OLD BLUE BRINGS SOCIAL SEVENS
BACK TO THE BIG APPLE
A perfect summer evening welcomed the return of
social sevens rugby to New York City . Hosted
by Old Blue, the Midnight Sevens began at dusk
on Saturday and went until midnight . “There
just wasn’t enough opportunity for social rugby
in the New York City area”, stated Chris Page
(Met NY RFU Media Rep), the tournament director,
“We thought we could fill that gap”.
And fill the gap they did, as fourteen men’s and
women’s teams from across Met NY played at Pier
40, Old Blue’s new turf field located on top of
the Hudson River and recently nicknamed, ‘The
Bullpen’. “We knew there would be interest, but
we did not think we would have to turn teams
away, so next time we will use a two pitch
format, instead of the single pitch format used,
so that we can accommodate more teams”, said
Page.
The single pitch format allowed all
the local ruggers to socialize, catch up with
one another and watch each and every match. The
mood was also livened by the beat of music
filling the huge courtyard all night.
The Women’s bracket was won by the
SUNY New Paltz Alumni in a close final over the
Village Lions. On the Men’s side, the Village
Lions edged New York Manhattan on points, after
the two teams tied 5-5 in a late match. Also
receiving trophies for individual achievement
were:
Chris Sedlack from the Northern Marauders
Tournament MVP, ; Best Try,
Trish Doe from Hudson Valley ; and
Outstanding Ref, Scott Reilly.
The single pitch format provided
many with their first chance ever to play Sevens
on a large, lighted, full size turf pitch with
real rugby goal posts. “I believe the scores
were so high all night because the 70 meter wide
field and the sure footed surface allowed teams
to score whenever they put together a good
drive”, said Old Blue President Gary Lee
Heavner. “We were a little nervous about
manpower” stated Heavner, “we have several
players trying not to get gored in Pamplona, and
we also sent two teams to the sevens qualifier
in Springfield on Saturday morning” The
Springfield qualifier was postponed from earlier
in the summer.
Heavner added that all of the
profits from the event would go to both the U19
and Collegiate Met NY Select programs, “ Met NY
has recognized the recent successes of these
growing rugby programs and the need to support
them for the future of rugby everywhere”.
Heavner added, “Old Blue thought we could lead
the way in supporting these great youth and
college teams”.
The event was so successful that Old
Blue is already planning another social sevens
tournament to take place this summer, sometime
after their already scheduled ‘Midnight
Invitational’ taking place on Saturday July 29th
. “The idea of the Invitational is for teams
from the NRU and MARFU to come together and help
those teams continuing on to the 7s National
Championship in August”, added Page.
Teams interested in either tournament should
contact cpage@metnyrfu.org.
