In recent times it’s become more and more noticeable how clubs and the media pick out individual performances for highlighting.
In tests we expect to see a Player of the Match, a Player of the Tournament, even a Player of the Decade. (How do you measure the correctness of that decision?)
At club-league level we now have the Team of the Round, the Try of the Round and eventually the same, but with ‘Tournament’ on the end. And in the absence of Player of the Match we are offered ‘The XXX Player of the Match’ – you fill the gap with the name of the major club sponsor.
If you are slow-witted like me, you might think that is the Player of the Match, but no, only of one of the participating clubs.
Who decides and how?
A lot of people are available to make the call: the two staffs, a (co-)commentator, the TV audience, an online poll (get in quick!). We haven’t yet had the PA calling out 46 names and judging the loudest spectator response. That could take some time.
And who do they select? That’s the crucial issue. In a big international match the choice can be clear and undisputed. But occasionally it causes dissent or even amusement. A classic case came in the England-Canada match at the (then) Allianz Park NW4 in November 2017; Jess Breach scored an unlikely six tries on debut, but Emily Scarratt gave the award to…trumpet fanfare… Marlie Packer. Scaz had to put up with a deal of mockery, but who knows, she may well have made the right decision!
I disclaim any responsibility after my quick chat pre-match.
At least her choice proved that a back will pick a forward, and vice-versa. The judges don’t always limit their observations to players in their own position.
In the end, a camera zooms in on the blushing prize-winner.
There are stats and stats
Another recent addition to the decision-making comes with the hard work of the stats nerds. They come up with the unlikeliest of data: which team exited furthest from their own 22 in the fewest phases? Who made the longest/shortest, fastest/slowest pass? Which match was confined for longest between the two 10-metre lines?
What they tend to miss out on is ‘who had the most encouraging smile at the moment of greatest tension to lift the team to final victory?’ That’s a shade trickier to determine.
Every week in the PWR we are invited to gawp at one player’s unlikely stats. Here are five offerings from Round Four:
Metres made: 115
Carries: 10
Tries: 1
Points: 14
Conversions: 7
Defenders beaten: 2
Carries: 7
Tries: 2
Metres made: 230
Tackles: 14
Gain-line carries: 10
Tries: 2
Metres made: 143
Carries: 18
Defenders beaten: 10
And, by way of a change: Our first female #15Under23 #MVP of the Month nominee is …
Sporting Psychology
You can argue the case both ways.
Rugby is the team-game par excellence; pulling together is the watchword. You play for your team-mates and they support you.
On the other hand modern society is fixated on the individual, not least in sport. That means concentrating not on the mass of 23 players who will represent the team across 80 minutes, but on the one or two that the public recognise most easily. And it helps if they are adept at announcing their presence on popular social media channels.
Sports’ authorities are convinced that it is individuals who will help spread their popularity, to gain new and younger followers. With any luck followers will become practitioners.
