The Rugby Sevens tournament scheduled for March 12-13 at BC Place has reached capacity, the HSBC Canada Sevens organizing committee announced today.
“We have been strongly focused on player and fan experience, and this sell out will help us to deliver on a world class atmosphere for everyone involved” says Bill Cooper, CEO of HSBC Canada Sevens.
The majority of ticket inventory was sold to locals, although Canada Sevens organizers also confirmed that tickets were sold across Canada and to 13 countries worldwide.
The two-day event promises to be something fun for the city of Vancouver. It’s not very often that BC Place reaches capacity and when it does it’s always an electric atmosphere.
It’s extra impressive that Vancouver was able to sell this tournament out, given that the sport is largely unknown to many people in this city.
If you’re unfamiliar with the sport, here’s a rundown from the Canada Sevens website:
Touted as one of the most exciting spectator sports on the market, Sevens is a knock-down, drag-out show of power, speed and agility featuring just seven players a-side covering a full-size rugby pitch. Scoring is frequent, and feats of extreme athleticism are jammed into every play of each short game.
Sevens Rugby is a variant of rugby union featuring just seven players a-side, playing on a full-size field by much of the same rules as the original 15-player game. While a regular rugby union match lasts at least 80 minutes, a sevens match consists of two halves of seven minutes with a one-minute half-time break. The final of a competition can be played over two halves of ten minutes each, with a half-time break of two minutes.
Matches will be played all throughout the weekend, and many fans will be dressed up in whacky costumes or “fancy dress” as it’s known in Rugby Sevens vernacular.
Rugby Sevens will be a brand new sport at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games this summer. Canada will attempt to qualify for the men’s tournament in June, while the Canadian women have already secured their ticket to Rio.
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