From the 5th to 6th of August, countries from around the world will be competing in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Sevens is one of the events that is held there, it involves seven men playing a game of rugby. Sevens is a game that was made quite along time ago almost two hundred years ago. Some people are getting sick of this sport as it becomes a little bit more boring for others to watch. You also may think who invented this game well that’s what I’m going to tell you in this.
In 1999 it was the first ever Sevens World Cup of seven men on one huge rugby field. Now that might sound strange but it is actually the sport of Sevens Rugby. This sport has more than a little history to it as well. It was basically invented in Scotland by two men who needed an idea that would make everything cheaper for them, they needed everything cheaper because the rugby club they played for was poor and they couldn’t afford to send twenty two men around scotland playing each other. So they made a game where there were only seven men on the field. That club was called Melrose and that was where the first sevens game was played. In 1883 Melrose played Gala in a game of sevens and being the club that invented it they won. So if we calculate 1883 to 2016 that means that sevens has been played for about 133 years!.
I wonder why there isn’t many people in that stadium mum. That might be something you would say when you watch the Wellington Sevens Tournament. The Wellington Sevens used to be the most popular tournament of Seven’s maybe on earth. It had everything everyone you needed and wanted. You were able to dress up in funny and wacky costumes there were places where you could buy drinks and food, it was everything you needed for a good time. And it was also so popular that the tickets would sell out in at least a minute. But then it all just stopped. No more wacky or funny costumes no tickets selling out in about a minute or less No more big rugby stars coming from the All Blacks to have a game of Sevens for their country. And all of this happened just because of one thing. Families were complaining of it being too loud and crazy for their children. So obviously something had to be done. The Sevens Rugby Committee made it so that it was “ Family Friendly”. Which basically means that you can cut out all the night games and turn them into ones that are being played in the day. Take out all the wacky and fun costumes. And even just taking away those small things that would lead to the biggest one. The vibe. It just left so now you may know what happened to that stadium and why there are no people inside of it.
When your grandpa says “ well back in my day” sometimes that may switch you off. Well this might not. In the 1800s there was a man called ned Haig. He was a butcher. He was also a local rugby player. This was in Scotland. Now this man would work really hard at being a butcher so he and his team could travel around Scotland and play all the other teams and play in the other competitions. He and his friend David Sanderson were getting really tired of not being able to pay or play. So they decided that they needed a game where the were less men on a field. To them it seemed like a great idea and and efficient to. It would be cheaper to travel and everyone would get more time to run with the ball. But the only problem was how were they going to get it all around Scotland and get a competition going. Well they didn’t know so they just started playing it in their club and the word went round that the Melrose Rugby club were playing rugby but they only had seven men on the field. So that was how it got around and the people who invented it.
A few fun facts are, Argentina was the first country apart from Scotland to play Sevens Rugby, Melrose Rugby club won the first Sevens title in the world.
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