The Sevens wonder of the world
By Chris Thau
Chris Thau explores the history of the Sevens game, from modest beginnings in Melrose in 1883 to a modern phenomenon with Olympic aspirations.
It would never have crossed the minds of Melrose butcher David Sanderson and his apprentice Ned Haig that their Greenyards money-spinner would become one of the world's most exciting team sports with a dedicated following, World Cups for both men and women, a grand prix style circuit and the possibility of joining the Olympics.
Their only worry on 28 April 1883 was to 'keep the club from going to the wall', and they did just that. With the inception of the Melrose Sevens the club not only avoided bankruptcy, but went from strength to strength, and the tournament is now a firmly established fixture at the end of April.
But Sanderson and Haig had achieved far more than anyone bargained for. The simplicity of the concept was paid the highest form of flattery, imitated and replicated first by the Scots and then by the rest of the world.
The shortened version of the Game - to be known as Sevens - first caught the imagination of the rest of the Border clubs - Gala, Hawick, Jedforrest and Langholm as well as Earlston, Kelso and Selkirk - with Hawick, the hometown of the legendary Scottish commentator Bill McLaren, boasting the best record on the Border Sevens circuit.
Slowly the idea was shared, first no further than just south of the border, but before long the first non-Scottish side took the spoils at Melrose, sparking an international uptake of the sport, which is still spreading like wildfire today.
A brief history of Sevens
28 April 1883 - Inception of the Melrose Sevens in Scotland.
1886 - Tynedale becomes the first non-Scottish winner of the Melrose Sevens.
1951 - Sixty-five years later, Rosslyn Park became the second non-Scottish winner of the precious Melrose medals.
1890s - Reports suggest the earliest tournament held outside Britain was in New Zealand (not counting any tournaments or matches played by the Navy and Army all over the territory of the then British Empire).
1921 - First Buenos Aires Sevens held, at the instigation of the BA Football Club. After a couple of years the tournament became a low-profile club Sevens but it was resuscitated in 1932 as the national club Sevens and remains arguably the world's oldest continuously played tournament outside Scotland.
1920s - Reports suggest that Sevens was played at the Marist School in Apia, Samoa.
1926 - Dr Russell Cargill, another Scot and a member of the Middlesex County Committee, had the idea of launching the Middlesex Sevens for the London club and invited guests. This became one of the best attended charity events in the rugby calendar.
1939 - The Rosslyn Park School Sevens was launched and has become arguably the biggest tournament in the world in terms of participation. It is now attended by over 300 school teams and nearly 4,000 players, mostly from the UK but also from other countries as far afield as India and Swaziland.
1930s - Sevens' popularity grew within the university campuses of Japan.
1950 - First Sevens played in North America at the Ontario Magnificent Sevens and the New York Sevens, followed by the Spray Cup in British Columbia in 1959 among the oldest. The USA now boasts 100s of Sevens tournaments each year, more than any other country, and there are many more for both men and women in the West Indies.
1973 - Rugby Sevens played for the first time at a national representative level when the Scottish Rugby Union decided to hold an International Sevens Tournament to celebrate its centenary.
The eight-team tournament started with a bang when the star-studded Welsh team of Gareth Edwards, Gerald Davies, Phil Bennett, JPR Williams, JJ Williams, Mervyn Davies and John Taylor were beaten by England - a team formed of mainly Loughborough University students including Fran Cotton in his first experience of the short game, Steve Smith, Peter Rossborough, John Gray, Keith Fielding and Andy Ripley. The event ultimately ended as it had begun with a sizzling match, England beating surprise finalists Ireland.
1975 - Hong Kong... Legend has it that in the stand of the Murrayfield Stadium that day in 1973 there were a few Scottish ex-pats, home from Hong Kong on a short break. This has not been confirmed but what is known is that in 1975 a Scot by the name of Ian Gow somehow managed to convince Hong Kong Rugby Football Union President 'Tokkie' Smith to hold a Sevens tournament the following year.
The match between Korea and an Australia select remained in history as the opening match of the first ever Hong Kong Sevens tournament, which evolved into the biggest rugby event of its kind. Ever since, its three tier structure has enabled the smaller Unions to rub shoulders with the leading nations and the tournament is credited with sowing the seed of the Rugby World Cup Sevens idea.
Hong Kong became the global arena for the fine display of skill and enterprise of the Fijians and Samoans, the Thais and Koreans, the French and the Spanish, with New Zealand and Australia also supporting the concept from the early days.
1986 - Australia organised the first world Sevens tournament in Sydney, an early forerunner to the Rugby World Cup Sevens. It was there that Spain caused a huge surprise by beating England in the pool stages.
1993 - Rugby World Cup Sevens is born - Captain Andrew Harriman inspired England to victory in the first ever Rugby World Cup Sevens, at Murrayfield, and since then there has been a tournament held every four years.
Fiji won with the great Waisale Serevi in Hong Kong in 1997, Jonah Lomu inspired New Zealand to win in 2001 in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Fiji won again in Hong Kong in 2005 and Wales won in 2009 in Dubai, a tournament which also produced a historic first as the Wallaroos of Australia took the spoils in the first ever Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens, beating New Zealand in the inaugural final.
1998 - Sevens played for the first time at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where New Zealand took the gold medal. The kiwis have also taken gold at both Commonwealth Games since at Manchester in 2002 and Melbourne in 2006.
1999 - IRB Sevens World Series is born - The first season of the IRB Sevens World Series was played in 1999-2000 with New Zealand taking the trophy, a feat they repeated under coach Gordon Tietjens on no fewer than seven occasions. New Zealand has won the World Series eight out of 10 times, with Fiji winning once in 2005/06 and South Africa taking the most recent trophy in 2008/09.
2007 - South Africa take steps towards creating a first ever full-time national Sevens squad, and two years later the new approach bears fruit as coach Paul Treu and his side win a first World Series in a season that also established the likes of Kenya, USA and Portugal as true contenders alongside the likes of Samoa and Argentina, who have already won Cup titles and challenged the superpowers in the Game - New Zealand, Fiji, South Africa and England.
5-7 March 2009 - Wales won the fifith Rugby World Cup Sevens for men in Dubai and Australia won the historic first ever Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens, beating New Zealand in the inaugural final.
13 August 2009 - Rugby Sevens recommended along with Golf by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board for inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Games. In October the IOC Members will vote in Copenhagen on the two sports individually with a straight majority required for Olympic Games' inclusion from 2016.
