan players were very appreciative. They circled the entire field clapping at the fans in appreciation of their support. Unlike the U.S. and their professional sports fans, rugby fans want competition more than anything. Sports fans in the U.S. want to see the Yankees slaughter the Red Sox and the NY Giants annihilate the Dallas Cowboys. Where’s the sport in that? Or the fun? While every country has their fans, I truly got the sense that they were more fans of rugby than fans of South Africa or Ireland or Argentina. That’s what makes rugby special. But while I was having the time of my life in France during all of this, a bit of sadness came over me.
Going back to what I said earlier about taking my son to this event to share the experience, I’ve come to the realization that if I want my son to learn rugby at the youth level, I’ll have to teach him myself in my backyard. The reason is rugby is a 3rd rate sport in a 1st world country here in the U.S. And it will always be that way. I didn’t have the opportunity to learn rugby until I was in college and even then my team in college was a “club” sport meaning we were not recognized as a varisty team affiliated with the school. Currently where I live there are maybe 3 high school rugby teams, one of which is barely hanging on to existence. For me to be able to watch rugby on TV I had to subscribe to Direct TV, the only cable service that has the lone channel that broadcasts rugby (and it costs me $15 a month extra).
Rugby will never ever take off in this country and I’ll tell you why. Marketing. Pure and simple. You see in rugby there are no timeouts, commercial breaks or stoppages of play. The clock runs for 40 minutes, stops for 10 for a half time and then resumes for 40 more minutes until the match concludes. This is the problem and it’s the same problem soccer has. Promoters, marketers and TV networks have no opportunities to advertise because there are no commercials. Take a look at pro football, the actual game lasts 60 minutes, that’s 1/4 less than rugby! Yet a pro football game is 3 hours long! That means there’s 2 hours of commercials and other nonsense. I swear the more I’ve become involved in rugby, the harder I find it to watch pro football. And I’m someone who’s watched football since they were 10 years old and actually snuck into a bar away from a friends wedding to watch a playoff game. But all this advertising makes team owners money and TV networks money, so they’re happy and we keep watching.
The other problem is there are few egos in rugby and hardly any superstars. Rugby players are proud and privileged to represent their country or club team they’re playing for. In the U.S. pro athletes think, YOU are the ones privileges to be watching them. In what other country do pro athletes with millions of dollars break the law and throw their careers away? I think the U.S. is so egocentric that the reason they don’t embrace rugby like the rest of the world does is because they’re at the bottom of the pack and rugby didn’t come from the U.S. What are the three major sports in the U.S.? Football, baseball and basketball. What do they all have in common? They were all created in the U.S. It sounds crazy but think about it. Other than baseball, the rest of the world cannot even come close to competing with even the worst team in football. Look what happened to hockey, it’s best players are from Canada and overseas and the NHL is all but ready to fold. For some reason, people just didn’t embrace hockey. It’s al part of the machismo persona the U.S. has, to dominate the rest of the world. It’s not like the U.S. couldn’t one day be at the top of the rugby world, we have the money, we have the athletes, we just don’t care. Maybe it’s because we have too many sports that make it too difficult for a new sport to take off. Then again, look how lacrosse has exploded in the last 10 years.
I truly hope I am wrong and in the near future, rugby will be everywhere and my son will be able to play as early as he could as if he joined soccer. In the meantime I myself will continue to support the sport I’ve come to love and will continue to be a spectator at a truly remarkable international event, the Rugby World Cup.
(On Sep 25th, 2007 at 4:16 pm)
Nice article. Note however that baseball evolved from cricket and (gasp) basketball is Canadian in its origins. Your point still stands though since the US has dominated these sports for years.
(On Sep 25th, 2007 at 11:02 pm)
While Dr. James Naismith was in fact Canadian, he was residing in Springfield Massachusetts when he invented the game of Basketball, possibly because he couldn’t find enough people over 5 feet tall in Canada. Of course now in 2007 I’m sure many people would join me in saying thanks for nothing. And if you are talking about evolution you could make the case that American football evolved from soccer if you stretch it far enough, but I think the rather drastic differences between baseball and cricket make it a stand alone sport, and distinctly American. Now Rounders, thats a different story.
(On Sep 26th, 2007 at 12:42 am)
I’m pretty sure football has it’s roots in rugby, but I’m no expert, I just play one on Canadian TV.
(On Sep 26th, 2007 at 9:32 am)
Until Vic’s comment I had really thought you were on to something - considering that Lacrosse is the one American sport (yeah, we stole that from the indiginous as well).
But without Rugby, what would we U.S. Rugby players and fans do to maintain our “rebel” image?
(On Sep 26th, 2007 at 10:47 am)
As Kevin pointed out, basketball WAS invented in the US as was baseball. I wasn’t necessarily referring to where the sports originated from (i.e. baseball from cricket), rather that they began in this country, as opposed to hockey or rugby or soccer.
(On Sep 26th, 2007 at 10:36 pm)
basketball is 100% american. when we put the best possible players out on the field, no nation is touching the u.s. in baseball, football or basketball.
the nhl, however is no where near close to folding. i don’t have the exact numbers but revenue did go up last season, the proof being the raising of the salary cap.
josh does have many great points though, in fact the only one i disagree on is about the nhl.
it’s a shame when soccer is behind nascar in the ratings as far as major sports go, although nascar is not a sport in my eyes. soccer and rugby are two of the most popular sports in the world, yet they haven’t caught fire here.
it’s a shame that espn and sports illustrated have paid no front page attention to the rugby world cup.
very good article, josh.
(On Sep 26th, 2007 at 11:24 pm)
Actually athough the first football played in the U.S. was closest to soccer, most teams began converting to rugby in the 1870s after a college team from Canada brought the game down. However, within 30 years, football in the U.S. bore little resemblance to its rugby father. When some schools banned college football in 1906 and beyond, some West Coast schools brought rugby back.
(On Sep 27th, 2007 at 8:59 am)
Good stuff. The part about sportsmanship is truly lost here in the U.S. The one thing that I take away from every match is respect your opponent, no matter what level they are at compared to you, respect them. After 20 yrs of rugby this is still true. Coaching HS rugby I tried to instill this in my players act like a champion when you win or lose.
(On Oct 11th, 2007 at 3:35 pm)
World News Portal…
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…