IRB chief: No Olympic rugby for at least 10 years

Seven-a-side rugby, should it return to the Olympic Games, is not likely to reappear until 2016 or even 2020, according to the International Rugby Board’s chief executive.

Baseball and softball this week failed in their bid for reinstatement to the summer Games, meaning two openings remain in the program. But the International Olympic Committee’s charter calls for seven years’ lead time prior to including a new sport, meaning rugby would require both two-thirds’ approval and a change in the constitution for rugby to appear at the 2012 London Games, the IRB’s Mike Miller said.

Miller’s remarks were made in a press conference at the USA 7s. The IRB chief had immediately beforehand visited the Torino Winter Olympiad.

Over the past several years, the IRB has worked diligently to restore rugby to the Olympics, in the belief that inclusion would be especially valuable to “developing nations” like the United States. Despite the concerted push, 7s finished third in last year’s IOC vote to determine whether new sports should be admitted; ultimately none were OK’d.

In Miller’s view, world rugby stands in good stead without the exposure and commercial boost that the quadrennial games lend to smaller-scale sports. Rugby has not been part of the Games since 1924.

At the same time, the Olympics would supplement the IRB’s own development program. The Dublin-based IRB is in its first year of a multiyear investment program, which will see some 30 million pounds ($52 million) disbursed to member nations, including the USA.

7s, a contest of seven players per side otherwise competing according to normal regulations, is seen as a way for smaller nations to challenge established powers like New Zealand and England. Fiji captured the IRB’s 7s World Cup last year.

Additionally, 7s has proven popular in events like the Commonwealth Games. The upcoming Melbourne Games have already sold out of 50,000 tickets for the two-day 7s event, Miller said.

The next IOC meeting is set for Guatemala in 2007.