Melrose Sevens is an annual rugby sevens event held by Melrose Rugby Club, at

The Greenyards The Greenyards is a sports ground in Melrose, Scottish Borders. It has been the home of Melrose RFC for rugby union matches and the annual Melrose Sevens tournament. The first ever rugby 7s matches were played at the ground in 1883. The professio ...

Melrose, Scotland Melrose ( gd, Maolros, "bald moor") is a small town and civil parish in the Scottish Borders, historically in Roxburghshire. It lies within the Eildon committee area of Scottish Borders Council. History The original Melrose was ''Mailros'', me ...

. It is the oldest rugby sevens competition in the world, dating back to 1883 when the tournament was suggested by former Melrose player

Ned Haig Ned Haig (7 December 1858 in Jedburgh, Scotland – 28 March 1939 in Melrose, Scotland, buried in Wairds Cemetery, Melrose, Scotland) was a butcher and rugby union player notable for founding the sport of rugby sevens. He moved to Melrose when ...

. English side London Scottish are the current champions after beating Edinburgh Accies 29–12 in the 2019 final to win the event for the first time since 1965.

History

Held every April, the tournament is part of the

Kings of the Sevens The Borders Sevens Circuit is a series of rugby sevens tournaments held annually in the Scottish Borders. Originally the circuit consisted of 5 tournaments; Langholm Sevens being the last added in 1908. It is the oldest Sevens circuit in the worl ...

competition, and has attracted teams from as far afield as Japan,

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. From 2018 the playing time in the final was cut from twenty minutes to fourteen minutes which is in line with the standard match time. In September 2019 the organisers had set out plans for the Melrose Sevens to relaunch as a four-day festival of music and rugby. The 2020 event was however postponed and eventually cancelled due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

. There was no event held in 2021 due to the pandemic.

Media coverage

Domestically, the tournament is broadcast live on BBC Scotland and

BBC Online BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...

, and locally, from the first tie right through to the final, on

Radio Borders Greatest Hits Radio Scottish Borders and North Northumberland is an Independent Local Radio station based in Edinburgh, Scotland, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to the Scottish Borders ...

Past winners

Number of wins

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one ...

(28) *

Gala Gala may refer to: Music * ''Gala'' (album), a 1990 album by the English alternative rock band Lush *'' Gala – The Collection'', a 2016 album by Sarah Brightman *GALA Choruses, an association of LGBT choral groups *''Gala'', a 1986 album by T ...

(15) * Melrose (12) *

Watsonians Watsonian Football Club is a rugby union club based in Edinburgh and part of the Scottish Rugby Union. The club is connected with George Watson's College as a club for former pupils, and changed its policy in the 1980s to be a fully open club, ...

(10) * Kelso (7) *

Heriot's FP Heriot's Rugby Club, also known as Heriot's FP, is one of Scotland's senior rugby football clubs in the Scottish Rugby Union, whose Men's 1st XV play in the FOSROC . The women play in The club's home is in the Goldenacre area in Edinburgh.Bat ...

(7) *

Jed-Forest Jed-Forest Rugby Football Club are a rugby union team who are based at Riverside Park in Jedburgh. The team was founded in 1885 and currently play in Scottish Premiership and the Border League. Jed-Forest Sevens The club organises the Jed-Fore ...

(4) * Boroughmuir (3) * Edinburgh Accies (3) * London Scottish (3) *

Royal HSFP Royal High School Former Pupils was a former Edinburgh rugby union club; but the club was re-formed as Barnton RFC and is now known as Royal High RFC. Royal HSFP was a founder member of the Scottish Rugby Union, the second oldest national gove ...

(3) *

Stewart's College FP Stewart's College FP RFC was a Scottish rugby union club in Edinburgh. Founded The club was founded in 1875, when a match took place between the former pupils of Daniel Stewart's Hospital and George Watson's College. In 1887, the club became ...

(2) * Stellenbosch University (2) * Loughborough Colleges (2) * Harlequins (2) * Saracens (2) *

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

(2)

References

External links