RFU chief Sweeney targets eight iconic players a year to build on Pollock blueprint

Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney has set a target of developing eight potential marketing icons every year, modelling the initiative on the breakout stardom of 21-year-old Henry Pollock as England look to broaden the sport’s appeal in partnership with the Gallagher Premiership.

Pollock, represented by boxing promoter Eddie Hearn — who has publicly criticised rugby’s failure to market its best talent — has already become a cultural phenomenon, with Sweeney noting that children across the country are turning up to junior sessions wearing Pollock headbands. Sweeney confirmed he has been in contact with Hearn as the RFU looks to align more closely with the Premiership on player marketing.

“We could have a target of wanting eight potentially iconic players developed every single year,” Sweeney said. “Now only one might make it through, but we want to develop eight players together who are world-class players and one of them every year becomes a marketing icon like the next Pollock.”

Sweeney drew on the example of Nike’s deliberate construction of a rivalry between Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi in tennis during the 1990s, arguing that rugby must adopt a similarly intentional and outward-facing strategy rather than waiting for stars to emerge organically.

“You need to go out intentionally. You don’t just hope for these things to happen but instead you look for personalities and characters in the game and you work with them,” he said. “I don’t think rugby has been very good at that for a long time. We’re very good at talking to ourselves, but we’re not very good at talking externally.”

Sweeney also pointed to the success of Australian rules football and the NFL in creating household names as models worth emulating. Explosive Exeter Chiefs wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso was singled out as another current England player with the qualities to elevate the sport’s profile, with the 22-year-old named to start against Australia at Allianz Stadium on Sunday while Pollock is named among the replacements.

The RFU chief was emphatic that the plan requires structural collaboration rather than individual effort, stressing that the burden of raising rugby’s profile should not fall solely on Pollock’s shoulders. “While Pollock’s clearly a very confident young guy, it shouldn’t all be on him in terms of breaking through,” Sweeney said.