Initially, the competition involved all seven team members writing an article and the word limit was 500 words (by 2003, this was extended to 750 words with five players plus two reserves).

The Rleague and Ish-Biz split
The F7s, however, had a tumultuous start as in-fighting surfaced. In a battle which some forummers dubbed the 'F7s Super League War', squabbles between the F7s management and rleague management threatened to destroy the competition. It was an acrimonious split which saw fights spilling over into the open forum.

'Tappy' left rleague and attempted to set up the F7s on an independent forum at the 'ish-biz' website run by 'Mr Bulldogs'. Meanwhile rleague members attempted to set up their own F7s competition for season 2003, but this never got off the ground. Rleague management removed all F7s posts from their forums and removed discussion about the new ish-biz location.

2003 - The 'death' of the F7s
For a time, with no solid base and many players deciding to depart, the F7s looked unlikely to survive. The competition appeared to be in more trouble when in early 2003, 'Tappy' departed. Then after just three rounds of the 2003 competition, the ish-biz forums suddenly and inexplicably disappeared. For all intents and purposes, the F7s was 'dead'.

As a result, most of the F7s records prior to round 4 in 2003 were lost forever more.

LeagueUnlimited
Despite the circumstances, there were those who were determined to continue. An agreement was made to try and save the competition in the newly formed 'The Front Row' (TFR) forums at LeagueUnlimited.com.

So it happened that the remnants of Easts, Bluebags, Panthers, Souths, Dragons, Broncos, Rhinos, and 'Parradogs' (Parra-Bulldogs, a temporary merger) decided to resurrect the competition. A number of TFR members, including 'Willow', 'The Backpacker', 'Ozzie', 'Big Mick', 'Seano' and 'Penelope Pittstop' decided that regardless of the obstacles, the 2003 F7s competition would see out the season... and see out the season they did.

The LeagueUnlimited F7s set about to promote 'cross-fan' participation and sportsmanship. That is, to encourage fans from opposing bases of opinion to join forces and leave their differences at the door. This was a major change from the old rleague format and went a long way to ensuring the success of the F7s at Leagueunlimited.

With the first three rounds having been lost at ish-biz, and limited personnel to speak of (players would often double as referees), the remainder of 2003 season was a difficult one. During the season, the Dragons and the Rhinos folded, leaving the F7s with just 6 teams, all of whom were struggling for players. But the competition was kept intact and against the odds, the 2003 season was completed.

In an exciting 2003 grand final, minor premiers the Roosters defeated the Bluebags by the narrowest of margins to take out the premiership for the second year running. The F7s had survived and was here to stay!

2004
In 2004, the F7s saw the return of the Rhinos, the Pirates formed a team as did newcomers, the Lions. In all, there were nine teams: Roosters, Bluebags, Souths, Lions, Panthers, Parramatta, Sharks, Pirates and the Rhinos.

Also in 2004, LeagueUnlimited launched this F7s website, formalising the competition and providing a true home base with sponsorship and prizes for F7s participants. The F7s saw unprecedented growth in 2004 with over 140 players participating.

The 2004 season was played in true competitive spirit and coming into the semi-finals, seven out of the nine teams were still a chance of making the play-offs. Souths were minor premiers but were narrowly defeated by the Sharks and then Newtown. Coming into the Grand Final, the Sharks had put together a six game winning streak to win the Most Improved Team of the Year award. The Sydney Lions, in their inaugural year, qualified for the finals after defeating hot favourites the Newtown Bluebags just before the semifinals But the Bluebags were too good, bouncing back to ultimately take out the premiership, defeating a gallant Sharks outfit in the 2004 Grand Final.

The Backpacker Player Rankings
With the 2004 season in full swing, F7s forummers were delivered the sad news that Easts player and F7s referee, 'The Backpacker' had passed away. A foundation member of the F7s in 2002, 'BP' played an instrumental role in the push to keep the competition afloat in 2003. His passing added new meaning to the F7s when it was announced that the 2004 semifinals would be known as 'The Backpacker Finals' and the 2004 premiers would be awarded 'The Backpacker Memorial Shield'.

The F7s player rankings for the highest scoring players are known as 'The Backpacker Player Rankings' in honour of The Backpacker who instigated the point scoring system.

Rep matches
With participants competing from all over the world, it seemed a natural progression for the F7s to have its very own Tri-Nations series. Since 2002, F7s forummers have always loved playing representative matches. Records for these began being kept at LeagueUnlimited in 2003. The F7s has seen City v Country, New South Wales v Queensland and 'Rest of the World' v Australia being amongst the rep match honours available.

