Olympics success could herald golden dawn for U.S. rugby

By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Rugby World Cup was a chastening experience for the USA Eagles, who were beaten in every match, but the 2016 Olympics could give renewed momentum to the United States' fastest growing sport. Ranked a modest 16th in the traditional 15-strong format of the game, the USA Eagles have come from nowhere to be an emerging force in Sevens rugby, a faster, simpler, TV-friendly version of the game that will feature in the Olympics. Success in Rio de Janeiro could drive rugby deeper into U.S. schools and colleges and help lay the foundations for a professional era that players, coaches and officials say is key the sport's long-term viability in the globe's biggest sports market. "Sevens is a really interesting thing and it's a brand of rugby that's taken off in the States in a big way, (both for) men and women," USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville said. A study of American sports published in 2014 found that rugby was the fastest-growing sport in the country, with participation numbers increasing 81 per cent from 2008-13. The fast-flowing Sevens format is ideal for the American sports market, popular with spectators while its seven-minute halves make television bosses and advertisers happy. NBC Sports, which broadcasts the Olympics in the United States, bought the rights for Sevens in 2011 and television is key to attracting the sponsorship and advertising deals that could fund a fully professional era. Success on the field of play is a precondition for the sport taking off, and the U.S. men's Sevens victory in the London leg of the World Series in May was a further fillip. They are now sixth in the world rankings while the women, who have also qualified for Rio, are ranked fifth. "The big thing in America is, if you can't be an NFL player, an NBA play or a baseball player, (but) you can be an Olympian, then that's the next best thing," said Mike Friday, head coach of the USA Men's Eagles Sevens. "The Olympics captures the imagination of the sporting public in America. If rugby can position itself and we can do well as an Olympic sport, then all of a sudden it will hit the eyes of so many more Americans," said Friday, a former England Sevens captain and coach. GRASSROOTS SURGE There was a time when rugby was a booming sport in America. Adopted by universities in the mid-1800s, it was played by three U.S. presidents, John F. Kennedy among them, and was once the dominant football code before American football took hold. In fact, the United States are the reigning Olympic champions, having won the rugby gold medal at the 1920 and 1924 games, the last time the sport featured at the summer games. Almost a century later, World Rugby, the sport's governing body, recognized the rebirth of rugby in the United States and named San Francisco as host for the 2019 Sevens World Cup. The move was a timely boost for USA Rugby, which has built its strategy around a nationwide youth program that officials say has introduced two million new players to the game since 2008, many at a much younger age than had been previously tried. "They're the seeds you plant in the ground for the harvest in the future," Melville said. "We're just starting to see those kids come through as the first generation who have been playing rugby for seven or eight years." Bruce Thomas, 28, club director of the San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Club, said several clubs in the area have more than 300 youth members and the sport is thriving in colleges in northern California. "Rugby is certainly growing, there's no denying that it's becoming a more recognized, established sport," he said. USA Men's Sevens captain Madison Hughes, 23, said he saw rugby growing despite a crowded U.S. sports landscape that includes American football, soccer and basketball. "Rugby's not trying to take over from some of those sports, but just trying to reach out to more people," Hughes said. "Especially in the United States, I think Sevens is the short-term vehicle for rugby to grow its popularity." LONG-TERM FUTURE But without a professional league, many USA Eagles stars are forced to ply their trade abroad - 19 of the men's 15s squad play for clubs in Europe. Few players can make a living from the game in the United States. The small number of players on USA Sevens contracts earn around £25,000-£45,000 ($38,600-$70,000)- a year, said Friday. That compares with the £100,000 a year that an established player in the English Premiership might earn and is a tiny fraction of the £13 million that English Premiership soccer star Wayne Rooney reportedly earns a year. In the United States, a professional league could also absorb athletes who fail to make it other sports. Sevens star Carlin Isles, for example, took up rugby after abandoning his goal of making it to the Olympics as a sprinter. "I think they need some sort of professional league that will capture the imagination of the American sporting public again and will allow them to grow tribal affiliations in terms of supporters," USA Sevens head coach Friday said. But developing the players in the specialist positions needed in the 15-person game in order to compete with the best in the world like the New Zealand All Blacks would be a 20-25 year project, he said. As rugby seeks the successful transition to the professional era achieved by lacrosse and soccer in recent decades, the debate is whether to build franchises around the Sevens or 15s format. "The growth of the game, the commercial viability, the competitiveness comes from the 15s. That's the traditional form of rugby," said Golden Gate's Thomas. "I do think you need both and I think if you were to grow one or the other, I would say grow the 15s first." (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Julian Linden in Singapore; Steve Ginsberg in Washington DC; Stuart McDill and Jon Boyle in London; Writing by Jon Boyle; Editing by Angus MacSwan)