The first Sydney Sevens tournament has been confirmed for the dates of 6th-7th February 2016, as announced by World Rugby and the Australian Rugby Union earlier today.
After flipping around between Brisbane, Adelaide and the Gold Coast with mixed success, it looks like the Australian leg of the Sevens World Series may finally have found its home.
Set to be staged at Allianz Stadium in Moore Park, there’s a lot of optimism around that the Sydney tournament will be able to bring in significantly better numbers that were seen at last year’s Gold Coast event.
Gold Coast Sevens last year attracted a crowd of just 20,456 across the two-day event, filling only 36% of Robina’s Cbus Super Stadium. That represented a drop of more than 10,000 spectators from the 2012 event.
The Gold Coast sporting market has always been a fickle one with a history of unsuccessful franchises and events across all codes, and it became apparent not long after last year’s Sevens that it had claimed another victim.
Australia’s leg of the Sevens World Series has also previously been held in Brisbane, where it failed to hang on to the bid, resulting in no Australian section being played at all from 2004-2006.
However, Sevens then returned to Australia for five years with its home being Adelaide Oval – now the home of AFL clubs Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide. While the sport didn’t necessarily struggle there, it always lacked the grandeur it could gain from being hosted in Australia’s rugby heartland.
With the event now set to be hosted in Sydney for the first time, it looks set to be Australia’s biggest and best Sevens event yet, with organisers hoping it can rival the series biggest tournaments such as those at Wellington, Twickenham, Hong Kong and Las Vegas.
The event will also provide a boost heading into the first appearance of Rugby Sevens as an Olympic sport, at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in August.
Australian Rugby Union CEO Bill Pulver said: “There will be no better way to kick off a new season of Rugby in this country than the Sydney 7s in February.
“2016 will be a bumper year for Australian Rugby fans – we have the re-vamped Super Rugby competition that will feature teams from Argentina and Japan; England touring here in June; and Rugby Sevens will make its debut at the Olympics in Rio in August.
“The global appeal of the game has never been stronger and we are looking forward to welcoming fans and players from 16 countries to the Sydney Sevens in the first weekend of February.”
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events and Minister for Sport Stuart Ayres said that the Sydney 7s will be a major highlight of the Sydney Summer Events Calendar.
“The Sydney 7s will attract rugby fans from around Australia and the world to our State, and promises to be a fantastic experience both on and off the field. The NSW Government is proud to have secured this event for Sydney through our tourism and major events agency Destination NSW, and it will be one of the most anticipated events of the summer,” Mr Ayres said.
Neil
Guest
I hope that the security staff of surrounding bars have been briefed about the fancy dress element of the sevens, the bouncers are bad enough on a normal evening, never mind potentially thousand of people rocking up in dress up gear
jeznez
Roar Guru
Bondi 10s are the Thursday/Friday preceding the tournament. Cannot wait, booking the tickets home now. Going to be a massive week/weekend.
Ken
Guest
Has to be Ballymore or Suncorp again soon..Forget Robina i was there and it had no atmosphere and it was to far from the anything...
Woodsman
Guest
It is. When the 7s were held in Brisbane the XV a side game was flying and the 7's wasn't the same party event it is now. It was also held at Ballymore. If Brisbane had another crack now with Suncorp as the venue and many pubs in close proximity I'd say the support would be considerably larger. The Gold Coast has a poor track record for sporting teams and despite it's proximity to Brisbane in travel brochures, its annoyingly far away to travel for a day on the p1ss watching footy.
RobC
Roar Guru
Hope it does much better than GC. Maybe its just me. I prefer watching the womens 7
zer0
Guest
Wouldn't bother with Wellington now, if I were you. The fun police have properly killed that golden goose.
Shop
Roar Guru
Gee lester maybe the idea is to rectify the situation. I think Sydney will be able to attract a larger expat following than anywhere else in Australia. I'm talking about Argies, French, P Islanders Poms etc. I see it as a good move and don't think all the negativity is justified.
AndyS
Guest
Particularly if Australia drops the ball on that last chance at the Olympics...
lester
Guest
“2016 will be a bumper year for Australian Rugby fans – we have the re-vamped Super Rugby competition that will feature teams from Argentina and Japan" We're supposed to be excited about this Pulver? Anyone who takes their sport seriously should be rightfully mortified/disgusted in how the ARU have butchered this tournament.
Bakkies
Guest
I see it until I believe that the sports apathy capital will turn out a crowd
AndyS
Guest
I guess we'll see what grandeur it achieves. I always thought Q'ld was part of the rugby heartland, but the article does seem to suggest otherwise.
conor
Guest
Wellington 7s will be played the week before.
David
Guest
Here's hoping the crowds flock and overzealous security / fun police stay at home. Timing of the tournament is excellent. Rugby sevens is on the up - a really good season just past in both men's and women's with more and more nations in the mix and mixing it with the big boys ( and girls ) Of course a successful sevens does require a stadium where drinks a relatively easy to come by and preferably not too expensive. SFS fails miserably in this regards....
Jameswm
Guest
Feb 7s at SFS. sounds good.
jeznez
Roar Guru
Having been to the HK and Twickenham events many times and the most recent edition of the Vegas 7s (haven't made it to Weelington yet but it is on the list). I have to say that matching the Vegas 7s would be a worthwhile and achievable goal before we start measuring ourselves against the larger tournaments. Here is hoping that the dates line up well against the Bondi 10s so I can come home and enjoy both tourneys on consecutive weekends.