It has to be about more than rugby.

Indulge me a little, just for a couple of paragraphs, as I end what has been a hugely enjoyable period of my life in the sport of rugby 7s and move on to something new.

It was 2008 when I met with Tim Lacey (Founder of the original UR7s) in Clapham, a couple of days before the Middlesex 7s was due to take place at Twickenham. Tim spoke of a vision of the sport, the agency, and the opportunity. I was both captivated by what was possible as well as being young and pretty calm about what I would do with my working life.

Fast forward almost 12 years, and my time with the sport is finally coming close. It has taken me around the world and has shown me many things, people and opportunities. For that, I will be eternally grateful. Working in sport, travelling with sport is very much living the dream and one I have always considered a privilege.

I have always wanted to approach it differently, passionate that the sport should be framed as entertainment and one that should be engaging audiences and demographics in a completely different way. It should be how the sport of rugby reaches out to urban areas, areas where rugby has little penetration, countries where technical understanding/coaching is less, kids who are not interested in scrummage & lineout but understand 'run into space' because its the game they play on the park anyway.

Passionate that the sport at the highest level should not be a single field, in-stadia production. Passionate that the sport is not enough to excite the masses and move the needle, we need to present it differently. We need to do more than what happens inside the whitewash.

Our events must mean something different to each person who comes through our gates. Our content needs to engage, and our visuals need to excite. We must value the sport at the heart of what we do, but if we only do that, we will die.

Television numbers have dwindled, crowd numbers at iconic stadia the same. 9 hours of rugby in a seat with tournaments only selling the idea of 'come and drink and watch rugby' is not what modern ticket buyers are looking for. It's twice as likely that a Gen Z does not engage in sport as Gen X. Two generations removed and complete difference in approach.

I have been fortunate to have been given the reigns of the Emirates Dubai 7s over the past 3 years, and we have been wholly committed to that vision. The World Series is part of the festival, but precisely that, part of it, not the whole. Tickets were dwindling from 15 to 18 in Dubai, despite a hugely successful participation tournament.

We have entirely reversed those fortunes through the drive and innovation of the team here at The Sevens Stadium. As I write this I am about to start my final week with the festival, below are just some of the successes of the past 36 months.

• Launch and growth to become the largest 7s content channel on the series (400% growth in 3 years)
• Development of our own Ticketing Platform to enhance customer experience and cut ticketing fees. Launch of ED7s App, which in 2022 will become our digital wallet for the cashless festivals and become 'the festival brain'.
• Ideation of experiential music stages: Beats on 2, Frequency on 8, The House, Invitational Party Tent
• Global headliners on Beats on 2 and Frequency on 8 stages (both nights in 2022)
• Development of ambassador program and a complete overhaul of brand, voice and marketing of the tournament
• Addition of Fitness (WODON3) and Cricket to sit alongside Rugby & Netball
• Redesign of the stadium, the addition of North Grandstand Bar.
• Complete redesign of festival footprint, including VIP Experience, GA and Reserved. 2022 will be complete evolution once more
• Creation and sale of the 'Presenting by' partnership category engaging and delivering a significant increase in commercial revenue.
• Launch of CSR program in Africa seeing the tournament support initiatives inspired by rugby in Uganda to support kids staying in school.
• Lit up the world's tallest building with '7s will return' in anticipation for 2021
• Launch of Youth Sports Festival with finals at the main festival
• Launch of Performance Program inspiring the next generation of talent in the UAE
• Ideated and delivered a CV19 Olympic Prep Comp 'Emirates Invitational 7s'
• Hosted a behind-closed-doors World Series Event in Dubai
• Successfully tendered and won the rights to host the Rugby World Cup Final Qualifier for both Men and Women

I am not easy to work for or with. I am 100 miles an hour, full of ADHD. I am pretty sure many will be pleased to see the back of me. Still, I have been wholly committed to the team that supported the above. I am so grateful for the lessons I have learnt in the sport from my disagreements as a naive young lad starting out for UR7s. I wasn't right a lot of the time, (still not) and it took me some time to understand that. I am very passionate about a vision for the sport but it doesn't happen without the support of a team and them buying into the vision. I am hugely grateful for each and every one of them.

I have had a wonderful time, utilising the age-old rugby adage. I feel like I am leaving the shirt in a better place than I found it. The next man/woman through the door will evolve the 7s even further on its journey as all those that came before.

We are at a tremendous crossroads for the sport. Dubai is getting it right. I have never been so sure of that but where it sits in the world is still to be seen. The World Series is merely a group of tournaments tied together by a league table. Hong Kong and Dubai, while successful in their own right, don't help each other/engage with one another at all. Tournaments owned by unions have entirely different goals than one owned by an Airline positioned as a crown jewel for tourism. Changes are coming, and I (biased, I know) believe that Dubai should be at the heart of anything and everything the global sport does. We should be the leading light on how a genuinely engaging series of festivals could be delivered worldwide. Still, professional sport is often a lot more complicated.

So, I leave the sport pretty content. We allowed thousands of kids worldwide to 'Start their journey' via the UR7s Academy. We have started putting the foundations in place to ensure that the Dubai 7s remains the very best in the world with 'rugby is not enough' at our core.

7s has been my identity for a long time, but I have been comfortable. Time to get uncomfortable, get into the waters where I am out of my depth again. It's time to humble myself and learn some lessons, surround myself with people who teach me things every day in a completely different subject matter. Time to set some big goals again and attempt to have a similar impact over the next 12 years.

As I said to my best mate last night, though, 'We did some cool stuff with some cool people and had a lot of fun. I can't ask for any more than that'.

7s, thanks very much. See you in the stands sometime in the future.