The F7s Tri-Nations series originated in 2004 with three trophies up for grabs: The Tawera Nikau Cup (Australia v New Zealand), The Henry and Robbie Paul Cup (New Zealand v Great Britain) and The Brian Bevan Cup (Great Britain v Australia).

2005
In 2005 the popularity of the F7s grew with more teams eager to join, culminating in a 12 team competition. The three new teams, Raiders, Bulls, and Dirty Reds, acquitted themselves excellently in the new 'Possibles vs Probables' (PVP) pre-season tournament of 2004-2005. The Raiders (PVP Plate winners) ultimately won the PVP Cup after defeating the Bulls (PVP Shield winners). The PVP trials provided opportunity with the 'newbies' defeating the more established teams in fine style, thus paving the way for an exciting season. Eventual minor premiers, the Raiders had an amazing season. Fielding a team of talented rookies, the Raiders won their first seven matches setting a new F7s record.

The year however, belonged to the Coos Bay Pirates. Wooden spooners in 2004, the Pirates produced an amazing turnaround to qualify for the Grand Final and take out the 2005 F7s premiership.

The 2005 season saw no less than 180 players competing. Representative and trial matches included, the 2005 F7s saw 86 games in nine months - an increase of over 30 matches on the previous year. In 2005, players in the F7s match forum posted over 760 articles! And every one of them was marked by a referee.

The completion of 2005 saw three teams depart. Foundation F7s club and dual premiers Easts were battling to field a team and announced they would not be competing in 2006. The Rhinos and single seasoners the Bulls also departed.

Meanwhile, the Glebe Dirty Reds relocated closer to their Newcastle member base and had an immediate impact in the PVP tournament of 2005-2006, making it all the way to the Shield final. The Sharks however, fought back from the brink to win the PVP Shield of 2005. The off-season tournament also produced a winner with a brand new team in the Warriors, the young New Zealand-based side winning the PVP Plate of 2005 and joining the F7s in a more streamlined 10 team competition for 2006.

2006
The 2006 season saw 10 teams competing: Pirates, Raiders, Lions, Panthers, Eels, Bluebags, Rabbitohs, Knights, Sharks and Warriors.

The season ultimately belonged to the Parramatta Eels. Minor premiers and eventual champions, the Eels put together a tremendous season of 10 wins from 12 matches. In an exciting semifinals series, the Eels were challenged by the Newtown Bluebags who actually defeated the Eels in the major semi-final. But the Eels came back, defeating the Panthers in the preliminary final before reaping revenge on the Bluebags in the grand final.

In other news and in an extraordinary season, the Pirates went from premiers to wooden spooners for the second time, then declared their team would be folding, thus ending a roller coaster ride of three seasons where they were premiers once and wooden spooners twice. The Sydney Lions also departed after three credible seasons where they were semi-finalist twice. In addition, 2005 grand finalists the Raiders and 2004 grand finalists the Sharks also exited at the conclusion of the season. In their place, new teams the Cougars joined up (from the ashes of the Sharks and the Lions) as well as successful trial entrants the Chuck Norris Texas Death Ninjas, the competition providing eight teams to the contest the 2007 season that lay ahead.

2007
The 2007 season saw eight teams competing: Eels, Bluebags, Panthers, Rabbitohs, Knights, Warriors as well as newcomers, Ninjas and Cougars.

The season was dominated by an experienced Bluebags outfit. Minor Premiers, Grand Finalists and Premiers, the Bluebags were never headed in 2007 and became the first F7s team to go through a season undefeated. The 'bags' highlighted their powerful performance with nine consecutive victories to set a new F7s record for a winning streak.

Far from disgraced, runners-up The Warriors put in a sterling performance in their effort to stage an upset in the grand final. The Bluebags, however, were able to withstand the Warriors challenge and take out the prize.

2007 was the final season for referee antonius, the veteran adjudicator hanging up the whistle following the grand final. In a career which began in 2004, antonius oversaw a record 57 first class matches, including three grand finals.

2008 and beyond
Season 2008 wil have nine teams competing: Bluebags, Warriors, Ninjas, Rabbitohs, Eels, Cougars, Panthers, Dragons and Titans. The Knights had departed but seven teams from the 2007 season remained. In addition, 2008 saw the return of foundation club the St George Dragons as well as newcomers the Gold Coast Titans.

2008 will also see the F7s World Cup added to the representative fixtures. The F7s World Cup will have no less than nine teams competing including Australia, New Zealand and at least one team from the British Isles. Other teams looking to qualify include France, Papua New Guinea as well as a team from China.