Olympic Rugby Sevens was a rollercoaster not helped by UK TV twist
From disappointment on day one to breath-taking scenes on days two and three. This Olympic Rugby Sevens tournament has been an emotional rollercoaster – and we still have more to come with the women’s tournament now set to start after Fiji successfully defended their men’s gold medal.
On Tuesday morning, we in the UK got to experience a true high in rugby sevens history. The quarter-finals were broadcast live on the BBC, meaning fans and non-fans alike were able to watch some of the best rugby I have seen in a long time.
The GB vs USA match saw team GB down 21-0 in the first half, losing captain Tom Mitchell early on to injury. However, to everyone’s surprise, Team GB came back fighting and took the win, seeing them storm through to the semi-finals in a tournament where they eventually placed fourth.
I may not agree with the referee’s final penalty decision, but there was no denying that the match showcased some of the most exciting, down to the wire rugby we have seen in a while. As for Argentina’s performance, they completely defied the odds with just six men on the pitch and beat South Africa, earning themselves a place in the semi-finals and going on to clinch the bronze medal. Crazy stuff!
Part of the magic of the Olympics is the fact that people get the opportunity to watch sports they haven’t seen before and usually wouldn’t get the chance to watch. You only have to look at the reaction to the taekwondo events to see this. It has been exhilarating and because it is accessible it has sparked an interest.
Congratulations to @fijirugby, back-to-back Olympics gold medallists! ?#Tokyo2020https://t.co/tdvCv6j4HI
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 28, 2021
A few days ago, I was doing some work with the skateboarding on in the background. I had never watched skateboarding in my life, but I loved it! What is the common theme here? What is bringing this all together? It’s the fact that those sports are there and because they are easy to access I am able to enjoy them. Take The Hundred, for example. I have never watched cricket before, but I watched nearly three hours’ worth. Why? Because it was on, it was accessible and it was entertaining. Entertainment is a huge reason for people tuning into a sporting event.
People having access to exciting new sports opens the doors up to fresh avenues of both players and supporters. Sevens rugby was aired on mainstream TV in the UK and already we are seeing the sport reaching a new market of people who are only now being introduced to the rugby world. It’s great to see!
However, we can’t ignore the issues that we faced on day one of the tournament. Fans woke up early Monday morning to learn that the matches were not being streamed on the BBC and were, rather disappointingly, hidden behind a paywall.
We have since seen just how fantastic our sport is when it is given the chance to be shown to a wide audience. I thought both the pre-match and post-match analysis was incredibly insightful on the BBC, giving the audience a real flavour for some great Olympic sevens.
I would be interested to learn exactly how these broadcasting decisions are made. I want to understand how broadcasters choose which sport gets the luxury of being shown and which don’t. What makes a sport worthy of being covered? Rugby sevens has more than proved itself, so why wasn’t it given a chance from day one?
Usually, players put up a link on their social media accounts for friends, family and fans to log in and watch. However, I noticed players going to the Olympics weren’t doing that. Instead, they informed people that matches would be available on BBC or Eurosport.
If players knew matches were potentially hidden behind a paywall, I am sure they would have been shouting about it. This makes me question how much the players were involved in this decision and whether or not they actually knew about this.
For me, at the time of writing at least, it feels as though there is a lack of transparency for both players and fans surrounding the broadcasting platforms for these Olympic sevens.
#Rugby first games Live coverage by @BBCSport and what 2 cracking games! To capture new audiences showing how incredible #sevens is! #HowWeSevens
— Rachael Burford (@RachaelBurf12) July 27, 2021
Team GB are the best of the best and fans should be given the chance to celebrate their talent. The Olympics are supposed to be a celebration of sporting prowess and this feels miles away from that.
I have been in their shoes. I know how incredibly stressful and upsetting it is when those closest to you miss out on watching you play. These athletes have worked so hard to get to where they are and have each sacrificed a great deal. The least those in control of broadcasting these events could do is to tell people in advance where they can access the streaming service.
My issue isn’t necessarily with the paywall itself; I understand that plenty of sports thrive behind paywalls. It’s how it was – or wasn’t – communicated.
Watching rugby ? for the first time ever. WOW!
Awesome and FUN sport. So fun to watch!!! #Rugby #Olympics #OlympicGames— Stacy Tiffin (@tacert) July 27, 2021
I understand the broadcasting rights are what they are, but what upsets me and what is a massive missed opportunity is the lack of transparency surrounding this. No one had the time to prepare themselves to purchase additional monthly subscription services because the need for such services was not communicated to anyone beforehand.
Let’s not forget, this isn’t just about the fans. It’s bigger than that. It’s about the new opportunities that Olympic exposure brings for sponsorship and investment in rugby sevens.
Sevens programmes around the world are seeing funding cuts, which makes me wonder what this will mean for the sport moving forward. I would be interested to know if the viewing figures from the games could impact the future funding of the sport? Could the numbers change anything?
Since when did the olympics become a paywall puzzle ?
— Florence Williams (@FlorenceW94) July 26, 2021
Every single person I have spoken to about this, die-hard rugby fan or not, has had a difficult time signing up to view the matches. Not only are they behind a paywall with Eurosport, but to view the matches you must download the specific app, as the game was not deemed good enough to be broadcast on any one of the nine Eurosport channels.
All we want as fans is to be able to follow our sport, promote our sport and grow our sport. Olympic sevens is an exciting way to capture new audiences, opportunities and to promote growth.
The broadcasting deals we see in play this year will also be around at the next Olympics, meaning it is essential we learn from what has happened and put things into place to ensure our sport is given everything it needs to thrive moving forwards.
Online access only it seems. Not on one of NINE @Eurosport channels. https://t.co/SfgDA7S2wZ
— Nick Heath (@nickheathsport) July 26, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments