HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series – Spain Sevens
The HSBC WORLD RUGBY SEVENS SERIES is a series of ten rugby sevens tournaments played annually since 1999 in various countries from December to June, involving the top national teams. Traditionally organized by the International Rugby Board, now called World Rugby, the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series has evolved over its 22-year history.
Due to the health crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021/2022 season has had to change its usual venues and therefore, World Rugby Tournaments Limited commissioned KiwiHouse to organize the third and fourth rounds of the HSBC WORLD RUGBY SEVENS SERIES 2022 circuit; it is important to note that this is the first time in the history of the competition that World Rugby has chosen Spain as host.
The HSBC SPAIN SEVENS have been held in the cities of Malaga and Seville during the last two weekends of January 2022, specifically in the Ciudad de Malaga Stadium (Malaga) between the 21st and 23rd and in the La Cartuja Stadium (Seville) between the 28th and 30th of that month.
Both tournaments have been treated individually but have followed the same format: the group stage matches were played on Friday and Saturday, which also hosted the playoff matches. On Sunday, the playoffs ended, and the finals took place, both in the men’s and women’s categories.
PARTICIPANTS
After two years without playing a World Series with the full field of participants because of the health crisis, the HSBC SPAIN SEVENS was initially planned as a time for the return of teams of the renown of Fiji, New Zealand and South Africa, but in the end, as a result of COVID-19, the first two were unable to travel to our country.
The HSBC SPAIN SEVENS also welcomed the Polish and Belgian women’s teams who, for the first time in the history of the HSBC WORLD RUGBY SEVENS SERIES, played as guest countries, joining Germany, Jamaica and Portugal.
After the adjustments and new additions, the men’s competition had 15 participants in both venues (Spain, Kenya, Canada, France, Wales, Ireland, Japan, Australia, England, South Africa, Scotland, USA, Argentina, Jamaica and Germany), while the women’s competition had 11 in Malaga (Spain, Russia, Brazil, France, England, United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Poland and Belgium) and 12 in Seville with the addition of Portugal.
EVENT’S DEVELOPMENT
The HSBC SPAIN SEVENS consisted of two separate tournaments played over two consecutive weekends. The tournament schedule consisted of 10 hours of play per day with a total of 77 matches per weekend.
The tournament was designed so that all the teams played a group phase that allowed them to qualify until they reached the final. 27 teams, more than 400 players, 40 referees and more than 900 people between the organization, volunteers and technical staff took part in the event.
The sevens tournaments are characterized by the fact that all the teams spend the whole day in the stadium, as, between matches, each team has a break of two and a half hours; this time is used to eat, rest or carry out analysis sessions of the previous match. This necessity and following World Rugby’s stipulation to keep the teams in a bubble, has forced the organization to carry out a complex technical set-up and to adapt the fixed and temporary facilities of the venues in which the competition has been held. To this end, the inside of the stadiums was converted into a multidisciplinary space with separate rooms where each team could enjoy private and safe spaces in which to relax and change.
MEDICAL TEAM
A committee of 22 doctors formed mainly by traumatologists, emergency doctors and physiotherapists and led by Mr. Luis Mendía, World Rugby’s doctor, oversaw looking after the health of all the participants of the tournament.
Doctor Alberto Gómez, COVID responsible for the tournament, elaborated a very detailed COVID protocol that kept all the staff participating in the event in bubble during the days of stay in Malaga and Seville.
In total, around 1,200 people were directly or indirectly involved in the execution of the HSBC SPAIN SEVENS.
Kiwi House commissioned a consultancy firm specializing in sporting events to measure the media coverage, reach and advertising value (ROI) at national level of the HSBC SPAIN SEVENS, with a return of more than 5 million euros.
