The National Schools 7's

The National Schools Sevens is an English rugby union sevens tournament, held in association with Rosslyn Park F.C., that has evolved into the world's largest rugby tournament with some 7,000 boys and girls aged 13 – 19 competing annually. There are now well over 1,100 matches on the 5 groups of pitches (each one having its own Ground Management Team) every year.

Originally a tournament played amongst English public schools, the tournament has evolved and expanded over the years and now accepts sides from all over the world. Countries which have participated included Canada, China, Denmark, Guernsey, Hungary, India, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Kenya, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Spain, and the Ukraine as well as England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The play for the first 4 days is centred on Wimbledon Common where there are 24 pitches. But the last day (Friday) the Open and Girls Tournaments remaining knockout rounds are held at Rosslyn Park. All the pitches, bar Rosslyn Park, are close together and there is just a short walk between them all.

Each Tournament has a similar format of Group matches on the first day with possibly a knockout round or two. The second day is for the knockout rounds, which culminate in the relevant Final. The Junior Tournament and the Preparatory Tournament (both under 13s) start on the Monday, the Festival (one term rugby schools) starts Tuesday, the Colts (under 16s) Wednesday, and the Girls Tournament and Open Tournament (both under 18s) start on Thursday.

There has been some recent speculation (November 2008) about the reasons for the Schools 7's inception. Some recent research by Richard Cable, of the BBC, shows that Rosslyn Park started holiday games for schoolboys following the Great War. [1] These were held in January and were believed to be in commemoration of Rosslyn Park members killed in action. This was the beginning of a strong link between the club and youth rugby - something that continues to this day. In 1938 it was known that an internal tournament took place at the club where members played as old boys representing their schools. The following year, and possibly as a result of some disagreement among the members as to whose school was better at "rugger", the Schools 7's was born.

The event was first held in 1939, and has been held every year since, becoming one of the oldest continuous tournaments for schools and the oldest ongoing schoolboy rugby tournament in the United Kingdom. The first tournament was won by St George's School, Harpenden, which was a fee-paying independent school at that time. It was intended to be a knock-out competition for English public schools but as interest grew it was extended to include state schools (both grammar and comprehensive) and preparatory schools. The format was also changed into pool groups so that no U16 or girls side played fewer than three matches and no U18 boys side fewer than four. Almost all the founding 16 schools compete to this day and, although it remains an invitation event, no eligible school would be refused entry upon application. In 1956 the Preparatory Schools competition was started for IAPS schools and in 1973 the Juniors (U13s) were held for the first time. In March 1997, a new competition was introduced for the U16s and it has been the policy during the past few years to invite schools from overseas who may be touring the UK to play in the tournament. Each year the number of schools applying increases. In 1998 the first girls (U18) competition was inaugurated, and a recent popular inclusion has been a sevens challenge match between Old Boys RFCs, the first of which was between Ampleforth and Millfield, who between them have won the senior tournaments a remarkable 21 times.

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