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Cape Town - The Cape Town Sevens was named as Best Live Sports Experience in South Africa at the Discovery Sport Industry Awards in Johannesburg on Thursday evening.
SA Rugby’s delivery of the Cape Town Sevens won from among six nominees in the category.
The event, which is held at the Cape Town Stadium in December each year, was praised by judges for its “innovative and creative activations”.
They said that the “high-impact and engaging” entertainment meant that the Springbok Sevens team’s defeat in the final “did not detract from the fans’ enjoyment of the experience - a testament to the success of the tournament.”
The event was a 109 000 sell out over the two days and featured numerous music, dance and big-screen entertainments. It was embraced by the audience, many of whom joined in the Sevens tradition of attending in fancy dress.
A multitude of food and beverage options as well as an extensive children’s play area completed the experience.
“An enormous amount of thought and effort went into producing the event and we’re delighted to have been recognised by the judges of the Discovery Sport Industry Awards with this accolade,” said Jurie Roux, CEO of SA Rugby.
“The days when it was enough to send out two rugby teams to capture the imagination of an audience are part of history and our team worked very hard to create an engaging and joyful experience.
“We had fantastic feedback from the audience and to have that endorsed with this award is extremely satisfying.”
Roux said that the award had inspired the SA Rugby team to raise the bar even higher in 2017. An announcement on the sale of tickets for this year’s event would be made in June.
