World Sevens Series: The History

Sevens has gone from just another social pastime, with Hong Kong as the annual highlight on the partying calendar, to a very competitive and worthy sport that now attracts all the major role players in rugby.

Legend has it that Sevens 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 seven-minute halves with one minute for half-time. There are seven players on each side with three reserves.

As sports historian Jack Pollard puts it Sevens matches are unpredictable Tests of stamina, ball-handling expertise and blistering pace.

In 1976, in far-off Hong Kong, the creation of the sleepy Scots border town was hoisted onto the international stage with the inaugural Hong Kong Sevens.

The weekend festival featuring teams from all parts of the world captured international attention with its exciting brand of play in front of packed houses.

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

In 1998, Sevens Rugby was also included into the Commonwealth Games for the first time, New Zealand taking gold then and again in 2002 in Manchester.

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.

New Zealand was crowned the inaugural IRB World Sevens Series champions for 1999/2000 after winning tournaments in Dubai, Punta del Este, Suva, Hong Kong and Paris. Fiji came second on the Series table with wins in Stellenbosch, Mar del Plata, Wellington, Brisbane and Tokyo.

The second Series ran from November 2000 to June 2001 and incorporated new hosts in China, Malaysia, London and Wales.

New Zealand won a unique double after winning their second Series in 2001, as well as the Sevens RWC in the same year. They won the Series after being victorious in Durban, Dubai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London and the Final in Cardiff. This time round Australia beat Fiji I n the race for the silver medal by winning the tournaments in Wellington (when hosts New Zealand was knocked out in the quarter-finals), Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur.

The following season, 2001-2002, New Zealand reinforced their complete dominance of the abbreviated game by winning a third straight Sevens title.