The lure of the Olympic Rings

Photo courtesy zoomfiji.com

Photo courtesy zoomfiji.com

Much has been written about the importance of Rugby's readmission to the Olympic family and the inclusion of Rugby Sevens on the Olympic Program for 2016 and 2020 which was announced by the IOC in October 2009. For the Pacific Islands, the Rugby landscape has changed in a way we can't yet comprehend.

Opinion on whether this is good or bad for rugby is varied and depending on what side of the fence you sit on, you may view this decision as the Rugby's launching pad into huge new economic markets, or you may see this as the great big threat to the traditional fifteen-a-side game. For some, the jury is still out.

The changing landscape of Rugby
For better or worse though, the 'Olympic decision' will change the rugby landscape forever. Already Rugby is growing at an impressive rate in non-traditional rugby countries with huge economies. Huge growth in Africa, Asia and the United States is being attributed, in part, to Rugby's re-admission to the Olympic Games.

For the Pacific Islands, which, it should be noted, has won only one medal in the history of Olympic Competition (Tongan Boxer Paea Wolfgram won the super heavyweight silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics  - legend has it that he fought the final against Ukrainian superstar Vladimir Klitschko with a broken hand) - the 'Olympic decision' could be one of the most important sporting decisions in recent times. And the allure of Olympic glory cannot be underestimated.

Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and even Papua New Guinea now have genuine claims on an Olympic medal and the ramifications for the sport in the region could be huge. No other region is as competitive in Rugby Sevens as the Oceania region. Samoa are the current HSBC Sevens World Series Champions and Australia are the current Women's Rugby World Cup Champions. At the 2010/11 IRB Sevens World Series, Oceania teams won all eight of the tournaments in the series.

However, governments in traditional and, increasingly, in non-traditional rugby markets, are pouring funds into Sevens Rugby at an impressive rate - with many viewing Rugby Sevens as a soft medal target for Rio 2016. How effective a sudden influx of government funding will be in improving the performance of teams ahead of Rio only time will tell. However it has been interesting to watch how teams like the USA and Russia have improved in the past two years of the Sevens World Series.

It is hard not to imagine that the investment in Rugby by governments with very deep pockets will not change the international competitiveness of Rugby Sevens and erode the dominance of the Oceania Region and the Pacific Islands.

So how can the Pacific Islands, all developing economies, ensure they stay ahead of the pack and compete with the new wave of competition from big countries with big budgets?

Creating a level playing field
Olympic Solidarity, the IOC's hugely impressive development arm, is a USD311,000,000 behemoth. Yet it is not the panacea that many make it out to be. Whilst there is a lot of money available for the growth of sport through Olympic Solidarity, it is spent throughout more than 200 countries and through a diverse range of programs designed not only to grow and develop sport, but also to increase awareness of the Olympic movement, increase participation rates of women at all levels of sport and in some instances, to build facilities. Those that look to Olympic Solidarity as the only way to level the playing field will fail.

In seeking to level the playing field you have to look at the factors that you can control and look at how best to exploit your competitive advantage. Too often in the Pacific Islands we look at the reasons why we can't succeed (i.e. not enough money), when really there are a number of factors within our control that, if exploited properly, can never be matched by most countries irrespective of the size of their budget.

The competitive advantage that is uniquely Pacific

Anyone who drives through a village on any given afternoon (except Sunday!) in Fiji will see a game of 'One touch rugby'. For many this is the genesis of Sevens Rugby and watching it goes a long way to explaining Fiji's long-standing reputation as some of the finest proponents of Sevens Rugby. It is a scene replicated throughout the Pacific - in Samoa, Tonga, Niue and Cook Islands and increasingly in countries like Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands - men, women and children are immersing themselves in the game that emphasises creating space, committing defence and letting the ball do the work. Every day - men, women and children are honing that innate ability for Sevens Rugby which is so synonymous with the Pacific Islands.

More by accident, than by design, there is critical mass of Sevens Rugby players being developed on a daily basis throughout the Pacific Islands.

It's what the Rugby Unions do with this critical mass which is so important and where the second key competitive advantage comes into play. Already the Samoa Rugby Union has inducted it's first group of Women's players into it's IRB Funded High Performance Program. As has the Tonga Rugby Union. And this week the Fiji Rugby Union assembled a squad of 40 players to prepare the women's team for the upcoming Pacific Games in Noumea. The Pacific Island Unions are looking increasingly towards women's Rugby as a viable pathway for Olympic Games qualification.

And what these three Unions can do that most other Unions in the world can't do, is assemble their squads on a daily basis. The geography of these countries - Samoa and Tonga in particular - means it is far easier to assemble their talent identified squad of players on a daily basis to train and compete. Managed properly, this presents a huge competitive advantage for the Pacific Island Unions which, when coupled with the a critical mass of players being developed throughout the villages, presents an intriguing opportunity for Pacific Island rugby.

The question now is - how strong is the lure of Olympic Gold?