Deciding to host an outdoor event in the UK or Ireland will always be a roll of the dice when it comes to weather. But while you can only hope for the best, it is prudent to plan for the worst.

Peter Elliot (left)

This is something Peter Elliot, Past President of Kinsale Rugby Football Club, knows all about. Kinsale in County Cork, Ireland, has an average annual rainfall of 1097 mm – almost twice as much as London (and you thought that was bad!).

The club has played host to the Heineken Kinsale Sevens rugby festival annually since 1988 and has encountered all types of weather, but especially rain.

“In the South of Ireland, rain is quite frequent,” says Peter. “But you don’t know if it’s going to be too much rain typically until the event starts. If it’s been raining for a period of time and the ground has become very waterlogged anyway it might not take very much rain to get over the limit to the point where you can’t play.”

This uncertainty can make planning very difficult, but Peter and his team start checking the forecast and preparing the grounds at least six weeks before the two-day event takes place on the Irish May bank holiday weekend.

“There are all sorts of things we have to do around the grounds,” says Peter. “If there has been a lot of rain and it’s on the wet side, we have to make sure we put extra coverings down in the car park. Our car park is a field and if that’s waterlogged we have huge problems with cars getting in and out. Of course, weather forecasts are not accurate six weeks before an event but you will have an idea of which way it’s going to go.”

Credit: Kinsale Sevens

Whatever level of preparation has taken place, the ultimate decision as to whether Kinsale Sevens can go ahead in the case of bad weather lies with the referee.

Peter explains: “It’s always the referee’s call if the ground is safe to play on. If it’s been raining and has stopped, the referee might say leave it for two hours and then the playing surface might be safe. Unfortunately, you can’t plan for anything like that, you really just have to make the call on the day.”

Perhaps surprisingly, Kinsale Sevens has only been cancelled once in its thirty-year history due to bad weather. In 2003, the festival was called off on its second day following four inches of rainfall in the space of two hours that morning. With 85 teams, totalling 1,000 people, and all the infrastructure already on site, the organisers saved the day by turning it into an impromptu party.

“Met Éireann, the Irish Meteorological Service, had predicted a storm, but the strength of it exceeded their forecast. All our playing pitches were flooded as a result,” recalls Peter. “Player welfare was, and will always be, paramount. Whilst it was obvious to most that play could not recommence on Sunday morning some players genuinely wanted to get out there on-pitch, to play, regardless.

“We asked the Munster Association of Referees to officially ‘walk’ the pitches – big paddle more like – and officially cancel the games. We explained the decision was safety-based and the players totally got it. They stayed for the Irish Breakfast and then the music started in the big marquee. The word went out ‘there’s a party at Kinsale Sevens’. It was amazing!”

Credit: Kinsale Sevens

Despite the fun that was had, without the thousands of spectators that usually attend, Kinsale Sevens endured significant losses that year. Luckily, the organisers had taken out pluvius insurance, or rain insurance.

“Pluvius insurance pays out if there is a certain amount of rainfall over a specific period of time,” explains Peter. “If you can’t run the event, it’s at least going to cover your costs. When you look at what it costs us to set up the event, which would run into five figures, it’s very wise to have it.”

He adds: “Given our experience as event organisers of Heineken Kinsale Sevens we would recommend other outdoor event organisers strongly consider assessing their operational and financial risks in regard to adverse weather, particularly if their event is largely ‘greenfield’.”

According to Peter, being located in an area prone to rain does have some advantages, in that people are expecting wet weather. If the festival was hosted somewhere with a better climate, a downpour would dampen people’s enthusiasm much more.

At Kinsale, people make good sport of muddy fields – a video of spectators slipping over at this year’s festival went viral, with over a million views on Facebook (although the ‘slide’ area is to be fenced off next year to prevent injury).

Peter admits the organisers do worry about the impact of negative weather-related posts on social media but visitors don’t seem deterred – this year the festival added an extra pitch, and switched to advance ticketing on Eventbrite, resulting in a big boost in attendance.

“We do worry it might impact our team bookings for the next year but it hasn’t. Either people have short memories or they’re optimistic!”

He adds: “Cancelling the event in 2003 didn’t seem to have any negative knock-on effect. How we handled things and the players’ response forged a real bond. In fact, 90% of the teams returned the following year in 2004 to ‘finish the job’.”

However, knowing it is likely to rain at some point over the weekend, the festival is designed with wet weather in mind. This includes placing big screens in all the covered spectator areas, so only those on the pitch get wet.

“We have as many covered areas as possible,” says Peter. “Our off-pitch facilities are in a tented village, and include a food hall and a main marquee with a bar and music, where people can have a good time after the matches. There are also covered areas for the spectators around the pitches.”

Peter has worked on Kinsale Sevens since 2000 and believes the weather patterns are changing. He wonders if the fact that recent festivals have been wetter than those in his memory is a result of climate change.

“Maybe you look at things through rose tinted glasses but I can remember when I was first involved in the event, the May bank holiday was usually good weather,” he says. “I remember lots of people turning up in shorts and sunning themselves. We seem to have gone through a long period where the May bank holiday weekend has been cold and wet.”

Whatever the weather, the organisers of Kinsale Sevens take the attitude that it should go ahead, as long as it’s safe to do so. Battling adverse conditions, however, does require more work.

Says Peter: “There’s always a huge amount of clearing up to do afterwards. Where we’ve put down mulch or plastic matting on the grass, that’s all got to come up again. All the tents, marquees and cabins must be removed and cleaned.”

By the looks of it, the attendees must also have a fair bit of mud to wash off at the end of the event – but that all seems part of the fun.

Heineken Kinsale Sevens will take place on 4 and 5 May, 2019. Don’t forget to take a raincoat!