THE rugby world will unite again in May to celebrate the life of Jeff Simm with the annual sevens competition at Hawcoat Park – and this year it promises to be bigger than ever.

Now in its third year, the tournament on Sunday, May 28 will be the first to be held since former Hawcoat player, coach and club stalwart Simm’s death in August last year, and is again expected to attract plenty of sides from South Cumbria and beyond.

Sides already confirmed include Hawcoat Park’s first and A-teams, plus a team made up of players who were coached by Simm and one put together by Sale Sharks centre Sam Bedlow, whose involvement came about thanks to a chance meeting with Jeff’s daughter Michelle at her hairdressing salon.

The rugby league community will be involved too, with Furness Raiders under-19s entering and Barrow Raiders head coach Paul Crarey, who was a close friend of Simm, promising to be there as well – even though his side could be playing in the League One Cup final the day before.

A new addition to this year’s Jeff Simm Rugby Sevens is the youth competition, with Roose Pioneers running their rugby league festival for ages six to 10 first, followed by Hawcoat Park under-12s holding a rugby union festival prior to the adults getting under way.

It is a sign of how much the event has grown since first being held in 2015, and Michelle is determined to keep it going as per the wishes of her father, and also to ensure he leaves a lasting legacy at the club where he was such a popular figure.

“We weren’t going to do it last year because my dad was that poorly, but he wanted it to go ahead because we’d had emails about people wanting to do it again,” she said.

“He died in August and he said to us ‘would you please keep the sevens going?’, so in his memory me and the family are going ahead and doing that. This year we want it to be a lot bigger and we’re adding the youth side into it.”

As well as being about the rugby, the tournament has served to raise money towards charity, with the first two years having already seen more than £9,000 generated for prostate and bowel cancer charities, plus the oncology department at Furness General Hospital.

“We want to keep the rugby sevens alive and raise a bit of money for Furness oncology,” said Michelle. “We give the cheque to them and they spend it in their department, so it goes straight to the source.

“As a family living with terminal cancer, not having an oncology department in our area would mean t ravelling to Preston.

“Bearing in mind my dad was going regularly for treatment, it would cut his time down, so being in Barrow he could have an hour there, and him and my mum could plans things.

“We need to keep that here and the staff and nurses were amazing, so we want to reward them back with that.”

While several of the eight teams already entered in the tournament contain experienced rugby players, Simm was quick to emphasise that it is open for anyone to enter a side in the competition, be it companies in the area or other groups.

And while there is a charge for entering a team, there will be free admission for spectators on the day, which starts with the youth festivals at 9am followed by the sevens getting underway between 12.30pm and 1pm.

There will be a mini- funfair there too, along with an auction afterwards which will see merchandise such as a rugby ball signed by former England internationals Will Greenwood and Austin Healey.

And with organisers aiming to get at least 12 teams involved in this year’s edition, the hopes are the tournament can continue to grow to involve every side of the rugby community in Barrow and the surrounding area.

“I’d like to keep it going every year because it’s a good community league-versus-union event,” said Michelle. “It gets everyone from everywhere involved and it lets people who have played in the past get their boots out for one day.

“It’s good to see the kids getting involved. We’ve had a bit longer to get the youth teams involved, which is great because it’s showing people what is out there and what rugby is all about.

“We’re very excited. It will be a sad day, but it’s what he would have wanted us to do and we want everyone to enjoy it.”

Entry for teams is £30, with prize money of £100 and a trophy going to the winning side. To enter, contact Michelle Simm on 07517 386268 or 07864 177919, or email jsimmsrugby7s@ gmail.com