The push for rugby’s reinclusion in the Olympic Games will be given added impetus following the news that Rugby Sevens is the second-most sought after ticket for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia next March.
“We have been told by the 2006 Commonwealth Games organisers that the final session of the Rugby Sevens has been sold out and will be played in front of a world record crowd of over 55,000 at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne on March 17. This is fantastic news for the sport which continues to grow and grow in terms of participants and spectators around the world,” said IRB Chairman Dr Syd Millar.
“At the first tournament of the 2005/06 IRB Sevens series in Dubai last weekend more than 30,000 people packed temporary stadiums for the tournament and Commonwealth Games organisers are hopeful of generating a similar atmosphere. Sevens is a fast and furious sport but its other great strength is the way it fosters interaction with the crowd.”
“The Sevens will be the first sport contested and the first to finish and the organisers have tagged the two-day tournament as the “Gateway to the Commonwealth Games”. They are determined to ensure the Rugby Sevens competition sets a festival tone for the whole Games.”
”In terms of tickets sold for the Commonwealth Games, Rugby Sevens has proved to be the second most popular sport after athletics. The remaining three sessions are also selling steadily and sales are going to accelerate as the Games gets closer.“
“And at the end of 2006 we also have the Asian Games Rugby Sevens tournament in Doha. This will follow the remaining six tournaments of the 2005/06 IRB Sevens in Wellington, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris and London. 2006 will be a truly exciting year for Rugby Sevens,” added Dr Millar.
To ensure the success of the Rugby Sevens in Melbourne, a delegation of Commonwealth Games organisers have attended three IRB Sevens series tournaments this year in Hong Kong (Sevens Rugby World Cup), Wellington and last weekend, in Dubai.
The organisers were shown all the major operational procedures that are required to manage a tournament of 16 international teams on a tight schedule within a single stadium. What impressed and excited the organisers was the involvement of the spectators as each team was eliminated. They did a lap of honour and received a massive ovation – one of the many traditions associated with Rugby Sevens.
The Rugby Sevens will be held in accordance with the rules of the IRB and will follow the format similar to that of the annual eight-tournament IRB Sevens world series. Teams will be allocated into four pools with teams within a pool playing each other in a round-robin format. Performance within the pools will determine each team’s progression through to the final rounds.
The top 16 Commonwealth countries are eligible to compete at the Games with qualification determined by world rankings following the 2005 Sevens Rugby World Cup.
Sevens was established as a sport in 1883 and today tournaments are played by men and women, boys and girls, in over 100 countries. Over the last year 86 countries have competed in over 20 IRB Rugby Sevens tournaments around the world, with the highlight being the 2005 Sevens Rugby World Cup in Hong Kong in March.
All 120,000 tickets to the three-day tournament were sold, it enjoyed 160 hours of live broadcast coverage in 37 countries and an additional 40 hours of delayed broadcast coverage in a further 63 countries. There were 9.56 million hits on the Tournament-specific website. A national holiday was declared in Fiji to celebrate its winning of the Sevens Rugby World Cup.
Rugby Sevens is a core sport in the Commonwealth Games and is also a key participant in the World Games, and Asian Games.
Further Information:
Greg Thomas, IRB Communications Manager, +353 1240 9214 or +353 86 819 6149 greg.thomas@irb.com
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