28 hours of 7s with LooseHeadz
On 24th July, our partners at LooseHeadz kicked off an extraordinary challenge: a continuous game of rugby 7s that would go on for 28 hours without stopping, bringing players, officials, physios, volunteers, organisers and supporters together to raise vital funds and awareness for mental health.
We arrived at Sandbach Rugby Club that morning, where we were joined supporters and sponsors for breakfast ahead of the World Record attempt. We were also greeted with refreshments from two of the event's sponsors, Fiji Water and NOCCO energy drinks. Both would prove to be much needed over the next 28 hours!
Before the rugby got underway, LooseHeadz co-founder Rob Shotton, spoke about the meaning behind the event, before handing over to 7s legend Ollie Phillips for a short Q&A with Irish international Anna Caplice, who would take on the role of women's team manager for the day, and British & Irish Lion George Kruis, who would shortly be taking to the pitch in the men's fixture.
Then it was time to get ready for kick-off and head over to the pitches.
What followed was nothing short of incredible, and we came away with an enormous amount of admiration for every single person involved in the challenge.
28 hours on the pitch
The physical battle
Its hard to overstate just how tough playing rugby for 28 hours actually is. As the hours passed, the physical toll of the challenge became increasingly obvious, with tired legs, sore bodies and the inevitable aches, niggles and injuries starting to creep in. From our point of view, just being there to support the challenge, and getting short bursts of sleep in order to cheer the players on through the night and through the early hours of the morning, felt pretty tiring!
Although the matches began in the hot July sunshine, when the sun began to set, it became apparent that the cold would be yet another challenge for the players. Putting on a jumper or woolly hat wasn't an option, as under the conditions of the world record it would have invalidated the attempt. The only way to stay warm on the pitch was to just keep moving, which was probably the last thing the players wanted to do!
Overnight, and throughout the next day, the players slept wherever and whenever they could, with Dryrobes, sleeping bags and Oodies appearing at the side of the pitch. They took shifts on the "bench", grabbing whatever brief sleep they could before being called back into the game. It was tough to watch one player being woken from her already limited allocation of sleep because an injury meant she was needed back on the pitch, but that was the reality of the challenge.
The mental battle
What made the event so powerful was seeing the mental side of the challenge as well as the physical one. It was genuinely emotional watching the players push themselves to their limits for such an important cause - raising awareness of mental health and supporting LooseHeadz' work across the rugby community. You could see just how much it was taking out of them, but there was an incredible amount of determination to keep going.
And then there was the dancing
Somehow, despite the tiredness, there was still an incredible amount of positivity. Led by Anna Caplice and Sarah Rowland, the women brought an energy that simply refused to disappear. After tries, while waiting for kick-offs and during the breaks between phases, they just kept dancing. It was impossible not to smile, and watching them carry that energy, and each other, through such a physically demanding challenge was one of the things that made the event so special.
More than a world record
By the time the 28 hours were complete, the players had achieved something remarkable, setting world records for the longest continuous games of rugby 7s. But the record was never really the whole story. The bigger aim was to raise awareness and funds for mental health to support LooseHeadz mission to place a mental health champion in every rugby club in the world.
That mission to support rugby players’ mental health is one we share at Women’s Rugby Roadmap, which is why we are so proud to partner with LooseHeadz and to help make mental wellbeing resources more accessible across rugby.
A huge team effort
Of course, 28 hours of continuous rugby doesn't happen because of the players alone. Match officials, team managers, physios, organisers, volunteers, media teams and more worked throughout the day and night to keep everything moving. Seeing everyone working together, often with very little sleep themselves, was a reminder of just how much goes into making an event like this possible. Every single person involved deserves a huge amount of credit.
The world record is an incredible achievement, but what will stay with us is the people behind it, the atmosphere they created and the reason they kept going.
Women's Rugby Roadmap is proud to partner with LooseHeadz to help bring mental wellbeing resources and support to more women and girls across the rugby community.
