World record crowd attends London 7s 22 May, 2011

Over 50,000 fans watched Digicel Fiji compete at the opening day of the London 7s.

A world record crowd of more than 54,000 fans attended the first day of the Emirates Airline London Sevens at Twickenham today. 

The penultimate leg of the 2010/11 HSBC Sevens World Series attracted 54,357 spectators, the biggest crowd to attend a single day of the global series in its 12-year history. 

The previous best of 50,000 was set on both days of the 2008 Dubai Sevens and a new record for a two-day tournament will be set if tomorrow’s crowd takes the combined figure at Twickenham past the 100,000 mark. 

The record means that the overall HSBC Sevens World Series target of 500,000 fans is very much within reach with just one event left to go – the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens on May 28-29. 

International Rugby Board Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: “The HSBC Sevens World Series continues to go from strength to strength. Each year we are seeing record broadcast and attendance figures and today’s record crowd represents another boost for Rugby as we count down to Rugby Sevens’ Olympic Games debut at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.” 

“With highly-competitive matches and the scene set for exciting quarter-final matches, the Emirates Airline London Sevens is poised to deliver a record crowd over the two competition days.” 

RFU Business Operations Director Paul Vaughan added: “The first day record is a testimony to the booming global popularity of Sevens and to the hard work that goes into making the Emirates Airline London Sevens such an enjoyable spectacle. We hope a good second day will take a Sevens weekend past the 100,000 mark for the first time, which would be a magnificent achievement.”