Geoff Shaw remembers the week fondly.
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Having recently played at a rugby sevens tournament in Eastwood, a group of Kiama players had decided it would be a good idea for the club to host an event of their own.
That was until the week approached and the magnitude of the work that had to be done sunk in.
There was everything involved with preparing a field. The mowing of the grass, painting of the lines, raising of goal posts.
Plus there was all the off-field admin work. Reaching out to clubs across the Illawarra encouraging them to compete.
The running of the barbecue and canteen.
That is, of course, before you even consider playing a full day of sevens matches.
"We were fairly busy," Shaw said. "Not only were we playing, but we were running the whole show. It was mainly run by the players, the players were the Kiama Rugby committee.
"There was a lot of work to be done. We marked the field, we ran the barbecue, we did all of it. That's just what we did in those days."
By the end of the weekend, the idea of returning 12 months later for another tournament seemed like a terrible idea.
But as Shaw and teammates and club officials Gary Grey, Brian Weir and Sandy Rendel sat around enjoying a well-earned beer, the group decided to do exactly that.
"All week we had been going in the afternoon and late at night with the work that needed to be done," Shaw said
"At the end of the week we sat down, put our feet up and somebody asked 'are we going to do this again next year?'.
"We all said 'yes, why not, it was a lot of fun, let's do it again'."
That was 1973 and it was the birth of the Kiama Sevens.
Fast forward to 2022 and the event has grown into one of the biggest sevens competitions in the country.
Not only is it a rugby union tournament, but a celebration of everything the sport has to offer. Saturday's edition will mark the 50th running of the annual event.
The friendships that have been forged, the many memorable moments that have built up over the years, the opportunity to travel to a coastal seaside town.
For former Wallaby Glen Ella, the event always held a special place in the rugby union calendar.
"When I was living in Sydney and playing for Randwick, it was always a tournament we looked forward to," Ella said.
"It was a good event. Right after a game we could go straight into the surf. It was a really good environment and a few wins along the way helped."
Ella travelled down to Kiama with a star-studded Randwick team.
It's a squad that included the likes of brothers Gary and Mark, Lloyd Walker, Simon Poidevin and later David Campese.
The Galloping Greens dominated the Kiama Sevens throughout the 80s.
Such was Randwick's success, Ella can't remember exactly how many times he lifted the trophy.
"It would be five or six, maybe seven," he said. "We had a fairly good team to be able to win that many times."
For the record, Randwick won the tournament six times in a seven-year stretch from 1983 to 1989.
With 13 victories, they remain the most successful team in Kiama Sevens history.
"It's a tough competition, you had to play well every game if you wanted to win it," Ella said.
"In those days there were only two tournaments that were used for selecting the Australian Sevens team to go to Hong Kong.
"It was the Kiama Sevens and one in Brisbane, so you had to play well in Kiama to put your name forward.
"That meant Wallabies, state players, everyone was down there having a dig. If you ended up in the final, you had put your name in front of the selectors."
The former Australian Sevens coach will have the opportunity to reunite with one of his old players in a special moment on Saturday afternoon.
Ella and Kiama product Scott Fava will deliver the trophy to Kiama Showground, the pair set to make a grand entrance and arrive in a helicopter.
"It's something I haven't done before, going up in a helicopter," Fava said. "To be involved in delivering the trophy is pretty special.
"To be doing it with my old coach Glen is great as well."
Fava played under Ella at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in a career that also saw him feature in five Tests for the Wallabies.
Family duties have prevented the retired forward from attending the Kiama Sevens in recent years.
Fava's reunion with Ella will be one of many such instances on Saturday, central western club Grenfell even bringing a bus full of retired players to the South Coast town to celebrate the 50th edition.
While Fava is looking forward to catching up with old friends, he's also looking forward to experiencing a number of annual Kiama Sevens traditions.
"The shenanigans of the event make it great," Fava said. "In past years we've had guys with a torpedo slingshot firing water bombs across the field. There is always the nudie run at some point.
"That's part of rugby, the personalities and the people. All the clubs get involved.
"I hope coming back after four years, that's still alive and going strong."
The Kiama Sevens has evolved considerably over the years.
Throughout the 80s and 90s, it was one of two selection trials for the Australian Sevens team that competed in Hong Kong each year.
While it no longer holds that status, elite players typically make their way down to play for their local clubs.
In the early 80s it was Campese playing for Queanbeyan before his move to Randwick, while Jesse Parahi and Jeral Skelton have featured recently.
International and composite teams dominated for a period, Fijian sides attracting plenty of interest throughout the early 2000s.
That all changed when tournament director Mark Bryant made the difficult decision in 2013 to ban international, composite and representative teams from the event.
The move attracted heavy criticism, but nine years later and the Kiama Sevens has continued to grow.
Saturday's tournament will see a record $50,000 prize money, equally split between the men's and women's events.
A total of 44 teams will run out, with 75 matches to be played across two grounds.
Clubs will travel from as far as Grenfell, Albury Wodonga and Moorabbin in Victoria, while Sydney powerhouses Warringah, Gordon and Norths are also making the trip south.
Teams did not desert the event in the wake of the 2013 decision, clubs instead embracing the opportunity to compete on a level playing field.
Given the recent growth of the Kiama Sevens, Bryant feels vindicated by the move.
"It wasn't well received by a few composite teams but at the end of the day, those players just went back to their clubs," Bryant said.
"That strengthened their club sides and now all the money goes back to the clubs."
While some feared the Kiama Sevens would lose some of its magic after the 2013 shift, those who regularly attend know that did not eventuate.
In many ways, the greater focus on grassroots clubs enhanced that magic.
"Being one of the oldest sevens tournaments in the country, people view it as a fun day out," Kiama product and former Waratah Nathan Trist said.
"People know they can come down and teams from all over the state and country will be here. From subbies teams from the country to the elite Sydney teams, it's a really good mix."
Now based in Queensland, Shaw had hoped to return to Kiama to celebrate the 50th edition of the event he helped build.
COVID restrictions put a stop to that, the former Australian captain instead remaining north of the border.
He's disappointed not to be there on Saturday, but Shaw knows the event is bigger than one man.
That, he feels, is what makes it so special.
"The fact it's stood the test of time, it's always had a place on the Australian rugby calendar," he said.
Shaw couldn't have predicted the Kiama Sevens would morph into the event it is today.
As the tournament wrapped up in 1973, however, he knew he had helped created something unique.
"It's a festival. We have rock festivals, Blues Fest, this is a rugby festival."
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