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Mike Rowse

It was entirely by chance that I attended the first Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament 50 years ago. It has been a priority annual event for me every year since.
I was living in the old government quarters site at Leighton Hill at the time (later sold and now a luxury residential development) when a neighbour encouraged me to go.
He had attended at the Football Club stadium just down the hill from us on the Saturday, really enjoyed it, and persuaded me to join him on the Sunday. Having nothing better to do, and seeing how close the venue was, I walked down, paid a modest entry fee in cash at the door and entered. The experience almost literally blew my mind.
The first thing to hit the spectator is the overwhelming atmosphere and excitement levels. They simply take your breath away.
The energy on the pitch carries over to the spectators in the stand who respond by cheering more fervently. This in turn inspires the players to up their game and perform even more vigorously.
The result is a magnificent sporting event in a cauldron of sound.

Over the years, the quality of the rugby being played has steadily improved – the enthusiasm has always been top-notch – and the level of teams taking part has increased.
In the early days, for example, Australia and New Zealand sent their best club teams rather than a national side. Some of the teams from countries in the region – Indonesia and Persian Gulf come to mind – were comprised largely of expats working in those places.
But as time passed, more countries took the sport, and the tournament, seriously. The Pacific nations were early fans, and both Japan and Korea became solid performers. The European nations began to send teams as word of the importance of the event spread.
The home nations were a little slower to accept that a different continent had created a very special event and thereby taken their sport to a different level on the world stage. I remember we had the Scottish Borderers one year. The last holdouts were the English (of course!) with their Barbarian and Public School Wanderers representative sides.

As might have been expected, the crowd size has gradually grown over the years. The tournament outgrew the Club ground and had to decamp to the old government stadium, which in turn had to be redeveloped. So attendance grew from under 10,000 to 24,000 and then 40,000.
We now have the world-class Kai Tak Sports Park, which can hold 50,000.
Several incidents from the early years linger long in the memory.
Heavy rain had the pitch under several feet of water on one occasion. Luckily, the Director of Fire Services was in the crowd and various appliances were summoned to pump out the worst of it.
The year a Korean team of university students outplayed then favourites Fiji through sheer energy and willpower, and the whole stadium rose as one to applaud them off the pitch.
The Sevens has always been a family event. Fathers – in the early days it was mostly fathers – brought their children to watch, with wives in tow to keep the tribe in order.
Days would begin with matches between young players – under-8s, under-9s and so on – with representative sides from each of the venues where volunteer parents coached the squads.
This aroused interest in the sport and gave the experience of match days in front of large audiences. In time, girls became as keen as boys and women’s teams took part also. Two of my sons, and my daughter, have all played in the stadium at the Sevens.

From humble beginnings – the brainchild of dedicated volunteers in one sporting club – the Sevens has become an icon of Hong Kong.
It makes a powerful statement of who we are as a community, a world-class sporting event created in and hosted by a world-class city.
When I set up a new government department, InvestHK, in July 2000, one of the first things we did on the marketing side was become a Sevens sponsor with a hospitality suite, where we could invite prospective investors in Hong Kong to show them up close and personal just what a great place our city is.
It was no surprise to me that the International Olympic Committee, after attending the Hong Kong Sevens, chose to make the sport an Olympic event.


Former Hong Kong Sevens captain Bob Lloyd relives 50 years of rugby magic at the tournament

First Hong Kong Sevens rugby tourney held in 1976 – SCMP archive

Trip down memory lane: how the Hong Kong Sevens has evolved into a world-class event

Hong Kong sevens head has unfinished business, underlines world and Olympic aims

Hong Kong Sevens

The Fiji team posing with their champions trophy at the Hong Kong Football Club in 1977. Photo: SCMP

Japan leap into the air after winning the Plate final in 1999. Photo: SCMP

The grand opening of Hong Kong Stadium in 1994. Photo: SCMP

Hong Kong celebrate winning the Shield final in 2010. Photo: SCMP

Hongkonger set for next step on golf journey after suffering life-altering taekwondo injury

Coco Tsoi practising at Tuen Mun Golf Centre ahead of competing in Japan next week. Photo: Dickson Lee

Coco Tsoi is pursuing a third master’s degree and working full-time alongside playing golf. Photo: Dickson Lee 

Coco Tsoi is keen to shine a spotlight on parasports in Hong Kong. Photo: Dickson Lee

Hong Kong cycling star Ceci Lee not ‘complacent’ after storming to Asian Championships gold

Ceci Lee celebrates her latest success with head coach Herve Dagorne. Photo: CAHKC

Ceci Lee on the podium with silver medallist Chen Ning (left) and third-placed Misaki Okamoto. Photo: CAHKC

Sport

Rugby

HK Sevens

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the tournament has grown from humble beginnings into a sporting spectacle at Kai Tak Sports Park


Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the tournament has grown from humble beginnings into a sporting spectacle at Kai Tak Sports Park.


Hong Kong Investment Corporation

Trip down memory lane: how the Hong Kong Sevens has evolved into a world-class event

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the tournament has grown from humble beginnings into a sporting spectacle at Kai Tak Sports Park

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the tournament has grown from humble beginnings into a sporting spectacle at Kai Tak Sports Park