Former professional player Jim Hamilton argues that rugby sevens deserves far more attention than it currently receives.

Rugby comes in different formats, and while the 15-a-side game will always be his Everest, sevens offers something entirely different. The sport is simple to follow, fast and extraordinarily athletic, and it allows individual personalities and athletes to shine in ways that can be harder to achieve in the 15-man game. With seven players a side and matches lasting around 15 minutes, the format condenses rugby into a product well suited to modern attention spans and one-day events. Yet the opportunity presented by sevens extends well beyond what happens on the pitch.

Sevens has always had travel, entertainment and experience built into it from the start – Hong Kong and Cape Town come to mind as standout destinations. Anyone who has attended either of those tournaments understands that a ticket buys far more than rugby: it is entry into a weekend and a host city.

That matters because the way people spend their money has changed. Sport now competes with festivals, concerts, hospitality and countless other experiences for people's time and attention, and rugby as a whole needs to recognise that.

Investment and interest

Investment and interest in the wider game feel stronger than they have for a long time. Private equity is looking hard at the sport, having entered through CVC Capital Partners; wealthy individuals – including the likes of Sir James Dyson and Bill Foley – want to invest; and global brands such as Red Bull are putting serious energy into rugby.

The Olympics have also put sevens athletes in front of a huge audience, and sevens offers the clearest lens into that effect. Sevens made its Olympic debut at Rio 2016, giving the format a global stage it had never had before. Hamilton recalls first seeing Maddison Levi in Hong Kong – over six feet tall, incredibly powerful, fast and a genuine superstar athlete. Antoine Dupont's move into the French sevens programme ahead of Paris 2024 was huge, and Ilona Maher has become one of rugby's biggest global personalities through sevens and the US programme.

Conversations are now circulating about leading fifteens players wanting to experience sevens at future Olympic cycles. With Los Angeles 2028 on the horizon – an Olympics in a market where rugby has long sought growth – that crossover is only set to accelerate.

London feels like a massive opportunity within all of this. It remains one of the great rugby cities in the world, but it is also where rugby, business, brands, innovation and a huge corporate audience collide. The Middlesex Sevens was an iconic part of the rugby calendar – Hamilton played in it for Leicester – and the World Sevens Series at Twickenham demonstrated the appetite that exists. There is history in the capital.

Rugby sevens showdown

That is the vision behind the London City 7s on 17 September.

Nine teams will play on the doorstep of the Square Mile at the Honourable Artillery Company. Union Bordeaux-Begles, the reigning European champions, are coming, alongside fellow French Top 14 side USAP Perpignan and rugby's answer to the Harlem Globetrotters, the Barbarians.

A sport business conference will open the day before the rugby begins, followed by a full day of top-tier rugby and hospitality in the middle of the City. Around 3,000 people came through the gates last year, and the event is fast becoming the place to be for rugby fans and business leaders alike.

Hamilton argues this is the model the sport should be chasing: take brilliant athletes, short and understandable rugby, great cities, entertainment, brands and hospitality, and build something people want to spend a day being part of. London is the obvious place to start.

Rugby, he says, is at an exciting moment. The question now is how ambitious the sport wants to be – and the intention is to answer that on 17 September.

Jim Hamilton is part of the team behind the London City 7s, taking place on 17 September. Tickets start at £30. More information is available at