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What started as a fundraising event in Melrose, Scotland in 1883 is now fast becoming a global phenomenon. Sevens rugby, the abbreviated form of traditional 15-a-side rugby, is fast and entertaining.
Each team has seven players on the field and the game is played in seven-minute halves.
Club invitational tournaments are flourishing in areas where rugby has traditionally had little presence, including Malaysia, Thailand, The Netherlands, Cuba and Mexico just to name a few.
It is now included in the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games, the Pacific Games and the Pan-American Games and will be included in the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. A sevens Grand Prix series is played in Europe that includes teams from Russia, Portugal, Germany, Romania, Spain and even Moldova. But the Big Daddy is the International Rugby Board (IRB) HSBC Sevens World Series.
The IRB Sevens World Series is a nine-tournament competition played from November to May. It kicks off on the Gold Coast in Australia followed by Dubai, Port Elizabeth in South Africa, Wellington, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Glasgow, finishing in London at Twickenham.
Women will be playing on the IRB circuit in the next season. It is rumoured that Mar del Plata in Argentina will be added to the circuit when it expands to 10 tournaments at the end of 2012. Such is the popularity of sevens that over 500,000 spectators attended the Sevens Series in 2011. Tickets for the Wellington tournament sold out in six minutes.
Do you like tries? There are more tries scored in the nine Sevens Series weekends than there are in two seasons of the NRL. Don’t like games involving penalty goals? Teams rarely kick for goal, they head for the try line.
Do you like big hits? Watch a match between Fiji and Samoa, it’s brutal. Do you like tense, edge-of-the-seat entertainment? Rugby sevens delivers every tournament. Your team can be losing 14-0 with two minutes to go, yet they can still win.
Kevin Sheedy said “After being locked up in the AFL for 40 years, I’ve gone out and seen the world … and stumbled upon a concept that is so brilliant it’s heading to the Olympics – rugby sevens. I had three days in Hong Kong and while I know it wasn’t pure rugby, it was pure entertainment. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Part of the sevens appeal is the party atmosphere, which is just as entertaining as the rugby.
Can rugby sevens bring the warring codes of rugby league, Australian Rules and rugby union together?
In Australia and New Zealand it is primarily a summer sport. Sevens rugby does not need to go head to head and compete with the winter codes for players, spectators or the media. An Australian domestic sevens circuit played over summer would be attractive to broadcasters (I’m currently developing an article on this.)
Rugby league has already made a contribution to sevens. The coach of the Australian sevens team (the Thunderbolts) is the former rugby league international Michael O’Connor. Although to date no NRL players have made a full transition to rugby sevens, the rugby league hotbed and Benji Marshall’s alma mater Kebra Park High has won the Australian Schoolboys sevens tournament for the last two years.
Many talk of developing a rugby union/league hybrid. There is no need, it already exists. The open space on a sevens field and the flamboyant Quade Cooper or Benji Marshall style of play appeals to spectators from both codes.
Kevin Sheedy, AFL’s thinker, has praised the game and the game will appeal to AFL followers more than league or union 15s do. Similar to an AFL game, rugby sevens has flow, the ball is always being contested, and scoring is fast.
Play moves at high speed from try-line to try-line, and attacking play uses the whole width of the field. Sevens rugby is extremely demanding to play. AFL players are renowned for being the fittest footballers in Australia. I would not be surprised if the conditioning coaches from AFL teams could lend a hand to improve the fitness of sevens players in the near future.
Rugby sevens is pure entertainment and even better to play. People are not going to hand in their Collingwood or Broncos memberships and clamour to join a sevens club, but that’s not the point. This is an exciting, action packed, fun filled day that is also tailored made for television.
It’s there to enjoy if you want to embrace it. Perhaps if the codes do work together we could bring home the gold medal in 2016.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.