Welcome one and all to Mansfield Park. If it feels like a long time since we had a Hawick Sevens that’s because it is. The last time the iconic event on the town calendar was held was on 13th August, 2022. Having had our season 2022-2023 event in the summer we hadn’t a tournament in the Spring of 2023. Our experimenting with holding our annual event in August didn’t work. We had partly changed in the hope of better weather and we did get a glorious day but we didn’t attract the hoped-for big crowd. There were too many counter attractions – local agricultural shows, the Hawick Open golf championship, a couple of weddings, the lure of a day on the beach although frustratingly for those who headed for the coast the haar was down at Spittal! On the positive side the Greens seven triumphed on the day but the decision was taken to revert to our traditional April Saturday and also to return from our Borders Festival of Rugby title to the old familiar name of Hawick Sevens.
Hawick’s worst kept secret has leaked out like a tsunami again and we are now only three weeks away from the Bonchester ride-out which heralds the start of the summer season of Common Ridings and festivals. Oor grey auld toon has more songs than all the other Border towns put together. Only two of them mention rugby. My own “Auld Hawick Ma Border Hame” has a verse which is seldom sung which celebrates the fifteen-a-side game,
“And every saicond Seturday,
Ee’ll sei mei heidin Mansfield way
Ti watch the boys in green whae play
For Hawick ma Border hame
A’ve seen thum score some matchless tries,
The team they ca’ the Robbie Dyes,
The spirit ‘hint the jersey lies
In Hawick ma Border hame.”
Then Robert McCartney in his “A Song O’ Hawick” has a verse about the abbreviated version of the game,
“As I view life’s looking glass,
Where can any joy surpass
The callants doon at Mansfield
When they hold the final pass?
There can be nae sweeter heav’n
Than a Teri winning seven
Weaving patterns o’ pure magic through the grass.”
Hawick held their first tournament in 1885. Foot-races, tug-o-war and a drop-kicking competition also featured hence the occasion being referred to as “the sports”. Over the years the Greens have been a dominant force in the shorter game none more so than in the annus mirabilis of 1966-67 when Hawick’s celebrated “ten-in-a-row” side put all-comers to the sword.
Today would not be happening were it not for the hard work put in by the Sevens sub-committee under the convenorship of Vice President Malcolm Grant. We are extremely grateful to John Fordyce’s Border Distillery for their very generous sponsorship. Thanks also to all our team and ball sponsors, to our teams and referees, to Angel Lynch for her social media publicity, to Lauren Grant for organising what I am sure will be a memorable Ladies Day, as ever to Debbie and Lindsey and their teams in the Clubhouse and the marquee and to our volunteers who work selflessly behind the scenes.
We are delighted to welcome again our friends from the Border Clan who will play an exhibition game between the semi-finals and the final helping to make this a memorable occasion.
Above all I extend my thanks to everyone for attending today. With the rugby season structure changing and the powers that be having little or no regard for our cherished Border sevens circuit we need the support of the Borders rugby public to ensure that the “seevens” continue. It is an integral part of our heritage. We must keep it going. We owe it not just to those who have gone before but to those who will follow.
Have a great day.
