The Africa Women's Sevens is the continental championship for women's international rugby sevens in Africa. The tournament sanctioned and sponsored by Rugby Africa (previously CAR) which is the rugby union governing body for the continent.
Tournament History
Background
Rugby sevens — also known as 7-a-side, or 7s — is a short form of the sport of rugby union that was first played in 1883. The first (men's) internationals took place in 1973. As women's rugby union developed in the 1960s and 1970s the format became very popular as it allowed games, and entire leagues, to be developed in countries even when player numbers were small, and it remains the main form the women's game is played in most parts of the world.
However, although the first women's international rugby union 15-a-side test match took place in 1982, it was not until 1997 before the first women's international 7s tournaments were played, when the 1997 Hong Kong Sevens included a women's tournament for the first time. Over the next decade the number of tournaments grew, with almost every region developing regular championship competitions. This reached its zenith with 2009's inaugural women's tournament for the Rugby World Cup Sevens, shortly followed by the announcement that women's rugby sevens will be included in the Olympics from 2016.
Beginnings
The 2004 CAR South Tournament took place in October. Rwanda and Burundi sent their national teams to play against clubs from Uganda (Thunderbirds A, B and C) and Kenya (Mwamba). The Thunderbirds from Uganda won the tournament.
The first official regional 7s championship for international women's teams from Africa was held in Tunisia in 2004, although this only included teams from Northern Africa. The first World Cup Sevens qualifier for women's teams from Africa was held in Uganda in 2008. Since then, African championships have periodically served as pre-qualifying competitions for the Rugby 7s World Cup, or other sevens tournaments such as at the Summer Olympics.
The 2005 CAR South Tournament was planned for Kampala, 5 to 6 November. The International Rugby Board (IRB) through the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) offered 10,000 US dollars towards the first African women's rugby tournament to be held in Uganda. However CAR did not release the money as promised so it was called off. CAR released the money in 2006 for the first CAR 7s tournament where Uganda, Uganda Select, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia and Zimbabwe participated. The 2006 CAR South Tournament was played in Uganda. The 2005 and 2006 CAR North Tournaments were played in Tunisia. Montpellier are known to have played in both.
There was an African Tournament that was supposed to have taken place in East London, South Africa on August 7 to 9, 2008 but was cancelled three weeks before the event. Likely teams were South Africa, England, Canada, France, Australia, USA, New Zealand, Samoa, Wales, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Tunisia and Zambia.
The 2009 CAR Women's Sevens was expected to take place on 25 and 26 September in Kampala, Uganda, but was cancelled due to a lack of sponsorship.
Honours
Winners of continent-wide African Championship tournaments for national women's sevens teams:*
Does not include regional competitions for Northern or Southern Africa, or tournaments including developmental sides or non-national teams.
The following are details of all regional women's international championships played in Africa, listed chronologically with the earliest first, with all result details, where known (included are the CAR Women's Sevens and other official regional championships, e.g. CAR North and South tournaments).
