When it comes to social media, ruggers have been known to use platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote not only the game but also their teams. Athletes may even choose to start a little lighthearted banter with rivals or issue a friendly challenge every now and then through digital technology. Now, with a global pandemic leaving coaches, players and supporters trapped in their homes and isolated from one another, one of the most recent and popular user generated applications, Tik Tok, is helping people stay connected.
Teams across the US and abroad have jumped on this growing social media wave to keep fans engaged, stay in touch with teammates and to promote their team and rugby.
TikTok, known in China as Douyin, is a video-sharing social networking service. The social media platform is used to make a variety of short-form videos that have a duration from 3 seconds to 1 minute. Since being made available in the United States in 2018, Tik Tok has been utilized by many sports teams and athletes to communicate with fans through their videos. Rugby players are able to express themselves in their downtime, which is more abundant due to the physical isolation COVID has forced upon society. Teams and athletes across the US have been attempting to keep rugby spirits and awareness high through the use of the application.
Among teenagers and post-millennials, Tik Tok has gained exceptional popularity and with rugby practices and matches stalled, teams are taking to the app to feel connected to their peers. Teams and players can now create unique trends and challenges that resonate with their fans and teammates. Some challenges include showing off specific skills like kicking from difficult angles, advanced ball handling techniques and trick shots, like unscrewing the cap of a bottle with a well-placed toss of a ball.
@pennstatewrugby Bringing back the #bottlecapchallenge !#DecadesofHair #WerkItFromHome #shareyourplaylist
Athletes thrive on competition and enjoy amplifying stakes. Ruggers also revel in adding twists like keeping your eyes closed or only using one hand to complete inventive and adept displays of their skills. Likewise, fans are known to implement the “duet” function to re-enact a player’s expertise and to interact with those players. Recreating iconic plays or lip-syncing famous commentators are amusing methods of engaging rugby enthusiasts. Teams and players are seizing the opportunity to create viral trends with skills and challenges that keep fans enamored with the sport of rugby.
Notable teams managing the pandemic induced separation with style include…
North Eastern Women’s Rugby has developed a large and growing presence on the viral social ap. With a total of 12.1 thousand likes and counting, the Lady Maddogs are going viral themselves. This women’s team has people laughing across the globe with just a handful of anecdotal rugby videos.
Their posts range from backs vs. forward banter to not so flattering pictures of their players in action. The post with the highest number of views, 155.1 thousand, is a humerus take on the different reactions of backs and forwards when its time to run sprints. This witty and unique style of poking fun at their own teammates has brought rugby players together over good hearted humor in times that aren’t all that happy.
@nuwomensrugby or whenever backs knock on the ball and frolick to their positions while forwards go in for their 10th scrum #rugby #fyp #zyxcba #foryou #rugbygirl
Penn State Women’s Rugby Team has also gained a large Tik Tok following and has 100.8 Thousand likes on their videos of team lifting footage, pregame bus rides, and their versions of a variety of Tik Tok Challenges. One of the videos is a post-game collaborative “Renegade” dance with players from both the Navy Women’s Rugby Team and Penn State.
@pennstatewrugby Post match renegade with Navy women’s rugby team!! #UltraSmoothMoves #renegade #rugby #foryou
Another women’s team, Queens University, out of Charlotte, NC has created a couple videos of teammates competing viral challenges in attempt to keep followers and fellow ruggers chuckling. In one video, the teammates complete the “#refrigeratorchallenge”, the goal is to find outlandish things in your refrigerator and pull them out in a video. Some things found in this challenge were, a duck, a vacuum, and even a goldfish.
@queenswrugby Just getting something from the fridge #refrigeratorchallenge #fyp #happyathome #rugbygirls #rugby #TheSongOfUs #MySkinandME
Other rugby trends have gained popularity on Tik Tok as well. The Oneonta Women’s rugby team posted their version of the “Don’t Rush Challenge”, featuring their players catching a ball in practice and game gear then suddenly, with the help of a little editing magic, they appear dressed up and stylish, ball in hand.
@ostaterugby Everyone’s favorite rugby team 😩💚 #fyp #oneonta #sunyoneonta #recruitment
The women’s rugby team from the University of Texas decided to mix it up a little by using go-pro footage from practices to give a little Texas athlete POV to their followers along with some realistic videos of players napping in between tournament matches.
@txwomensrugby tourney naps just hit different #rugby #sports #fyp #foryou #foryoupage
Even with the COVID 19 pandemic making practices and matches scarce, ruggers have proven that they can and will keep rugby alive. Tik Tok has given rugby teams a platform to utilize for not just growing awareness for the sport of rugby but to also keep in touch with teammates and supporters across the US.
