ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the development of sevens to the extent that it is now an opportunity for World Rugby to showcase the sport to a worldwide audience and the key to which is a positive Olympic reintroduction. The process of the game's globalization in international sport is presented as a significant factor in leading to the Hong Kong Sevens, rugby union's first truly global competition, which raised the standards of rugby sevens and allowed Tier 2 and 3 unions the opportunity to compete on the global stage for the first time. William Wavell Wakefield's support for and participation in the Middlesex Sevens enhanced the enthusiasm about the shortened format that was new to English rugby. Borders rugby was a part of life that exhibited pride, physical ability and a spectacle that represented a parochial Border character often in conflict with Scottish identity.
