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Using the Duke of Sussex to promote his favourite sport in his adopted home would be a masterstroke by the LA Games organising committee
Not so long ago one could have imagined Prince Harry picking up the phone to congratulate Team GB athletes on their exploits in the Olympics. Fast forward to 2024 and the Duke of Sussex, now officially resident in the United States, is more likely to be calling America’s women’s rugby sevens to congratulate them on their bronze medals.
Some of the “viral” moments of this summer’s Olympic Games have involved an eclectic range of celebrities cheering on equally diverse athletes in Paris. See Snoop Dog in full dressage regalia alongside the original lifestyle guru Martha Stewart. Or Elmo of Sesame Street bestowing cuddles on nine-time Olympic champion swimmer Katie Ledecky. There was also the brawny Jason Kelce (elder brother of Travis, he of dating Taylor Swift fame), who is adored Stateside for winning a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles, who was sporting a shirt emblazoned with Ilona Maher’s face on it.
Bronze-medallist Maher is the most followed rugby player on social media, overtaking both Siya Kolisi and Antoine Dupont, the “face of rugby sevens in Paris”, and the love from the NFL world towards rugby was heartily accepted.
However, the question of how rugby sevens can expand its audience and therefore its prestige as a sport is one that has existed for longer than the it has been at the Olympics, and I can’t help but think a collaboration between the effervescent and quirky Maher and Prince Harry could go a long way in building the hype towards rugby’s short form in the Los Angeles Games.
Hear me out. Maher, with her excellence on the field matching a willingness to show the realities of an athlete’s life (her testing of the durability of the Olympic athlete village’s cardboard beds was just one of many insightful videos during her stay in Paris) is making her a huge weapon in rugby’s long campaign to break America. However, as much as Kelce is the ideal supporter to a US market, looking to 2028 and beyond to the 2031 (men’s) and 2033 (women’s) Rugby World Cups, given Maher’s current reach within the game it would be a savvy move for her to be heavily involved in the promotion of the first men’s Rugby World Cup in North America.
We saw France tap into that with their promotion of Dupont this year as he crossed the divide between the 15-a-side format and sevens. However, if rugby wants to go global there needs to be a cheerleader-meets-ambassador for the sport with knowledge of the US, traditional rugby markets, experience at both Olympic Games and a Rugby World Cup.
One person who ticks all these boxes on his CV, with his leading role at the 2015 World Cup in England and as a regular presence at the 2012 London Games, is Prince Harry. Having stepped down along with his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, as working royals in 2020, one of the patronages the 39-year-old lost was that of the Rugby Football Union. It was one he took on with gusto and it has been carried on with grace by his sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales. However, Prince Harry admitted during his memorable interview with Oprah Winfrey three years ago that he was “hurt” by the loss of his patronages, so why not let him get involved as an ambassador of sorts for rugby in another capacity? Then if the gig goes well in LA, extend it to the 2031 and 2033 World Cups?
The Duke has not attracted the most positive publicity since his move to Montecito, 90 miles north of Los Angeles, and he seems like a man in search of a meaningful mission in his new home. Why not join someone who represents a fun and broader future for rugby like Maher?
Prince Harry explained the strain he experienced being one of the most famous men in the world in his controversial autobiography Spare, but why not use this profile for the good of the sport he truly loves most?
During his gap year in 2004, he trained as an Assistant Development Officer with the RFU and with his qualification, he visited schools and clubs around England helping coach young people of all backgrounds. He went on to be patron of the RFU’s All Schools Programme in 2013 which was linked to the 2015 World Cup with the aim of introducing rugby to every state school in England and has had considerable success.
Obviously, the US prides itself on traditionally being a meritocracy but Prince Harry is a man with boots-on-the-ground experience that he could lend to his adopted homeland. The father of two is also a dab hand at an opening ceremony, having acted alongside Jonny Wilkinson in the 2015 edition. It could also help rehab his image.
Maher needs to get the Duke on her social media platforms pronto. Imagine the publicity that would be generated on both sides of the Atlantic if Maher were to interview Prince Harry about his passion for rugby? And as much as we can take this in gest, there is something melancholic about the former Army captain, once behind only the late Queen Elizabeth II as Britain’s most popular royal, not using his invaluable skills with the public. There would be politics needed to be negotiated by USA Rugby, World Rugby and the LA Games’ organising committee to get him on board but if his grandmother was memorably willing to sign up for the spoof of jumping from a helicopter with James Bond, having the Duke of Sussex promote rugby in America is hardly mission impossible.