Nothing new under the rugby sun

Anyone keen on spreading the gospel of rugby? Not the powers-that-be, it would seem…

Anyone keen on spreading the gospel of rugby? Not those in positions of power, it would seem.

As was expected, the International Rugby Board (IRB) announced on Tuesday that England will host Rugby World Cup 2015.

This will be the second time that rugby's showpiece event ends at Twickenham and the third time that England has been intrinsically involved in hosting the tournament.

To put that in perspective, only six Rugby World Cups have ever been staged.

South Africa and Italy also tendered bids for 2015 but England won the IRB Council vote after Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) recommended the bid on account of the UK's “mature” market which “will attract better commercial returns from broadcasting, sponsorship and merchandising”.

Leaving South Africa aside for the moment – a country that one assumes would be termed 'adolescent' by RWCL standards – what sort of message are rugby's blazers sending Italy by their pronouncements?

Well, at least the minnows know their place: the Italians predicted that their 'immaturity' would count against them and duly campaigned beneath a banner that sought to play on rugby's future: “For the Enlargement of the Frontiers of Our Sport”.

Alas, it was not to be.

As with Japan's failed bid for 2011, rugby has again shown itself to be more inclined to snaffle the easy bucks proffered by the old boys rather than to roll up its sleeves and work on growing the game across the globe.

Yes, the IRB deserves credit for the financial aid that they pump back into rugby's developing nations. Yes, the money raised by England 2015 will surely exceed what Italy or South Africa could have generated. But is there not more to it than that?

Funding allows existing players in rugby's developing countries access to kit, training and organised competition, but it does little for those not yet smitten by the rugby bug.

Perhaps a different approach is needed if rugby is to become the global, inclusive, self-sustaining entity that it has long aspired to be.

The sad truth is that world rugby is actual contracting at a rate comparable to the icecaps.

It wasn't long ago that Canada used to put the wind up the likes of the All Blacks, yet they were smashed by England's third-stringers in June.

It wasn't long ago that the United States was set to become a new superpower in the sport – that challenge has all but withered away to nothing.

Lamentably, the same could be said for a host of other countries – Romania and Japan to name but two.

Funding is all well and good but rugby's future depends on exposure. The sport needs to get itself back on the road and it needs to start to sell itself to new customers.

Just imagine what hosting a World Cup could have done for Italy's rugby future. The rejection of the Italian bid means the next generation of would-be rugbyistas hopefuls will dribble on with their soccer balls without giving rugby a second glance.

And even if we must place talk of profit above talk of participation, surely the same main economic maxims still apply: new customers bring new money.

So that's the excluded newcomer. The obverse side of the same coin features our collective face: the established fan.

Organisers say they want our bums on their seats but their sales pitch is downright ordinary.

We've been served up the same old fare – rugby in England – when we could have heard 'Bread of Heaven' sung at the San Siro in Milan or watched the haka performed at Rome's Stadio Olimpico.

And therein lies the rub: there's nothing new under the rugby sun. The failure to pass the ball to anyone standing outside the established cabal of old players is not only excluding new fans from joining the party it is also sending age-old fans to sleep.

Take a look at the bloated Tri-Nations: South Africa lock Victor Matfield will play his 19th game against New Zealand on Saturday.

That should be a statistic of wonder. We should be rubbing ours eyes in disbelief!

No. It just washes over us like any diluted substance would. Even Victor must be a little bored with the monotony of it all. Organisers need to take a look at those empty seats in the stands and have a good think about why they have appeared.

Okay, perhaps we should not be so curmudgeonly about all this. After all, Japan did land the honour of hosting Rugby World Cup 2019.

But there's something slightly disturbing about the unprecedented way in which they have tagged the announcement to the tail of England 2015.

In the words of the IRB, the twin announcement resembles the “best balanced combination of hosts for the continued world-wide development of the game”.

In reality, this means that the organisers will continue to approach World Cups in the belief that only alternate editions of tournaments – those held in the “mature” parts of Europe – will turn a decent profit.

This approach is not sustainable nor is it wise, it's simply deserved: rugby has made a rod for its own back by running its affairs as a closed shop for far too long.

Yes, the door may have creaked ajar, but the entrance is still far too narrow – and 2019 might come a little too late to safeguard rugby's true global potential.

World rugby missed a massive trick in 2011 and papering over the cracks so belatedly is unlikely to keep the house of cards intact.

By Andy Jackson