About Sevens

History of Sevens 

Legend has it that Sevens Rugby was born in the Scottish town of Melrose in 1883 after an internal club dispute led to a breakaway group forming. Neither the old or new club had sufficient players so the local butcher invented a seven-a-side format which allowed competition to begin.

The rugby it produced was like no other. Players found space to work in. Speed and athletic skills came through, with timing and agility playing a greater role than the physical qualities of the 15-man game.

Sevens Rugby is non-stop action played in two sevenminute halves with one minute for half-time. There are seven players on each side with three reserves.

In 1993 a World Cup of Sevens was held, appropriately in Scotland, again in 1997, this time in Hong Kong then in 2001 at Mar del Plata in Argentina where Australia was beaten in the final by New Zealand.

Since then, Sevens rugby has taken another huge leap forward, with the creation of a World Sevens Series - a truly international series of tournaments involving 16 nations, played in countries as varied as Argentina, Chile, England, Malaysia, China and Australia.

Worldwide Popularity

With an announcement by the IOC (international Olympic Committee) that Rugby Sevens will be a demonstration sport at the 2016 Olympics pending in October. Rugby Sevens has really taken the world by storm.

The International Rugby Board recently announced that the Rugby World Cup Sevens held in Dubai in March, shattered all previous tournament broadcast records.

The historic tournament, which was the first to incorporate a 16-team women’s event running alongside the men’s competition, was broadcast to 760 million people in 141 countries through 29 international broadcasters in 19 languages.

Sevens Rugby is not just for men. The Australian Women’s Team were crowned World Champions at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai.