It was an amazing weekend on the 80th Street Fields in beautiful Stone Harbor, NJ as close to 80 teams gathered for the 11th annual Surfside Sevens rugby tournament.

The buzz was palpable as teams from around the country checked in at hotels, reconnected with friends and gathered early to warm up on the grass, while vacationers asked each other what was going on next to the beach and many learned a thing or two about this great game, drawn to the cheers, music and action. 

For the first time ever, Surfside stretched over two days in order to accommodate The American High School Rugby Sevens Championships (AHS7s). High school boys, girls, U13 Boys and U15 Boys made up four of the nine divisions competing for hardware, along with Men’s Club, Women’s Club, Men’s Collegiate, Very Open Club and Very Very Open Club. Teams traveled from as far away as North Carolina and Georgia for a chance to walk away with trophies and the highly-coveted winners’ jerseys.

As play got underway before 8 a.m. on Saturday, t-shirts, pint glasses, custom balls, Royall Rugby [1] fragrances and refreshments went on sale at the main tent. Boathouse Sports [2] offered rugby clothing, Scrum-ptious Hot Dogs sizzled and Maui Wowi [3] coffee and smoothies proved hugely popular through the weekend. 

In the middle of it all, the Knox Street Band kicked it into high gear with live music and stirring renditions of The Star Spangled Banner as thousands paused each afternoon to face the flag waving in the sea breeze.

As usual, Surfside was a family affair, with moms, dads, brothers and sisters cheering each other on. Over at the staff tent, Tournament Director Stephen Siano coordinated all the action while wife Amy managed concessions and kids Bobby, 8, and Sofia, 7, proved excellent t-shirt sellers. (Five-year-old Jack was also seen fetching sports drinks and helping in other ways.) After the games there were drinks outdoors at The Sandbar [4], located steps away from the fields at The Golden Inn [5]—where many enjoyed Saturday’s $2 drink special, “The Rugger.”

With so much great rugby to be played, delicious food and drink, merchandise, music, sun, sand and surf—it was definitely true what Stephen told the crowd just before things wrapped up on Sunday: “Remember what we always say. At Surfside Sevens—everybody wins!”

A Special Thanks

We’d like to give a special shout-out to our sponsors featured on Surfside items this year: Razor Technology [6] (pint glasses), Tatonka (rally towels), Boathouse (winners’ jerseys and goal posts), the Josiah A. Sterling Aquatic Education Program [7] (t-shirts and banners), Royall Lyme (staff shirts), , Golden Inn (stadium cups) and, on the tournament ball, Sly Fox Beer, Municipal Capital Finance, Elliott Greenleaf, OEM Industrial [8], ACTS, and MOC Northeast. 

Also, the tournament guide sponsors: Atlantis Rugby [9], Fluent [10], Allstate's Keith Cassidy, Zeke Capital Advisors [11], Marsh Pennington, Julian Sur, CPA, Dr. William E. Muscara, Circle Pizza, Beach Burger, Royall Rugby, and 4x3 LLC [12]. 

About Surfside Sevens

Surfside Sevens is a tournament founded and developed by Amy and Stephen Siano. Amy Siano designed the logo and designed and built the first of many websites. Stephen Siano developed the concept for the tournament. The timing of the event with the unique horn system was noticed by Stephen Siano during the Taupiri Sevens in New Zealand in which Stephen played. Stephen brought the concept back to the USA and developed the tournament a the beach.