'I don't believe the powers that be support the game' - McNulty on IRFU axing men's Sevens

The 42

15-05-2025

THIS TIME LAST year, Harry McNulty was preparing for the pinnacle of his sporting life. The Ireland men's Sevens team were heading to their second Olympics, this time in front of full crowds in Paris, and McNulty was captain.
It was the culmination of a long journey on the Sevens circuit. McNulty's mother signed him up for a Sevens open day in 2015 and almost a decade later, he retired as Ireland's most-capped Sevens player, stepping away last November.
Six months on, the men's Sevens team finds itself on the chopping block with the IRFU yesterday announcing the programme will be discontinued, the Union stating the decision 'is part of a broader strategic effort to ensure long-term financial sustainability and focus on key initiatives outlined in the Union's strategic plan'.
The move hasn't exactly been met with shock, with a feeling the writing had been on the wall for some time, but the announcement has caused anger and deep disappointment.
It comes on the back of a difficult year for Ireland Sevens – with both the men's and women's team suffering relegation from the World Series as the series was cut to eight teams – and the men's side in particular dealing with a high player turnover coming out of last year's Olympics.
McNulty represented Ireland at Sevens level at two Olympics. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
McNulty has frustrations around how the sport has been handled and promoted by World Rugby, but feels those issues have provided the IRFU an easy out in terms of pulling the plug.
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'I think the powers that be probably were looking for any excuse to be able to take away the men's programme,' says McNulty.
I think there was a bit of an agenda. I don't believe the powers that be support the game. They seem to have this outlook on us since David Nucifora has left that it's not worth the time and effort put into it.'
The former Ireland captain takes issue with how the IRFU statement highlights the finances. Last November, the IRFU'S financial reports for the 2023/24 season revealed a deficit of €18 million for the 2023/24 season, with the Union spending €4.2m on Sevens.
McNulty sees that €4.2m figure as 'very much an outlier' given it was an Olympic year. For the 2022/23 season that number stood at €3.8m, and it was €2.9m in 2021/22.
'It would be the same as when the men's (15s team) went to the World Cup, the amount of money spent on that team was way, way higher than the amount they would have spent in previous years as well, so it's quite inflated and very a shocking number that can be presented to the public, when in reality, I believe it's an outlier.'
As he sees it, there are other ways to save money. One top-end central contract for an Ireland Test player would go a long way to covering multiple salaries at Sevens level, many of which were set around €18,000. Then there's the money the IRFU spend on travel and food for its committee members around the Six Nations and Test tours.
Another factor which has caused anger was the IRFU's claim that the men's Sevens programme 'does not contribute as a development pathway for the 15s game, with current academy structures in place within the provinces offering greater development opportunities for men's rugby'.
'I think that's nonsense,' says McNulty.
'I left the Munster Academy after two years and went back playing in UCD. I would never, ever have made it into another club. At best I might have been able to go abroad to a Division 2 or 3 somewhere in France or England.
I was very lucky that I went to the (Sevens) programme in 2015. I was signed up for an open day trial when David Nucifora and Anthony Eddy arrived and from there, I'm now a two-time Olympian, I've won a bronze medal in the World Cup, I captained the side, and it's completely changed my life.
'And I didn't even go into the 15s from there, but the number of players that came into our programme from being in an academy, and being on the very peripherals of those programmes, they came into us for one or two years and went back and became starting members of those teams. That's very quickly forgotten internally within the IRFU and provincial setups when communication was taking place about how those players were playing. The majority of that development came from being with us in the programme and working on those core skills.'
McNulty adds that he is happy to see the women's Sevens programme continue, but finds that in itself highlights the value in having a programme for the men.
'I think every reason why they've kept the women's program is the reason that they should have Sevens, and they're now taking away the men's version of that but then blaming that as a financial burden, which I don't understand.
'Rachael Burford, who works with International Rugby Players and the RPA and obviously played for England, a World Cup-winning rugby player, said that if this was the other way around there would be public uproar. So is it just too political if they were to not support the women's programme from an IRFU standpoint?'
Primarily, he feels for the former teammates and staff he worked with who will be losing their jobs.
'For the last couple of months the lads have probably been wondering what's going on. They've had very little communication. They were actually meant to have a meeting on Monday but then this was released yesterday instead.
'How are you supposed to play and perform in the last couple of months when you had a sense that everything could be thrown away for next season, but you're also being kept in the dark and you have no idea, so you've got to try and keep playing just in case things keep going?
'It's a very difficult time for everybody involved and also all the background staff and everybody that's put everything on the line. It's just showcasing the IRFU don't care about them.
'And also, in a broader speculation, it's also showing that the IRFU don't care about Team Ireland and the Olympics and are saying that it's a waste of their time to even be a part of that journey.'