Rugby World Cup Legacy

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts

Friday 6th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

I am grateful for the opportunity to reply to the debate called by my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (Mark Pawsey). However, I first want to congratulate you, Madam Deputy Speaker, on gaining the Back Bencher of the year award from The Spectator. I was lucky enough to be at the lunch where you were awarded this honour not once, but twice, even though you had to tear yourself away from your parliamentary duties. It is good to see you back in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker.

I had an extremely undistinguished rugby career, but I now realise that I was ahead of my time because at the age of 16 I was playing “walking rugby”. I am now aware that it is a game that I should adopt when I am 65! I had a brief appearance in the first 15 when somebody passed me the ball and the biggest bloke in the school failed to tackle me, but I was quickly relegated to the third 15 where we racked up some astonishing scores for the opposing team.

My hon. Friend has raised some interesting points about the tournament. It was indeed described by the chairman of World Rugby as the

“best-attended, most-watched, most socially-engaged, most commercially-successful Rugby World Cup”.

It is important to point out from the outset that my hon. Friend has been very engaged with this tournament, both within his constituency and on a national level. It was good to hear from him about the benefits a local economy can gain from a major national or international event such as this one. It was also important that he reminded us that that does not happen by accident; it takes the hard work of people such as him and others to make sure that it is realised.

The town of Rugby, as the birthplace of the game, played an important part in the tournament and was the proud home of it. It hosted several events. The successful fanzone, to which my hon. Friend referred, brought visitors from far and wide to the Webb Ellis Rugby Football Museum, and it was also good to hear about some of the arts and cultural events that took place, that being my main remit. The excellent festival of rugby that accompanied the tournament involved 1,000 events across the country, which were attended by more than a million people. There were concerts, street parties, sport tournaments and exhibitions. Indeed, my hon. Friend went so far as to mention the seminal “Rugby’s got balls” exhibition, featuring giant rugby ball sculptures. However—although I may have missed it—I do not think he mentioned the “Rugbeards” portrait exhibition put on by a local flower shop, featuring men with flowers in their beards,.

I must, of course, offer my congratulations to New Zealand as champions. I was, sadly, at the game in which Australia put England out of the tournament. I must also offer my gratitude, and that of the Government, to England Rugby 2015, which ran a brilliant, highly professional tournament. It did a fantastic job selling tickets for all the matches, including those featuring the tier 2 nation games. Eleven cities in England and Wales hosted 2.5 million fans over six weeks—the largest number of fans ever to attend any rugby world cup. Wembley hosted two consecutive matches which broke rugby world cup attendance records.

My hon. Friend mentioned the pack, the 6,000 volunteers who, as he said, were crucial to the fans’ experience. It could not have happened without them. Many of the volunteers were recruited from the rugby community in England and Wales. It was great to see people who play such a big part in the sport at the grass-roots level being rewarded with the opportunity to play a part in the biggest event in their sport.

Of course, the wider legacy issue is not just about engaging and rewarding those who are already passionate about the sport, but about inspiring new fans and new players. The Rugby Football Union developed detailed plans before the tournament to capitalise on the event and take advantage of the huge amount of enthusiasm that it generated. As my hon. Friend said, that included spreading the game in schools, especially state schools which have not traditionally played rugby. The programme has reached 130,000 pupils, and I am delighted to say that a third of them are girls. As a result, 3,000 young people have joined rugby clubs, and are playing the game regularly. The mini and junior sections in clubs tend to be pretty strong. There are 150,000 registered players and 6,000 teams in the 6-to-13 age bracket. Tag and touch rugby tournaments aimed at youngsters are becoming incredibly popular.

As well as attracting new players to the game, the Rugby Football Union has strong legacy plans to strengthen the infrastructure that surrounds it. It is improving facilities by means of a £10 million investment, and investing in the people—the coaches, referees and volunteers—whom we need to sustain the enthusiasm of the new players.

