Abi Burton staying positive as Rugby Sevens opens Olympic door

FOR all those prospective Olympians, building everything over the last four years or more towards this summer’s Games, it must be soul-destroying seeing the event in Tokyo postponed because of the coronavirus.
Olympic hope: Abi Burton. Picture: Justin Setterfield/Getty ImagesOlympic hope: Abi Burton. Picture: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Olympic hope: Abi Burton. Picture: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
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Plenty of dreams have been dashed because of the global pandemic but Abi Burton, the England Sevens rugby international recently named in Team GB’s initial training squad, is purely concentrating on the positives.

Like many, the Leeds-born player has taken the approach that she now has 12 extra months to hone her skills to give her and the team an even greater chance of success when the delayed Games do finally take place in Japan’s capital in 2021.

Dual-code player: Abi Burton.Dual-code player: Abi Burton.
Dual-code player: Abi Burton.
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Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, Burton conceded: “It is tough just because we’ve been gearing everything towards this one moment of the year.

“And we’d had one of our GB camps already, getting to know some of the Scottish and the Welsh girls who I hadn’t met before.

“It was really, really exciting; it was like the dream was finally starting to happen. I was actually living it.

“So it is pretty tough now having to take a step back. But we understand that if we’re not healthy then we won’t be able to play the best that we can.

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“You have got to take it as an opportunity now that with it being postponed, it’s another year for skill development, another year for getting more experience under your belt and taking it all in your stride.

“It is quite gutting to know we won’t be there this summer but we’ve got to now see so many positives with this whole time.

“That is the only thing that will get you through it. You can’t dwell on the negatives.”

Fortunately, Burton – who started her rugby union career at Castleford having first played rugby league with Oulton Raiders – is a naturally positive person with an effervescent personality ready to tackle whatever setbacks come her way.

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She completed her studies at Hartpury College where she played in the Tyrrells Premier 15s for Gloucester-Hartpury but then put university on hold to take up a professional Sevens contract, quickly showing her class in this form of the game.

An all-round athlete, who earned national honours as a junior swimmer and also excelled at gymnastics and athletics, it is perhaps no surprise the 20-year-old is such a fan of the Olympics and the variety it encapsulates.

On the prospect of competing at the Games, Burton said: “It’s been my dream since I was younger. I didn’t think I would ever get the opportunity having moved from swimming and athletics over to rugby.

“I thought the only avenue I might have would be a World Cup. Don’t get me wrong, nothing would ever take the shine off going to a World Cup as that is another dream of mine.

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“But when I got called into the Sevens that kind of ignited this dream back again.

“It made me even more hungry for it. My dream is to become an Olympian, to win an Olympic medal and win gold.

“That’s what drives me every single day. Hopefully, I will be able to do it and it would be an absolute dream come true. When I think about it, it does give me goose bumps.”

Like many talented women rugby union players from the Broad Acres, though, Burton has needed to move away from home to further her career.

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With no top-flight union side in the county – indeed Darlington Mowden Park are the only northern club in the 10-team Tyrrells Premier 15s – there is no obvious pathway.

However, West Park Leeds Ladies, who have won the Women’s Championship North the last three years, hope to remedy that having submitted a bid to the RFU to earn a three-year franchise to join the elite competition.

Burton believes it is “massively important” that Yorkshire is represented.

“I’ve said before how rugby union up north is maybe dying out a little bit, especially on the girls side and especially with how much money and commercial is going into rugby league,” she said.

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“It’d be massive to be able to have a team in the Tyrrells Premier 15s as it will give another pathway for women and another opportunity to get women active and wanting to play.

“If you want to play league in the summer and union in the winter it’s absolutely perfect.

“And it just keeps people more active. Even if they don’t want to play it at a competitive level, it just teaches young women so many more values; teamwork, friendship, working hard for each other...

“I hope that they (West Park Leeds) do end up getting in it. It would be a massive boost for rugby union in Yorkshire.”

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James Mitchinson

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