The Middlesex Sevens was a Rugby Sevens tournament held annually at

Twickenham stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team play ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

until 2011. It was first held in 1926, and started by Dr J.A. Russell-Cargill, a London-based Scot.Bath, ''Scotland Rugby Miscellany'', p82 The event was held at the end of the rugby union season in May every year for 75 years and moved to August in 2001 due to lack of available stadium dates and players in May. The Middlesex Sevens tournament was last played in 2011, as the new Premiership Rugby 7s Series caused many of the top clubs that previously took part to pull out. This Rugby Sevens tournament was a charitable event, officially called the Middlesex Charity Sevens, with the beneficiaries being

Wooden Spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

and the RFU's

RFU The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby (WR) in 1886. It pro ...

Injured Players Fund. Middlesex Charity Sevens has raised over £10 million for charities. It was famously won by non-rugby union side Wigan (rugby league) in 1996 and again by a rugby league side in 2001 (Bradford Bulls).

Players

The Middlesex Sevens has seen many notable great players take the field including

Waisale Serevi Waisale Tikoisolomoni Serevi (born 20 May 1968) is a Fijian former rugby union football player and coach, and is a member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame. Serevi is renowned for his achievements in rugby sevens, while also enjoying a long car ...

Eric Rush Eric James Rush (born 11 February 1965 in Kaeo) is a New Zealand former rugby union footballer and rugby sevens legend, and now a supermarket owner. His New Zealand Sevens career began in 1988 and ran until past his 39th birthday in 2004. Ru ...

Lawrence Dallaglio Lorenzo Bruno Nero Dallaglio (born 10 August 1972), known as Lawrence Dallaglio, is an English retired rugby union player, former captain of England, and 2016 inductee of the World Rugby Hall of Fame. He played as a flanker or number eight ...

Henry Paul Henry Paul (born 10 February 1974), also known by the nickname of "HP", is a former dual-code international rugby league and rugby union footballer. Paul represented New Zealand in rugby league and England in rugby union and rugby sevens. He ...

Robbie Paul Robert Rawiri Hunter-Paul (born 3 February 1976) is a New Zealand former rugby league footballer. He has since become a business owner and television pundit, runninXtra Mile Marketing an inbound and digital marketing company. Robbie retired fr ...

Clive Woodward Sir Clive Ronald Woodward (born 6 January 1956) is an English former rugby union player and coach. He was coach of the team from 1997 to 2004, managing them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He also coached the 2005 British & Irish Lion ...

Will Carling William David Charles Carling (born 12 December 1965) is an English former rugby union player. He was England's youngest captain, aged 22, and won 72 caps from 1988 to 1996, captaining England 59 times. Under his captaincy, England won Five ...

JPR Williams John Peter Rhys Williams (born 2 March 1949) is a former Welsh rugby union player who represented Wales in international rugby during their Golden Era in the 1970s. He became known universally as J. P. R. Williams (or sometimes just as JPR) aft ...

Prince Alexander Obolensky Prince Alexander Sergeevich Obolensky KStJ (russian: Александр Серге́евич Оболенский; 17 February 1916 – 29 March 1940) was a Rurikid prince of Russian origin who became a naturalised Briton, having spent most of h ...

Frank Whitcombe Frank William Whitcombe (29 May 1913 – 17 January 1958), also known by the nickname of "The Big Man", was a Welsh rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s. He played rugby union (RU) for Cardiff ...

David Sole David Michael Barclay Sole (born 8 May 1962) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1993 New Year Honours. Rugby Union career Amateur career He was e ...

Va'aiga Tuigamala Va'aiga Lealuga Tuigamala Pulelua Fesola'i (4 September 1969 – 24 February 2022), sometimes known as Inga Tuigamala, was a professional rugby union and rugby league footballer. Born in Samoa, he represented New Zealand in rugby union, winnin ...

Martin Offiah Martin Nwokocha Offiah MBE ( (''original pronunciation''), (''commonly used'')); born 29 December 1965) is an English former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Offiah was inducted i ...

Ben Gollings Ben Gollings (born 13 May 1980) is an English former rugby union player who currently works as a rugby coach for Fiji sevens team. Gollings is best known for his time with the England national rugby sevens team. He is the career leader in poi ...

Simon Amor Simon Daniel Edward Amor (born 25 April 1979) is an English rugby union coach and former player. Amor played in the scrum-half and fly-half positions for London Scottish and captained the England national rugby sevens team. He has been the h ...

David Strettle David Strettle, (born 23 July 1983), is a former English rugby union wing. Early life Strettle grew up in Thelwall, Cheshire, attending Lymm High School and playing for Lymm RFC. Strettle then went on to study at Sheffield Hallam Universi ...

Josh Lewsey Owen Joshua Lewsey MBE (born 30 November 1976) is an English former rugby union player who represented England and the British and Irish Lions. Lewsey is a former British Army Officer. Background and early life Lewsey was born in Bromley, Lo ...

Andy Ripley Andrew George Ripley OBE (1 December 1947 – 17 June 2010) was an English rugby union international, who represented England from 1972 to 1976, and the Lions on their unbeaten 1974 tour of South Africa. Early life Ripley was born in Liverp ...

and Ollie Phillips amongst others.

History

Traditionally the Middlesex Sevens was an invitation tournament with entertainment derived from overseas and qualifying sides challenging the rugby union top teams. In 2005 the tournament became a twelve team competition with

Rugby Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

teams only participating. In 2008 the tournament reverted to sixteen teams. The 2010 final was played between London Irish who fielded three Armitage brothers and ULR Samurai with a strong international contingent.

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

was amongst the teams invited to take part in the 2011 Vauxhall Middlesex Charity 7s. The Final was played between Esher RFC and Samurai. Two

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

clubs have won the Middlesex Sevens: firstly

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

, who brought a star-studded team including Offiah,

Shaun Edwards Shaun Edwards, OBE (born 17 October 1966) is an English rugby union coach and former rugby league player, who is the defence coach for the France national team. A or , Edwards is the most decorated player in rugby league history, with 37 wi ...

, Andy Farrell, Tuigamala and a young Jason Robinson to Twickenham in 1996 as a tune-up before the union leg of their historic Clash of the Codes series against Bath. Wigan were joined on the honours list by

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

, champions in 2002. The Women's Middlesex 7s was introduced in 2011, the final year of the tournament, and was won by Wooden Spoon Women.

List of winners

By wins

References

Bibliography

* Bath, Richard (editor) ''The Scotland Rugby Miscellany'' (Vision Sports Publishing, 2007 )

External links

* {{cite web, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181749/http://ur7s.com/tournaments/middlesex7s, title=Vauxhall Middlesex Charity Sevens, work=Ultimate Rugby Sevens, url=http://ur7s.com/tournaments/middlesex7s, archivedate=3 March 2016 Rugby sevens competitions in England Sevens Rugby union in London