July 4th is a short time away, and we all know what that means...
It is almost time for the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island.
The day of the year that men like Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut become household names. The day that men who specialize in undertaking the most non-athletic form of competition possible (yes I know Kobayashi benches 405 or something ridiculous) get to be prominently featured on ESPN.
Good thing ESPN could pencil it in between the Spelling Bee, Billiards, Bowling, and re-airing number 1000 of the 2006 World Series of Poker.
To think what this time could be used for by ESPN. Like, possibly assisting the growth of rugby, one of the most popular sports in the world, in the USA.
The Rugby World Cup (held every four years, the next one in New Zealand in 2011) is constantly one of the most popular sporting events in the world, only trailing the World Cup and the Olympics in international appeal.
Men like Dan Carter of New Zealand and Jonny Wilkinson of England are heroes in their native countries, and the sport has boasted impressive athletes like Jonah Lomu (6'5", 260 lbs, 10.89 100 meters).
Yet Rugby has spent years getting the extreme version of the hockey treatment from ESPN—if they don't own the rights to it, it doesn't exist.
Embarrassingly, the Rugby World Cup came and went in America without so much as the majority of people being aware of its existence. Too bad, we missed out on things like
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The debate has raged on whether shows like eating competitions, poker, and other grey-area sports should be featured on ESPN. I would take no issue with having them on as well, except for the short stick that other, much better sports get as a result.
I speak as a man who has actively played rugby for four years, and I know that rugby is challenging and often times confusing to the average viewer. However, it is a sport that has everything the average American sports fan has been drawn to from other sports.
It has brilliant skill plays, brilliant athletic plays, tough power plays, and hard hits. One could argue that its close similarity to football is a hindrance to the sport in the USA, yet Rugby Union and Rugby League do more than fine in Australia, despite the huge popularity of Aussie Rules football as the No. 1 contact sport in the country.
America cannot even field a national side made up of solely professional players most of the time, and only a few from the 2007 RWC roster play in a country's highest level professional league:
- Mike MacDonald - Leeds: Guinness Premiership, England
- Paul Emerick - Newport-Gwent: Magners League, Ireland, Scotland, Wales
- Zee Ngwenya - Biarritz: Top 14, France
While no one could say that Rugby will ever ascend to the same stature as football, baseball, basketball, hockey, or even soccer, in the United States, one has to assume that additional exposure would be beneficial to the sport.
However, for some God-awful reason, ESPN seems to not want to give Rugby this exposure, electing instead to air the occasional match on ESPN U (essentially ESPN 3), and electing to put on useless programming instead.
Yet, hope is not lost among the rugby fanatics of America. Youth participation in the sport is increasing annually, and new clubs are springing up on a regular basis.
As a New Englander, it is hard to find a place in New England that is not within an hour of a men's-level rugby club to participate for, and the Boston area has nine teams to play on.
College rugby is experiencing a boom in participation, and more and more people are starting to discover the sport. Maybe one day, Rugby will catch on and attract a more mainstream crowd. But for now, it looks like the rugger needs to take a backseat to the guy going all in on a 9-6 off-suit.
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2 months ago
You have a great point, and well-crafted. Thank you for sharing it.
I linked to your article on my blog: http://rugbygirlnews.blogspot.com
-RugbyGirl
2 months ago
Joseph -- Congratulations on your dedication to a great club and fan sport, and thanks for the reminder about a great sport, and the way that ESPN snubs it. I played Rugby one day in college in 1970, and as I saw my second friend carried off the field with a concussion, I said I can just drink beer and wear the shirts. (If you're used to a helmet, it's hard to learn that head BEHIND the knees tackling move.) No question, in my mind that Rugby is a superb sport . . . even if a little hazardous to the health, and does everything the ancient Greeks would have found praiseworthy.
I enjoy watching Rugby on television on those rare times I can find it, and that's very unfortunate that it is elbowed aside for pseudo-sports.
2 months ago
thanks for your great article. you hit the nail on the head. espn should be ashamed of ignoring rugby and instead showing non-sense. i cannot help to feel that nfl may be behind thses absolute ignorant actions of espn. nfl knows very well this sport from which they parted to form what they play now, that once their fans see rugby the nfl stand a good chance of losing fans. to me rugby requires more fitness and all-round skills compared to nfl. rugby is truely is the greatest sport in the world, with league short on it's tail.
from 2 months ago
To be fair, I know a lot of foreigners who play rugby and love them some NFL now that they live in the states. Football's just exciting.
But yeah, I wouldn't be shocked if there was a slight fear factor. Then again, I've played both and I like both.
2 months ago
Same with LAX ... no coverage.
from 2 months ago
Meh, Lacrosse has some, and at least Lacrosse has well established programs in HS and College. Rugby is so sporadic.
2 months ago
True, true. You have a point. It's all LAX here in Maryland.
from 2 months ago
Lacrosse could soon pass Hockey in participation. It's much more accessible than hockey from what I have seen.
If you played Hockey at my old HS, for example, you were guaranteeing yourself a 4:45 am wakeup on a daily basis, most kids were much more willing to make the time commitment for 3 pm Lacrosse practice in the spring.
2 months ago
Good article
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