The Middlesex Sevens was a

Rugby Sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

tournament held annually at

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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, but 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 tournament was a charitable event, officially called the Middlesex Charity Sevens, with the beneficiaries being

Wooden Spoon A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...

and the

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Injured Players Fund. Middlesex Charity Sevens raised over £10 million for charities.

History

Traditionally the Middlesex Sevens was an invitation tournament with entertainment derived from overseas and qualifying sides challenging rugby union's top teams. In 2005 the tournament became a twelve team competition with only Rugby Premiership teams participating. In 2008 the tournament reverted to sixteen teams.

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was amongst the teams invited to take part in the 2011 tournament. The final was played between Esher RFC and Samurai. Two

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

clubs have won the Middlesex Sevens. In 1996

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

brought a star-studded team including Martin 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 win ...

Andy Farrell Andrew David Farrell (born 30 May 1975) is an English professional rugby union coach and former rugby league and rugby union player. Farrell has been head coach of the Ireland national team since 2019. Farrell earned 34 caps for Great Britai ...

, Va'aiga Tuigamala and Jason Robinson to Twickenham in 1996.

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

were 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