2025 brought another huge chapter for us, with Women’s Football joining the sporting line-up and more than 450 teams and 5,500 players heading to Chapel Gate across the weekend. Around 30,000 people came through the gates, with 1,500+ matches taking place alongside 100+ live acts and DJs across the festival arenas. 

On the stages, Ella Henderson and ArrDee headlined a seriously strong line-up, joined by Songer, Badger, Vibe Chemistry, Jess Bays and plenty more. They were joined by an array of new entertainment: Tribute Acts Abba, a Disney Takeover & loads more.

While partnerships with Bournemouth Water and Sure demonstrated the growing emphasis on sustainability, hydration and large-scale brand activations.

In 2024, we pulled together one of our biggest line-ups yet, with Rudimental, Wilkinson and Joel Corry headlining alongside 100+ live acts and DJs. 

From the pitches to the campsite, the Funky Forest to the Bunker, we had three days of sport, music, mates and memories all rolled into one.

2023 saw Cheerleading and 3x3 Basketball making their debut and taking us to seven sports across the weekend. Around 30,000 people joined us alongside 12 festival arenas, including the famous Rizla House, and more than 100 artists, DJs and live acts. 

Katy B, Low Steppa and Switch Disco brought the big names to the stages, while our partnership with LooseHeadz added another important side to the B7s story, helping us use the festival to support mental health and the rugby community. It was another year of adding more, doing things differently and making sure there was something going on for everyone from the first whistle to the final tune.

After the uncertainty of the previous two years, we were back in May and ready to go bigger than ever, welcoming more than 30,000 people and 400+ teams for a huge weekend of sport, music and mayhem. We also introduced the fan favourite Bingo Lingo to the entertainment.

The music line-up stepped up another level too, with Chase & Status, Turno, and Harlee headlining, bringing some serious star power to the stages. 2022 felt like B7s was properly back and we weren’t planning on slowing down.

After 18 months of cancelled plans, lockdowns and uncertainty, B7s was finally back. We moved from our usual May Bank Holiday to August and, with just 42 days to pull it all together, brought more than 30,000 people and 400 teams back through the gates for their first proper festival experience in months. 

For many, it was the first time they’d been able to play sport, dance with their mates and enjoy live music since lockdown — and the atmosphere was something we’ll never forget. With COVID checks in place and Tixel helping fans safely resell tickets if they could no longer attend, simply getting everyone back together felt like a massive win. B7s was back, and it felt better than ever.

😍 The lineup featured Ella Eyre, Majestic, Krakota, James Haskell and many more.

Then came the year none of us saw coming.

With more than 400 teams already signed up and another sell-out festival on the cards, we initially moved B7s from May to August in the hope that the festival could still go ahead. But as COVID-19 continued to unfold, we had no choice but to cancel. It was a huge blow after 12 years of building B7s.

2019 saw the introduction of a number of new music entertainment arena concepts. Funky Forest arena was added, bringing a completely different festival experience among the trees, alongside new additions including Ya Mum’s House and the VIP Colourseum. 

Then, on Sunday, Professor Green took to the stage for a headline performance in front of record crowds, featuring more than 1,500 sporting matches.

2018 was about pushing B7s even further. Volleyball and Ultimate Frisbee joined the sporting line-up, taking us to six sports, while the brand-new Bunker arena gave us a completely different space to party, built from shipping containers and quickly becoming one of the weekend’s standout spots. 

With around 400 teams and 5,000 players taking to the pitches, and Example headlining the festival, B7s was bigger, bolder and more ambitious than ever.

Crabbie’s also came on board as headline sponsor, giving us another huge brand partnership.

Ten years in, and B7s had come a seriously long way. What started in 2008 with a handful of rugby pitches was now welcoming around 30,000 people, 400 teams and 5,000 players annually and being dubbed the 'Sporting Glastonbury'. Our 10th Anniversary was the biggest B7s yet, with rugby, netball, hockey and dodgeball by day, and 12 arenas, Headlining Mista Jam, 40+ live acts and DJs, bars, cocktail gardens and entertainment.

It was a huge milestone for everyone who had been part of the journey - and proof that our small rugby festival had grown into something far bigger than we could have imagined.

Fatman Scoop became our first headline artist, bringing a whole new level of energy to the festival and showing us just how big the music side of B7s could become.

We were also joined by General Levy, along with the introduction of the Cocktail Garden, Garage Tent & Bulmers Arena. The perfect foundation to start preparations for the 10th Anniversary Festival in 2017!

Alongside the sport, the weekend was now as much about the atmosphere, the arenas and those unforgettable moments with your mates. It was a huge step towards the B7s we know today.

By 2015, B7s had well and truly become a May Bank Holiday tradition.

Away from the pitches, international rugby stars began to regularly attend, and the brand-new Somersby Cider Garden quickly became a favourite, while Kopparberg’s Big Top Dance Tent was once again packed from start to finish. With 10 arenas, five sports and a weekend built around playing hard and partying harder

Dodge Woodall pictured with England Rugby Players, Manu Tuilagi, Tom Varndell, Christian Wade and Marland Yarde. 

Seven years in, B7s was getting seriously big. Hockey joined the club - bringing together nearly 400 teams and 4,000 players together across the weekend, while around 30,000 festival-goers, including 3,000 campers.

With 11 arenas, the new Dodgeball Arena, the Viper 10 Sportswear Lounge and a packed programme of live music and DJs, everyone knew we were the place to be on May Bank Holiday. 

While commercial partners including Heathrow Express, Gatorade and Alcatel OneTouch helped us take the experience to another level.

In 2013, Dodgeball joined the Bournemouth 7s line-up for the very first time.

280+ rugby and netball teams were joined by 46 Dodgeball teams, all battling it out in our first-ever Dodgeball competition.

Away from the sport, the festival was getting bigger and louder too, with 10 arenas, 30+ bands and DJs, the Nintendo Festival Stage and new additions including the Viper 10 and Urban Tent. Red Bull strengthened the festival's commercial profile as an official energy-drink partner,  with around 20,000 people heading to Bournemouth for the weekend,

Around 20,000 people descended on the 65-acre site, with 300 teams and more than 3,000 players taking part across rugby, touch rugby, and netball. 

Six festival arenas brought live bands, DJs and entertainment alongside the action. With 12 rugby competitions, six netball competitions and two Touch competitions, the festival was becoming bigger, busier and more ambitious with every year.

In 2011, Nintendo became Bournemouth 7s’ first headline sponsor, and things were starting to get serious.

With rugby and netball bringing teams together by day and the party growing by night, landing a brand like Nintendo was a huge moment for us.

Bournemouth 7s was quickly building a reputation as the place to play hard and party harder.

The festival continued to gather momentum, welcoming around 10,000 people and hundreds of players across the weekend. 

Rugby remained at the heart of the action, while netball continued to grow, bringing more people into the festival and proving there was something at B7s for everyone.

Building on the success of our first year, Bournemouth 7s expanded its rugby programme and began establishing netball as a permanent part of the festival. 

Attendance grew rapidly, to over 8,000 people, 132 rugby teams and 76 netball teams - helping cement the festival's identity as a multi-sport event.

Dodge and Fleur Woodall founded Bournemouth 7s Festival, the inaugural event launched as a rugby sevens showcase. It drew 96 rugby teams, and 4,000 attendees, testing small taster netball sessions that laid the groundwork for future multi-sport expansion.