Greener Pastures

A long-running Caribbean sevens tournament has made its way to GRENADA with the aim of kickstarting rugby on the Spice Isle

- JOSH GRAHAM

WHEN KIRANI James raced home to win Grenada’s first-ever Olympic medal with gold in the 400m at London 2012, an instant legacy was forged – that much was clear. What wasn’t so transparent at the time was that a new sport, a decade on, would take its first fledgling steps inside the stadium renamed after him.

The second edition of the Grenada Rugby World 7s (GRW7s) – a name we can get on board with – took place in December last year.

Tournament organisers Brian Stollmeyer, son of the late West Indian cricketer Jeffrey, and George Nicholson, who was appointed Rugby Americas North (RAN) president in 2021, brought the spectacle to the island for the first time in 2022.

In its previous guise, it took place in Barbados, having started out in Trinidad as far back as the 1980s. That makes it one of the longest-running club sevens competitions on Caribbean shores.

The latest version of the event took place at the Kirani James Athletics Stadium. After competing in exhibition matches over the road at the National Cricket Stadium in 2022, the Grenada Greenz played their first competitive games just two years after the Grenada Rugby Union was established.

Having moved to the USA after his early childhood was spent on the island, Carrim Browne’s interest in the sport stemmed from watching his younger brother play at the Las Vegas 7s. He picked up the game and a tour to New Zealand in 2017 cemented his love for it.