TORONTO — Allen Vansen, who helped organize the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and 2015 Toronto Pan American Games, can look forward to a warm welcome as CEO of Rugby Canada.
The immediate landscape looks full of promise, although larger challenges for the sport loom on the home horizon.
On the plus side, Vancouver will make its debut as a stop on the HSBC World Sevens Series before a sellout crowd of 56,000 spread over March 12-13. Women’s sevens returns to Langford, B.C., in April with the Canadian women primed to contend for a medal later this summer as rugby sevens, an action-packed fan-friendly version of the sport, is featured at the Rio Olympics for the first time.
But rugby, stuck in the shadow of major North American sports, still has a long way to go to make its mark in Canada. For example, TSN recently obtained the rights to Super Rugby, the Southern Hemisphere circuit that’s arguably the best club rugby on offer. The network is streaming games live, a schedule that works only for insomniacs and vampires.
Vansen, a 43-year-old native of Corner Brook, N.L., who now calls Toronto home, brings undeniable organizational skills to Canada’s top rugby job.
He was executive vice-president of operations, sport & venue management of the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games. He was also vice-president of workforce operations & integration for the Vancouver Organizing Committee at the 2010 Olympics.
"Incredibly excited I don’t think is a strong enough term for how enthusiastic and pumped I am to be joining such a strong organization at a pretty historic time for the sport around the world and certainly for this sport in Canada," Vansen told reporters on a conference call Monday.
Rugby Canada has been without a CEO since Graham Brown, who took over as COO in 2002 and CEO in 2003, stepped down after last fall’s World Cup to run Canadian Interuniversity Sport.
Vansen inherits a women’s 15s team that ranks fifth in the world and was runner-up to England in the 2014 Rugby World Cup. The women’s sevens squad secured Olympic qualification by finishing second behind New Zealand on the world circuit last season. Canada stands third this season.
The men are more problematic. The sevens squad, ninth overall last season, currently stands 12th and must win an Olympic repechage tournament in June to make it to Rio. The 15s team is ranked 19th globally and failed to win a game at the 2015 World Cup.
Canada lacks a professional league so its top 15s players have had to go overseas to play at the highest level, facing competition from around the globe. Rugby Canada has pledged to join the North American Pro Rugby circuit in 2017 but will sit out the inaugural 2016 six-team season.
Vansen acknowledges he has plenty to learn about the sport but believes rugby is "really well positioned" in Canada and will get a huge boost from the Olympics.
"I think Rio is going to be a pretty defining moment for rugby." he said.
With the sevens version of the game now drawing support from the likes of Own The Podium, Rugby Canada has been forced to up the ante in fundraising for the non-Olympic 15s programs.
Vansen, who calls himself a "hugely passionate Canadian sports fan," said he’ll be looking to put money where it’s needed.
"I’m very much about leading an organization and putting resources where we can best achieve success for our athletes," he said.
Raising money to complete the organization’s $8-million Centre for Excellence in Langford will be high on the list. Gareth Rees, manager of Rugby Canada’s national men’s program, said some $3 million still has to be raised.
Vansen said he was won over by rugby at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara where he watched the Canadian men’s sevens team in action.
"Within 30 seconds of watching the first match, I was an immediate fan," he said.
Vansen isn’t the only VANOC alumnus to lend a helping hand to rugby. John Furlong, former president and CEO of the Vancouver Games, co-chaired the Canada Sevens Bid Committee that secured the sevens tournament at B.C. Place Stadium.
Furlong called Vansen "a key member" of the Vancouver Olympic leadership team.
"Allen has a wealth of sports, business and large-scale events experience that make him an ideal and natural fit for the role of CEO of Rugby Canada … … He is the right man at the right time for the job," Furlong added in a statement.
Rugby Canada remains in the hunt for a men’s head coach to succeed Kieran Crowley, who quit to take over Italian club Benetton Treviso.