TALKING POINT: Why calling Dupont the GOAT is as ridiculous as it sounds

France’s gold medal in the sport of Sevens at the Paris Olympics over the weekend got a few people riled up a bit.

None more so than World Rugby’s Alan Gilpin, the CEO who even suggested changing the global calendar so that it would ostensibly be easier for fifteens stars to switch to the shortened code.

Part of this giddy enthusiasm was because the northern hemisphere’s darling, Antoine Dupont - the player who could do no wrong - was part of France’s awe-inspiring win over a Fiji side that had dominated Olympic sport.

In a cauldron in front of 60 000 odd fans, baying for blood, it was set up perfectly for France to claim the gold, and unfortunately in what has become a bit of a trend with the world governing body of late, led to a bit of an overreaction as they slapped each other on the back and congratulated each other on the success of the Olympic Sevens tournament.

Now, let’s for a moment forget the fact that Bill Beaumont and his colleagues at World Rugby let an ideal moment go by in the pandemic to reshape the rugby calendar, and still fail to do anything about the ridiculous demands on modern rugby players. Lets forget the fact that this oversight has left South African professional players playing 12 months of rugby. World Rugby haven’t seemed to be so eager to get the calendar sorted out over the past four years and a bit.

For now, let’s look at the after effects of France’s gold medal at the Sevens and the social media frenzy which led several northern hemisphere scribes, commentators and respected analysts to all shout together in unison that Dupont had now achieved GOAT status.

For those living under a rock, the GOAT term - over-used and ineffective in a team sport - stands for Greatest of All Time. And while it may fuel social media and reddit debates from time to time, there will never be a uniform agreement of who is the greatest in the sport.

Perhaps we should first ask why we're all obsessed with calling someone a GOAT? The word legend has been overused in every sport over the last 20 years and every time a top star does something noteworthy, the debate comes up. It doesn't matter what sport, it is opium for the masses, the ultimate form of clickbait for sporting fans

This isn’t, after all, tennis or golf, where an individual’s performance is easily measured in titles. Dupont has been crowned the GOAT because he won an Olympic medal to go with a Six Nations title, a few Champions’ Cups and Top 14 titles.

But if titles are to be the measurement, there are a number of players who can lay claim to this - not the least Bakkies Botha - who won continental championships on both sides of the hemisphere and a World Cup as well. Or what about the likes of Richie McCaw and Dan Carter? Surely they had a claim to the title.

And if we want to underline the absurdity of it all, what about Damian Willemse. After all at the age of 26 he has two World Cup winners medals, a URC winners medal, a Currie Cup winners medal and is regarded as an incredible talent.

But no, you’d never find the Southern Hemisphere making these claims. The winners of nine of the last 10 World Cups may see it as an interesting bar or fireside chat, but nobody seriously believes there is a GOAT at the moment.

GOOD PLAYER BUT HE PLAYS IN A TEAM

For the record, Dupont is a seriously good player. A superstar in his own right and a player that stands head and shoulders above his teammates. It may well be that he does surpass every other player’s achievements in world rugby by the time he has finished his career. He is a superstar that draws fans to the game, and that shouldn’t be underestimated.

But it is impossible in a team sport to make that claim. Frans Malherbe or Ox Nche regularly destroy their opposition in their specialist positions, Thomas Lavanini is a nightmare to play against for any opposition team, Handre Pollard’s clutch kicking won a World Cup. Kurt-Lee Arendse and Cheslin Kolbe are incredible steppers.

And then there are too many others to even mention. If we read the British press, some writers have made half their team GOATS after a few performances. But in reality - other than Jonah Lomu - no player has changed the face of the game in the last 40 years. There have been several greats - Christian Cullen, Brian O’Driscoll, Tana Umaga, Victor Matfield, Bryan Habana and many more.

Of course, that isn’t even mentioning the 100 years of greats that played the game before social media, before television or before we all saw how brilliant they were. The debate is great over a few beers, but the problem is crowning a player that has played 26 minutes of rugby outside Europe as the best ever. Players need to excel in all sorts of conditions. This isn’t saying Dupont can’t - it is more saying the debate is premature.

In a team sport the argument has less merit because what if said player played for a lesser team? Would he dominate behind the Griffons pack? Or Cardiff’s? Sergio Parese is widely regarded as an exceptional No 8, but he played for Italy. Daisuke Ohata is the world’s leading try scorer at international level of all time, and I’ve seen him carve up a Sevens field against top class opposition. But I bet nobody reading this column would ever have heard of him.

Dupont is an amazing talent that has been blessed to come through one of the best funded club systems in world rugby, who have built a fortress at home and one of the best funded national systems as well. He has been given license to play the way he wants by a coach who understands him and has had a relatively smooth ride through his career in terms of this.

On Saturday Jerry Tuwai, Fiji’s mecurial captain, was aiming for his third Olympic Gold medal, to add to a World Cup winners medal, one World Sevens Series title and the title of Sevens Player of the decade. It wasn’t to be his crowning glory and the achievements of his stellar career were overshadowed by the schoolgirl whoops and cheers from the Dupoint cheerleader squad. It wasn’t fair, but then again, life often isn’t. Tuwai will always be a Sevens legend, even though few watching on Saturday would have even noticed.

SUBJECTIVE 

The point is that any debate of this nature is subjective, and massively so. The discourse at one point got very heated on social media as some personalities tried to enforce their point of view. And both sides of the argument have valid points. But it is, at the end of the day, an argument that will never be won.

So rather than trying to convince the world your favourite player is the greatest ever, rather take time to savour their moments of glory. Enjoy the scrum beasts who make us smile with every massive shove up front, the physical specimens that every country has in their team that make them formidable.

The halfbacks who do the clutch things we can only dream of and the outside backs who take our breath away with feats of speed and magic. This is what makes rugby special. Remembering those moments that make you love this game.

And if you do that, you’ll never worry about who the GOAT is. You’ll appreciate a game for all shapes and sizes for what it is, and the players that have graced the field over the years.

And you’ll have memories of moments that matter to you, and remember fondly players from all nations as the superstars they are.