Join UR7S on a unique journey exploring the development of Rugby Sevens from a small town in Scotland to a growing global phenomenon.

The origins of sports often comprise romanticised tales that get embellished into folklore as the years roll by. Did William Web-Ellis actually pick up the ball up and run with it, with his astonished team-mates seemingly joining in the fun? Or so the popular story goes. Rugby sevens' equivalent is old Ned Haig from Melrose RFC.

The Entrepreneur

Ned, a local butcher, originally played for the club supposedly operating in the ‘quarterback role’ in the then 20-a-side game of rugby (positions seemingly still in their infancy). When the time came for him to hang up his boots he joined the Melrose RFC committee.

"An old Melrose Player's Recollections" published several years later recounts the club’s financial strife and budding entrepreneur Ned’s most cunning rugby sevens plan:

“Want of money made us rack our brains as to what was to be done to keep the Club from going to the wall, and the idea struck me that a football tournament might prove attractive but as it was hopeless to think of having several games in one afternoon with fifteen players on each side, the teams were reduced to seven men.” (Ned Haig, Melrose RFC, 1907).

Originally the "seven men" comprised a full back, two quarter-backs and four forwards but with the obvious emphasis on the passing game this soon changed into three forwards and four backs. Rugby sevens match duration would be cut to fifteen minutes.


28th April, 1883

D Day came. Sink or swim time for the rugby sevens inauguration. A rugby sevens tournament must have raised a couple of eyebrows with rugby’s old guard but the masses flocked to see what the fuss was all about. 7-a-side squads from neighbouring Hawick and Galashields (Kelso didn’t bother turning up) made the trip to a soggy Melrose for the main event - ‘The Football Tournament’.

The rugby sevens tournament was an instant hit with the public and about 1,600 tickets were sold on the day. Fittingly, Haig was part of the Melrose team that eventually won the competition – not without controversy! Melrose set off on their lap of honor soaking up the congratulations but the Gala were seen protesting that the full period of extra time had not been played. With both teams squabbling like 8 year-olds over a game of garden cricket, it was decided that Melrose were in the right – it was their tournament and therefore their rules after all!


The Circuit

Melrose’s extravaganza proved the catalyst for the likes of other Border clubs Galashiels, Hawick, and Jed Forest to incorporate their own rugby sevens tournaments perhaps realising the commercial possibilities of hosting such a gig. A circuit was born. Over the next 20 years the concept filtered its way south to places like Kelso and Selkirk. With an obvious perennial moment for the sport, the hosting of the first sevens tournament outside Scotland came in 1921 in the shape of the Buenos Aires Sevens.

Madrid, Paris, and Australia predictably picked up on the growing fad. Soon the ‘Auld Enemy’ joined the party, establishing the Middlesex Sevens in 1926 – still considered one of the most prestigious and loved rugby sevens events on the circuit with a mix of sides such as British Army and Rugby League’s Bradford Bulls winners in years gone by.


New Sport – New Skills
Yet it wasn’t just clubs chasing the money that was making rugby sevens popular – the players loved it. The open spaces and speed of the game at last offered an outlet for the smaller man to gain some parity against the large lumps they would normally encounter in 15s. With an increased impetus on speed, athleticism, timing and an abundance of agility the sport of rugby sevens was reaching out to a different type of player to what the 15-a-side game had ever seen previously. This new, exciting brand of rugby shipped the crowds with many clubs using it as a perfect way to celebrate the end of the season.

Recognition

In 2006 the IRB established a ‘Hall of Fame’ inducting individuals, clubs, teams who have left an indelible stamp on the world rugby in its development and history. In another coup to the ever increasing awareness of the rugby sevens game, both Melrose RFC and Ned Haig were enrolled in 2008 for their obvious contribution to the sport. UR7s salutes you Ned – Rugby Sevens is your dynasty.