Alicia Lucas – 2024 Olympics Will Take Sevens Rugby To Even Greater Heights

Alicia Lucas, the 2016 gold medal-winning Rugby Sevens Olympian, has been a strong advocate for the sport based on her own success and the opportunities it now offers.

Like her red-collar HSBC ambassador and colleague Bryan Habana, it was her first trip to Singapore during the recent SVNS – she is a big fan of the place, as well as the engagement of the Sevens athletes on the SVNS circuit, and she can’t wait for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“There is probably not enough time to say how much I love about this place. It is first time here, and as soon as I flew in, I was astounded to realise the airport is only 20 minutes from the hotel – that doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world! The city is just so perfectly planned out, and all I saw was greenery and fantastic gardens and everything’s so well kept and maintained,” the Australian told us.

We first met Alicia at last year’s (2023) Cathay HSBC Hong Kong Sevens which was significant for the women playing there the first time. We were also interested to hear that she is based in Japan and we had an intriguing conversation about rugby there.

“Coming from Japan, I’m used to order and cleanliness in a city but this was above and beyond in Singapore, and it reminded me a little bit of Dubai with those beautiful skyscrapers and the marina.

Bryan and I did a couple of laps around the Fountain of Wealth that hopefully will come my way after this weekend – I heard you have to go around eight times,” she laughed.

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Alicia Lucas & Bryan Habana – The HSBC Ambassador – Singapore SVNS 2024

Singapore National Stadium – Ideal For Sevens Rugby 

“I was gobsmacked at the incredible design of the stadium. I’ve never ever played under a roof before in my career. And the fact that it can just open and shut as desired with the weather was mind-blowing. 

We had spoken to a few of the girls playing and they commented on how incredible the surface is, and how much it’s not hurting for the older girls (especially on the knees). So yeah it’s an incredible stadium, it’s a beautiful field to run out on.”

Quality of Competitiveness – HSBC SVNS Series

Alicia told us how impressed she has been with the teams and players.

“The HSBC SVNS Series at the minute is insane, the calibre of the players and the teams going against each other. The quality of the footy in itself is just out of this world, the players have taken it to another level. They’re really stepping it up each and every tournament and the same applies in Singapore, where the quality of matches has been really impressive.”

And for the fans in Singapore it was their first time to see the world’s best women’s sevens players in action.

“I’ve been fortunate to have seen the growth of the game over such a long period of my career. And then to have played for 10 years and have still missed out on playing at these fabulous stadiums is pretty mind-blowing to think that could still happen,” said Lucas.

Photo credit: Mike Lee – KLC fotos for World Rugby

She added, “Being there for the first time that the women got to play in Hong Kong last year, was something that I tried to achieve for years because of the history that surrounded such an incredible tournament. Hats off to HSBC for the work that they’ve done to invest in the growth of the women’s game and to achieve parity between the tournaments.

I’m so lucky to be still involved as an HSBC Ambassador because I think if I wasn’t involved in this dance, I’d be sitting at home just so jealous at how amazing it is.”

The Marketing And Broadcasting Of SVNS Has Been A Game Changer

Alicia Lucas – HSBC Ambassador – Singapore SVNS 2024 with Player Of The Final Jorja Miller (NZ)

Alicia achieved the pinnacle of the sport by winning the Olympic gold. We asked her what were some of the biggest challenges she faced and what fundamentally changed the terms of my mindset or commercial support.

She told us, “I think there’s a big change in the way that the game is marketed and the way that the game is broadcast to the fans, there’s a huge engagement with the crowd base. They (World Rugby) are picking locations that are really making the timing of the matches accessible to those people that aren’t here.”

Lucas talked of her playing days, “I remember my parents getting VPNs and logging into Facebook Live streams and getting up at all hours of the night to be able to watch, or my parents used to watch the updates on Twitter, and now they’re getting live feeds, they’re getting replays, they’re getting snippets of action.

There’s such an appetite for the footy and they’re getting given it from the marketing and broadcast teams and it’s incredible because the appetite is there for it – I think it’s always been there but it just wasn’t visible enough – so that’s probably the biggest change that I’ve seen.”

