Ireland’s Sevens fortunes firmly on the up

Ireland has an excellent chance of having a women’s sevens rugby team at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio after a spectacular and dramatic debut by a new squad at the European championships which ended in Moscow at the weekend.

The team, which has only been together since last March, ended up sixth in Europe and 12th in the world and, in the process, qualified for next year’s World Cup which, in turn, will be a qualifying tournament for the 2016 Olympics.

The news was welcomed at last night’s annual general meeting of the Olympic Council of Ireland at which rugby was represented by Irish Rugby Football Union chief executive, Philip Browne.

“We’ve had no real history of sevens rugby here in this country at all,” he pointed out. “So as a pilot we took a group of girls in March and we took them from knowing nothing about rugby to qualifying for the women’s World Cup in Moscow next year.”

They went from unranked to being ranked sixth in Europe and 12th in the world in just 13 weeks.

“Sevens is a great sport for women in particular and people who maybe don’t want to get involved in the 15 aside game. It’s also a great opportunity for people in other sports that don’t have an Olympic outlet. It’s a fast, exciting sport and if there are sprinters out there who want to get involved in sevens rugby, this is a good time to do so.”

But it is also costly and the IRFU have invested substantially in the sport.

“It is an expensive business,” Philip Browne admitted. “It cost a lot of money to get them there but we are hoping we might get some support from the Irish Sports Council because it is a rare opportunity for women’s sport here.”

The rise of women’s rugby team was meteoric. Their first camp was held on May 26-27, they took part in the Bournemouth sevens the first weekend in June, the FIRA qualifiers in Ghent , June 8-10, another camp on June 23 and then on the Moscow Tournament, held from June 18 to July 1.

The OCI chief executive, Stephen Martin, described it as a major breakthrough and he looked forward to having a women’s field sports team at the Olympics in Rio.

“It is long time since we have had a field sports team at the Olympic Games and I feel this could be the breakthrough,” he said.

“We have been working closely with them all along, we have regular meetings with them and we are kept updated with their progress.

“Moscow next year is a qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games and if they don’t qualify there they will have further opportunities to qualify at continental and regional championships — similar to hockey.

“We are looking forward to working closely with them and helping them put their performance programme together. We will do all in our power to help them advance their progress and get to the Olympic Games.”

Last night’s agm took place just three weeks out from the opening ceremony but the Olympic Council of Ireland were looking beyond London 2012 with the president, Pat Hickey, pointing out that preparations for Rio were going extremely well.

And he told delegates of another impending breakthrough in regard to the staging of a European Games, which has been on the agenda for the past three years since it was raised at a meeting of the European Olympic Committees, of which he is also president.

“Europe is the only continent without its own games,” he said. “In fact the Pan American Games and the Asian Games are actually bigger than the Olympic Games — they are gigantic activities. There never has been a games in Europe . Three years ago at the general assembly of European Olympic Committees we received a general mandate to explore it. We have come a long way now and we will go into general assembly next December in Israel, where the decision will be made. Everything is in place. There was massive opposition to it at first because the European calendar is cluttered and very crowded but the recent feedback is very positive.”

There was an air of jubilation surrounding last night’s meeting after the success of the Olympic torch relay through Dublin and Hickey thanked Seb Coe for his cooperation. He added: “I am very happy to have with me on the IOC, Pat McQuaid, President of the International Cycling Union, who was of great assistance to me in obtaining permission for the torch relay to visit this part of the island.”