As we saw at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games and last year’s Tour de France Grand Départ in Yorkshire—I am not sure whether that is the Yorkshire pronunciation—the east of England and London, major events in the UK can reach far beyond these shores, bringing significant benefits, including visitors and investment from overseas. It is estimated that nearly half a million international visitors came to England and Wales to watch and take part in the rugby world cup tournament, generating about £1 billion of additional spending in the UK. I am sure that all those visitors had a wonderful time. That is another illustration of the links that can be created by a great sporting tournament, which can have an impact not just on the sport itself but on tourism, our economy, and arts and culture—the wider brief, as it were.

[Philip Davies]

I thank the Government, and my hon. Friend’s Department in particular, for the support that they gave to the mixed-ability rugby world cup, which took place in my constituency. Will he join me in placing on record our thanks to Gerry Sutcliffe, the former Member of Parliament for Bradford South, for all the hard work that he put in to help to make that tournament a success, and will the Department continue to play a role in trying to encourage more mixed-ability rugby and more world cup tournaments in the future?

[Mr Vaizey]

I endorse what my hon. Friend says, particularly about the role of Gerry Sutcliffe, who retired at the last election—although you probably would not know that, Madam Deputy Speaker, because every time you go in a bar in Parliament, you find Gerry Sutcliffe. In a sense, we have the best of both worlds, with a new MP for Bradford South but Gerry still very much with us.

I am sure the sports Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tracey Crouch), would be delighted to visit my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) to see some of this mixed-ability rugby. She might be approaching the time at which she will need to take maternity leave, but if she can fit it in before then, I am sure she will take the opportunity to do so.

I was pleased to hear that the RFU signed a deal this week with the American National Football League to have additional matches take place in Twickenham. The recent matches at Wembley have demonstrated the UK’s passion for the sport and we look forward to welcoming more fans and more teams to London.

[Mark Pawsey]

One of the key points about that is that it enables England games to be taken away from Twickenham and to be played in the provinces. Does the Minister agree that the world cup has shown that there is an appetite across the country for first-class and international games in all locations?

[Mr Vaizey]

The rugby world cup did show that. Obviously, Cardiff has a major stadium where rugby is played, as does Wembley, and huge enthusiasm was shown in Manchester and at many of the other stadiums where rugby games were played. The RFU and other national sporting bodies might want to consider that in the future when considering how to engage with fans across the UK.

It is also worth pointing out what a great calling card a tournament such as this is for the country that is lucky enough to host it. The final was seen by 120 million people all over the world, and my hon. Friend mentioned the extraordinary game between Japan and South Africa, which was viewed by 7 million people in Japan who might not have expected to see the result that they did. It might not surprise my hon. Friend to learn that 25 million people in Japan watched the game against Samoa, which Japan also won. That was the highest ever TV audience for a rugby match in any one country and created huge exposure for the UK in a key tourist market. What the rugby world cup has done for tourism should not be underestimated.

We used the opportunity to welcome international business visitors to the UK. UK Trade & Investment led a global investment conference and ran a business festival throughout the tournament, and we also had business events across the regions, ensuring that the positive effects of the tournament reached businesses all over the country.

[Mark Pawsey]

The Minister started his speech by telling us a little about his rugby career. Is he making a bid to be included in the parliamentary team?

[Mr Vaizey]

My position was hooker. I do not know the quality of the current hooker in the parliamentary rugby team, but if he or she is failing to come up to the mark, I will happily take their place.

I mentioned my colleague, the sports Minister. Unfortunately, she was unable to be here today, but I know that she would want me to mention her strategy for sport. She published a consultation, which has been very well received, and we have had more than 3,000 responses. It is important to note that that strategy will examine how major sporting events have a huge impact on the UK and how we can continue the brilliant developments that are happening in rugby thanks to the rugby world cup.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby for bringing this important issue of the rugby world cup legacy back to the House. It was a great honour for me, when I was a junior researcher working in the Conservative research department, to work with his father, an absolutely great man, so it is a great honour now to respond to a debate called by him about this fantastic tournament. It is essential, now that the event is over—I pay tribute to my speechwriter for this—that we do not take our eye off the ball. We all recognise the fantastic work that has been done so far, and I am confident we will be celebrating the tournament’s legacy long into the future.

Question put and agreed to.