When it first opened its London office in 2019, Roc Nation Sports International had no intention of moving into rugby.
However, intrigued by the commotion around England’s run in the tournament, a curious Yormark watched that year’s Rugby World Cup final in the back of an executive car on the way north to meet Manchester City midfielder and Roc Nation client Kevin de Bruyne.
Yormark heard a victorious Kolisi speak about the relationship between South Africa and the Springboks. He read about Kolisi’s township upbringing, when the future flanker’s favourite toy was a brick. He was convinced. A few weeks later, Kolisi had signed with Roc Nation.
Roc Nation uses star power from other parts of their business to shine a light on such stories: Kolisi has hung out with NBA legend Kevin Durant, while Itoje has spent time with superstar producer DJ Khaled at his Miami home.
Convincing rugby’s stars to promote themselves as aggressively as artists in other arenas, though, has proved a challenge.
It often falls to Paul Adesoye. Roc Nation’s head of rugby has to overcome an ingrained culture that prioritises the dressing-room collective above individual empire building, even if the example of United States sevens player and social media superstar Ilona Maher has changed perspectives.
“Over here the guys are a little bit more reticent about doing it,” said Adesoye. “To be honest, they are a bit nervous about the reaction of their team-mates and their clubs as well. But it is slowly changing.
“Danny Care has launched a vlog and done a podcast – granted he is towards the end of his career, but it is becoming more common in the sport.
“I think it will eventually go in the direction of how it has in the United States where you have current NBA players doing podcasts during the season, telling their story first-hand. It is a matter of time.”
Whether it will be in time for rugby’s big push west, though, is the question.