We asked her view on the SVNS legs in terms of engagement with fans and having a festive atmosphere.

“It’s such an electric and exciting sport. Having the party vibe to match what you see out on the pitch, which is the best of the best going as hard as they can against each other. It is gut-busting, and it’s exhilarating, it’s exhausting. So the party has gotta be fun, it’s gonna be exciting, and it’s going to be electric. 

For the fan engagement – they’ve married together really well and It’s a fabulous partnership that they’re doing. Those athletes are then staying after matches, they’re signing autographs, they’re taking photos and selfies, they’re giving back to the supporters. There’s no other sport where I think you can get as close to the superstars as you can in Sevens Rugby.”

Asian Market Potential – Rugby Sevens

New Zealand’s Michaela Blyde takes a selfie with a fan on day two of the HSBC SVNS at National Stadium on 4 May, 2024 in Singapore. Photo credit: Mike Lee – KLC fotos for World Rugby

“The Asian market, I suppose people may not see it as a traditional place for promoting rugby and Sevens. So bringing the game, the best of the best, to Hong Kong, to Singapore, and now having the women involved – that’s the market that we still need to get over the line. 

The young daughters and the young mums and parents that are that little bit hesitant with the game. They see these beautiful and fabulous ambassadors on the field and the calibre of players that you could list off within the women’s rugby fraternity. They’re getting to see these raw, beautiful emotive humans that are also so fit, so fast, so fierce out on the pitch,” commented Lucas.

“They have great camaraderie, they love to win. And they’re such fantastic ambassadors for teaching young girls about what their bodies are capable of. There’s no bigger avenue for them to be able to learn that than on these Asian SVNS legs, and hopefully, that will filter in and have osmosis into the grassroots and into the local clubs and into the parents who want to sign their kids up for that.”

She concluded, “We want to leave the game better for the next generation. And so I think it’s huge what this will do for the Asia market.”

How Much Bigger Was Competing In The Olympics Than Alicia Lucas Could Have Imagined?

Photo Credit: World Rugby – Alicia Lucas – Rio 2016 Olympics Gold medal winner Rugby 7s

Alicia Lucas explained the impact of rugby sevens on her. “I didn’t grow up playing rugby, so I’d never heard about the Rugby World Cups or the Commonwealth Games in terms of rugby but you knew about the Olympics, you knew what the Olympics was, and you knew that it was the bee’s knees, the pinnacle of the who’s who were all there. I had a dream of going to that. And from a young girl, it was definitely not in rugby.

But when that carrot came knocking on the door, it was incredible to think that I had an opportunity to be able to do that.”

On how big the impact of Rio 2016 was on herself and the legacy of Sevens Rugby in Australia, for women in particular, Lucas went on.

“A big part of our campaign in 2016 was about changing the face and the shape of women’s rugby and rebranding it to be really positive and to ignite and spark interest in the game as well. Our team was picked from a bunch of girls from different sports who came together and became professional athletes two years out from the game. 

So we can’t do that every two years, you need to have a legacy and I’m proud to see this next young group that is coming through and the access people have to them.”

On participating at an Olympics, Lucas said, “I know the team that wins this Olympics, they will be shocked forward into stardom and into an elite level of athlete – but also personal and corporate opportunities and into a space that people will recognise them as being part of that Olympic movement, not just in the rugby sphere as well. It is because – it is the Olympics – it is a mecca or buffet of the citizens of the world.”

Alicia Lucas signed off by saying, “It’s going be an awesome spectacle in Paris later this year. The teams are nearly all locked in but that showcase will be incredible and I’m going be so fortunate to be there as well, so I’m excited to see it go to even greater heights!”

Rugby Sevens 2024

• Bryan Habana – The HSBC SVNS Series Is Incredibly Diverse & We Should Celebrate That.
• Sam Pinder – SVNS Is A Fantastic Vehicle For Being Able To Grow The Sport Of Rugby.
• Samantha Teo (Singapore Women’s 7s) – Rugby Opens Up Doors.
• World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 – Round 3 Pools