About Sevens Rugby

• 1823 Rugby was created at the Rugby School in England.
• Rugby Union is for the most part an amateur sport played throughout the British Commonwealth and in over 130 countries.
• Reached North America about 1875.
• Led to the formation of American "Gridiron" Football.
• 1883 The first seven-a-side rugby tournament is held in Melrose, Scotland.
• 7s is a variation of Rugby in which teams field 7 players, rather than the standard 15 and the match time is reduced from 80 minutes to 14 minutes, although played on a full size pitch.
• 7s is organized in a tournament format with teams playing 4 to 6 matches over 1 or 2 days.  Each team is limited to a roster of 12 players.
• 1993 The first Sevens World Cup is held in Edinburgh, Scotland and continues to be held every four years as an invitational for National Sevens teams.
• 1995, the IRB make the historic decision to allow professionalism in the Union game.
• 1998, the IRB announces that an IRB Sevens World Series will commence in 1999 with tournaments staged around the world.
• The US annually hosts one of 9 International Rugby Board 7s Tournaments as part of a world wide professional circuit that attracts the national teams of about 32 countries.
• 2009, the International Olympic Committee selects Rugby Sevens to join the Olympic program, beginning with the 2016 games in Brazil.
• 2016, Rugby in the form of 7s returns to the Olympics with Fiji winning the Gold and it's first medal ever in any sport. Both the US Women's and Men's teams participate but do not medal