Published: Wednesday, 8th July, 2009 11:13am

Greenyards storms onto list of world's finest

by Alexa Brown

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IT"S the smallest venue on the list and rivals such legendary arenas as the Millenium Stadium, but the home of Melrose Rugby has been named as one of the world"s best rugby venues.

The Greenyards, which each year attracts thousands back for the town"s rugby sevens tournament, came eighth in a recent list of the top ten rugby stadiums in the world, published by New Zealand Rugby World magazine.

"Theatre of Dreams" celebrates some of the world"s hottest rugby spots, and includes London"s Twickenham stadium and Dublin"s Croke Park.

But it is the picturesque setting and deep-rooted history of the Greenyards that has seen it listed alongside such stadium heavyweights.

Gregor Paul, New Zealand Rugby World journalist, wrote: 'Not everyone will be familiar with The Greenyards in the Scottish Borders town of Melrose. But it is a site of deep historic significance and it would be have been remiss to keep it off this list.

'The Greenyards, where the famous Melrose club play, is the home of Sevens rugby. It was there that the local butcher Ned Haig came up with the idea of abbreviating the game so as more tickets could be sold to help the club raise funds in 1883.

'No one had any idea the shortened version of the game would prove to be so popular or indeed that the Melrose event would also retain its popularity through to the current period...It helped that the ground itself is picture postcard perfect. It is nestled all snug in the glorious Borders, which is an area every bit as pretty as one would imagine Scotland"s wilderness to be.'

It is yet more recognition for the age-old club, which recently topped a list of the UK"s best rugby grounds compiled by Rugby Times correspondent Chris Harte.

Melrose RFC stalwart Douglas Hardie told the Border Telegraph: 'With the NZ Rugby World list, what really means a lot is that the standard of rugby there is so high that to be judged by somewhere like New Zealand is even more of an accolade, and we"re delighted.

'It is testament to the people who look after the ground, and to the fact that we have the natural aesthetics here. We"ve proven that small can be beautiful.'