Rugby must capitalise on Dupont playing sevens at the Olympic Games
Antoine Dupont playing rugby sevens – it sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? News this week of the France scrum-half, one of the sport’s few global stars, turning his attention to sevens in order to play at the Paris 2024 Olympics is superb for rugby.
And it is now on the sport to make sure that they make the most of this opportunity and really thrust one of the personalities of rugby into the global spotlight. It is high time a current player transcends rugby and I believe that player will be Dupont.
Has any sportsperson ever been able to play at a home World Cup and a home Olympics within 12 months of each other? That’s the level of opportunity that this move from the Toulouse No9 presents itself for rugby union.
Dupont is global
With a year on the sevens circuit, where he will need to play a number of tournaments in which to qualify for the Olympics, Dupont has the chance to grow his own image and in turn rugby has the chance to grow theirs.
The debate on whether rugby is a global sport is a hot one, and one in which there are many viewpoints. So when this kind of door opens for union, the game must take advantage.
Dupont is set to be joined by the likes of Stade Francais flanker Sekou Macalou and Montpellier centre Arthur Vincent – both of whom are household names in French rugby circles.
But the challenge now is to grow the sport to a point where rugby has figures who are comparable to the likes of Usain Bolt and Lionel Messi.
Dupont can be that, but it will require a number of moves across the chess board to make it happen.
Marketing teams need to work together, World Rugby and the sevens circuit must contribute and Dupont and his club Toulouse must open the doors to access.
Paris opportunities
We have seen Dupont rock a Big Bird-style yellow Balenciaga coat in recent years and it is that kind of stunt on the front pages of global magazines that can catapult him to greatness.
Work hard and succeed before the Olympics and when Paris comes around the sport can have a superstar to compete with the giants of athletics and swimming.
The Stade de France is set to host two full days of rugby with 160,000 fans expected through the turnstiles across the Olympic sevens. That’s thousands of eyes looking for star names to follow. The opportunity is remarkable.
And that too, for very different reasons, is why Australian legend Michael Hooper making the move to this format is smart.
Hooper started out in sevens – his longevity is such that I used to play against him – and then transferred into the 15-a-side game where he became one of the best to don the Wallabies’ shirt.
Olympic twilight
He is now in the twilight of his career having been dropped by former head coach Eddie Jones and this gig is likely to be his last hurrah.
He will be looking at opportunities, both commercial and otherwise, while in France and is undoubtedly planning for a career after rugby. He’s unlikely to follow David Pocock into politics.
Rugby has a monumental opportunity to thrust the game into the spotlight and an Olympic Games in France less than a year after a World Cup puts the “Petit General”, Dupont, in pole position to take full advantage.
Whether rugby is able to capitalise on that, however, remains the biggest question.
Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips recently swam the English Channel to raise money for Head for Change, a charity aspiring to achieve positive change for brain health in sport. Follow Ollie on Twitter to donate.