Gala revamp sevens event in attempt to boost crowds

12 teams to play in leagues, with 4pm start, writes David Ferguson

IN THE week that Gala held on to top spot in the Scottish club game for the first time in 18 years, the Borders club has revealed a major revamp of its sevens tournament.

Gala will still kick off the spring season, but that is the only aspect of the 2012 event which will have a traditional feel to it. The club has decided to scrap the 16-team knockout format and instead invite only 12 clubs, and place them into four pools of three to ensure everyone plays at least two ties, with the winners qualifying for the semi-finals.

The tournament will again be played on a Saturday, 7 April but, instead of the usual 2pm start, the 121st event will kick off at 4pm with a final under floodlights around 7.30pm, reducing the the usual five-hour event by over an hour.

Gala RFC president George Marshall said the radical move was a reaction to the dwindling crowds and interest in the tournament over the past decade.

“We feel that sevens tournaments are going to become quite stale in their current format, especially with us having ten in the Borders now in the spring.”

Kelso, Selkirk and Earlston have all moved their tournaments from autumn to spring and Marshall added: “There aren’t enough supporters and sponsor interest for all of these tournaments and not enough interest from clubs. How many sevens do you go to now that have a President’s VII to make up the numbers?

“There is a lot of rugby these days and yet some teams travel a fair distance to support our tournaments and get just 14 minutes of rugby, and their day is over before it has begun. As well as creating more rugby for the players, we hope this will attract supporters of the 12 teams invited in the knowledge that they’re going to see their team at least twice.

“We have thought about this before, and feel now it’s time to go with this format. There was unanimous support by the Gala committee and no hostility towards it from anyone in the Border League, as we have worked out the points system so that it remains an important part of the Kings of the Sevens series.”

All the games will still be played one after the other on the main pitch and the revamp was welcomed by one of Gala’s greatest sevens players, Peter Brown, a member of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ that won every tie between the Earlston tournament in 1968 and the final at Gala in 1973.

‘PC’ Brown told The Scotsman: “It’s a fabulous idea. When I played we had internationalists all over the tournaments, in Scottish sides and guest teams, and that was the big draw, but that is not the case now and so it is harder to attract people. What I like about this is that players will get more sevens rugby. I never liked the fact that players could be knocked out in the first round at Gala and the same at Melrose and turn up at Hawick with just two sevens ties under their belt.

“Gala has an outstanding president in George and vice-president in Scott Dalgleish, successful businessmen who understand that you have to change to suit times and people. I think this will be a breath of fresh air to Gala and the sevens circuit and I wish them well.”

Intriguingly, with all the talk in Galashiels and Melrose this week surrounding the big league meeting at Netherdale on Saturday, Brown is currently holidaying with his friend and former Melrose rival Derek Brown and their wives. They will be glued to the internet and the Radio Borders coverage on Saturday to keep in touch with a fixture they first savoured as players nearly 50 years ago. They do expect to be at the sevens, however, in April.

Marshall added: “This is a big week for the club and we are expecting the game with Melrose to attract a lot of people out of their homes and along to Netherdale on Saturday, including many, we hear, who are not big rugby supporters.

“And that’s what the sevens change is about too. I hope we can attract a lot of people back who have long affiliations with rugby and sevens and those maybe new to it too.

“It is very much taking it year by year at the moment and we’ll see how this first one goes, but ideally we’d love it be a success for the club, but also for the sevens game and Scottish club rugby, and allow us to build on that in future years.

“Who knows if it will work? But if nobody tries anything we’ll go stale together. Sevens have been the same for a long time so it’s about time we tried to revive it a bit.”