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Robin Heymann

Achtung – the Hanover Sevens is back! With last year’s event, the FIRA Finals, going down as one of the major success stories of the International season, the hype and expectation is there for all to see this time around.

It would probably be fair to say the organisers, teams and pundits alike were not expecting to generate anything like crowds of 28,000 into the AWD-Arena last July, but that’s what they got. With Germany very much a non-traditional rugby nation, this surely provides an obvious indicator of the mass pull the game has the ability to generate.

Striving to improve further

Similarly to other ‘virgin’ tournaments which have enjoyed bumper first years, it’s important that chief organiser Achim Behring-Scheil and the rest of his team are wary of not sitting on their laurels in making this a similar success.

‘We have learnt a lot from the first edition of the Hanover Sevens last year and know what types of promotion work. We have put up more than 200 large-screen posters all over Hanover and we’ve got the support from the city council and the local community’ exclaims Max Joachim, spokesmen for the event.

That local community includes the nearby Ice-Hockey team – Hanover Indians – with a thinking that there could be a genuine crossover of fans who just love a good bosh. With fingers crossed for fine weather it’s not inconceivable that last year’s attendance could be matched or even topped.

The stadium boasts a capacity of 49,000 and is home for Bundisliga club Hanover 96, which was given the responsibility and prize of hosting 5 fixtures at the 2006 Football World Cup, evidence of the quality that the stadium possesses.

Euros giving confidence for IRB excursions

As well as acting as a Euro Championship, last year's event provided the extra incentive of acting as qualifiers for the World Cup Sevens in Dubai. Back then to form it was ‘The Lobos’ from Portugal, who headed to the tournament as favourites and grabbed the title with a pretty emphatic 26-12 win over Wales in the final. Joining the finalists in a trip to the UAE desert were Georgia and Ireland, courtesy of being losing semi-finalists, whilst Italy squeezed through via the fifth-place play-off pipping Spain.

One particular aspect that marked the tournament was the competiveness of the event with the top 5 all being pushed at some point throughout the weekend.

On day one Wales trailed at half-time against Ireland and then needed a try at the death to deny Ukraine victory. Portugal edged hosts Germany 14-12 in their third match and Georgia needed a last minute breakaway to beat Russia, whilst the Italians were pushed all the way by the ever improving Germans and Spanish too.

Another intriguing upshot of the event was the apparent confidence that participating in the Euros gave to the likes of Portugal and Wales when they joined up with the big spuds on the IRB Series. Portugal were a great example of this, racing out of the traps in Dubai and George with some big scalps, and I don’t need to remind of you of Wales' (80-1 outsiders pre-tournament) staggering World Cup win, cultivated with a side who seemingly benefitted from playing together over numerous tournaments in the months preceding.

It’s a notion which Joachim concurs with.

‘Teams who started their Sevens “career” in the European circuit, like Portugal and Spain, have gone on to succeed on the world circuit. The European nations get closer together regarding their playing level and they have realised that Sevens is a good breeding ground for talent and skills.

'That’s also one of the reasons why it is attractive to countries like France or Italy who can introduce some of their younger talents to international rugby. The fact that teams who played well on the European circuit are allowed to play certain tournaments in the IRB Sevens World Series is testament to that,' added Joachim.

France & Portugal top dogs

With no World Cups to qualify for this term, will there still be the incentives for players and fans alike for this year?

‘I’m sure that the teams who are here in Hanover want to be here and the teams they nominated support this, for example the very strong teams of Georgia or Portugal. France’s willingness to play in this competition is also hugely encouraging’, said Joachim.

Favourites heading to the Fatherland are undoubtedly France and Portugal, who both managed to win two FIRA qualifying tournaments in the build up to Hanover. France looked pretty solid cruising through relatively unscathed in Athens and Split, whilst the Portuguese managed to churn out wins in Sopot and Ostrava in between their IRB excursions. The Lelos of Georgia are another side to watch, who have headed to Germany early to prepare and are looking to build on their third place position of last year. Moldova, Italy, and Spain (with a little magician in the shape of Sale Shark’s Orial Ripol in their ranks) are other teams to be wary of.

England Women out to make mark

Another major coup for Hanover is the running of a premier Women’s tournament that includes the majority of the best teams in Europe. Since the inaugural Women’s Sevens World Cup, a major international competition has been absent but the likes of England, France, Russia, Germany, Sweden and Portugal will all be strutting their stuff.

It doesn’t take rocket science to work out that England head to the AWD-Arena as overwhelming favourites. Perhaps still snarling from their shock World Cup exit, they will be keen to monoplise the event over the weekend but the hugely aggressive Russia could pose some problems.

‘Germany and Sweden have also prepared very well. It’s very hard to predict who the top four are going to be and for the girls it will be exciting to play their final day matches in the AWD arena in front of a massive crowd. A new experience for European women’s rugby and definitely a shout out to the international Olympic committee as the Hanover Sevens backs the Olympic rugby movement,’ added Joachim.

German rugby on the up

Such is the passion and competiveness of the Germans when it comes to sporting spectacles such as the Olympics, it’s no surprise to see them pushing this side of things and the weekend’s jamboree is the perfect medium to continue the German rugby evolution.

With the German side taking huge positives from their participation in the last two legs of the IRB World Sevens Series this year, it has provided the ideal preparation for Rainer Kumm’s side for their European adventure this summer. Although results may be mixed since then, they head into their own backyard with confidence of strong home support, which always makes a difference.

'The fans have to give all they have in order for us to be able to give all we have. Our boys are amateurs, they only play in front of such a crowd once a year,' said Kumm, who was speaking to the IRB.

'It's all new for them but we're at home and with the support from the spectators we can really make it happen. Bring on the fans!'

German rugby aficionados are doing their bit to stoke up some rugby fervor for the aspiring rugby youth in the region with Kumm et al dreaming that a European Gold can inspire hoardes of youngsters to follow the game.

‘We’ve organised a massive youth Sevens tournament with more than 50 teams in the age groups U8s to U18s. The U16s and U18s will play the German Sevens championship with the Cup Finals being played in the AWD arena on Saturday! These tournaments will take place on the Friday all over Hanover’, said Joachim.

Buying into the ‘fun’ element of Sevens that the tournament organisers are keen to stress there will also be the almost obligatory oldies/veterans tournament making the rugby on show varied and interesting, all helping to get into the psyche of the watching German public.

Schützenfest and more!

Let’s be frank, when it comes to putting on a party the German’s aren’t going to let you down. Anyway who needs the Munich Oktoberfest when you can host a Sevens tournament slap bang next to the Schützenfest! Billed as the largest marksmen funfair in the world, it apparently consists of 5,000 marksmen, 260 rides and inns, five large beer-tents and a 200ft ferris wheel! Joachim assures me it’s a cracking weekend though and well worth a look.

‘The festival itself brings in a huge crowd and a great opportunity to party. Combined with the rugby makes it an amazing atmosphere. There’s the banquet and the party afterwards too, which was a huge success last year with all teams celebrating together – just ask all the players, they really enjoyed it!’

With the organisers emitting such positivity and confidence of their event it’s difficult not buy into the hype, but if last year is anything to go by it's all for good reason. A successful 2009 for this event can really help Hanover cement themselves as the unofficial home of European Sevens.

With the event once again broadcast on German TV, it has all the tools to continue making a stir in joining some of the most respected major international 7s tournaments around. It is in that level with the likes of the Pan Am and World Games, directly behind the IRB Series, World Cups and Commonwealth Games. Just another reason to stay postive about this 7s malarky hey?!