DOI: 10.11648/j.ajss.20261403.11 ISSN: 2330-8540

The Development Challenges of English Sevens Rugby in China: A Multidimensional Analysis Based on the Project's Essential Attributes

Tianle Chen, Xinze Li
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Since becoming an official Olympic event in 2009, seven-a-side rugby has achieved unprecedented development opportunities worldwide. As a staunch executor of Olympic strategy, China has invested substantial resources in this sport, with the women's team securing a historic sixth-place finish at the Paris Olympics. However, this achievement has not altered the fundamental landscape of seven-a-side rugby being a "niche sport" in China. This paper constructs a three-dimensional analytical framework-"sporting characteristics-system compatibility-cultural soil"-based on the intrinsic attributes of seven-a-side rugby to systematically examine the deep-seated challenges in its development within China. Research reveals a structural mismatch between the sport's high-intensity, fast-paced, and high-contact nature and China's state-led talent cultivation model in competitive sports. Its Western-originated, physically confrontational cultural DNA also creates a cognitive gap with traditional Chinese body concepts and athletic aesthetics. Additionally, its reliance on campus promotion and grassroots club development conflicts with China's institutional inertia of concentrating sports resources in Olympic-dominant events. The convergence of these three tensions forms the structural root cause behind seven-a-side rugby's "over a decade post-Olympic inclusion yet still struggling for widespread adoption" in China. The study proposes that overcoming this predicament requires transcending the "Olympic-driven" singular development logic, returning to the sport's intrinsic attributes, and establishing a tripartite collaborative development path encompassing "campus promotion-social engagement-elite competition."

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