Waisale Serevi: 'Without Hong Kong Sevens there would be no Olympic Sevens. It’s everything.'
Ticket sorted. Fancy dress sorted. Party head on!
For those lucky enough to be heading to the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, on 5-7 April, this year’s event should be even more memorable than any that have gone before in the last half a century – and that takes some doing, given its sporting bucket-list reputation as Mardis Gras meets rugby.
Organisers Hong Kong China Rugby are celebrating 30 years in the iconic Hong Kong Stadium in So Kon Po, and looking ahead to a move to their future home a short distance away in the shiny new 50,000-capacity Kai Tak Sports Park, which includes 24 changing rooms, as befits an event for both genders and elite and invitational teams alike.
In time, the Kai Tak Sports Park’s 50,000-capacity stadium might gain a place in the superbly illustrated ‘Remarkable Rugby Grounds’, written by Ryan Herman. But while its facilities promise to be amazing, for now at least, the Hong Kong Stadium, which is one of 80 entries in the book, is literally the only all-singing, all-dancing rugby venue in town.
Phew, what a trip down memory lane! 🥳 From nail-biting finishes to championship celebrations, we’ve experienced it all over the past month reliving 30+ years of #HK7sGreatestHits. A big thank you to the partners, players, brands and fans who joined us on this journey! #HK7s pic.twitter.com/owPCWZaI2e
— Hong Kong Sevens (@OfficialHK7s) March 6, 2024
Although the tournament had humble beginnings at Hong Kong Football Club, since the first full tournament at Hong Kong Stadium in 1994, it has been a place where lifelong memories and friends have been made, and one of the tournament’s biggest entertainers, David Campese, who goose-stepped his way to two titles and the Player of the Tournament award in the 1980s, says people whose paths he first crossed in Hong Kong keep popping up all over the place.
Speaking to RugbyPass, the Wallaby legend said: “Not long ago, I was in Sri Lanka and this lady came up to me and said I met you in 1983 at the Hong Kong Sevens. That happens wherever you go in the world. A lot of people have been going for years and years and years, so it is an iconic thing to do.”
Campese will be one of the old stars returning to the Hong Kong Stadium to celebrate its 30th anniversary, with the tournament organisers billing this year’s event as ‘The Greatest Hits’. He appeared in the first of his 12 tournaments in 1983, the year after he was first capped by the Wallabies, and is not alone in launching his career there. One of the biggest examples in every sense of the word is Jonah Lomu, who first served notice to the rugby world of his game-changing qualities a year before he became a global superstar at Rugby World Cup 1995.
The tournament will, though, be forever associated with one man, Waisale Serevi, the ‘King of Sevens’. He was another who burst onto the international sevens scene there, winning the Most Valuable Player award as a 20-year-old at his debut tournament in 1989 – 10 years before the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series was launched.
The Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens also pre-dated other marquee sevens tournaments like Rugby World Cup Sevens, which he won twice in Hong Kong in 1997 and 2005, and took place long before the sport became part of the Olympics movement and Commonwealth Games.
“I lost the Hong Kong Sevens in 1989, then in 1990, I achieved my goal of making people happy, we won, it was a public holiday, because we’d won the biggest sevens tournament in the world,” Serevi said in a recent interview in The Rugby Journal.
“Without the Hong Kong Sevens, there would be no Serevi,” he says. “Without Hong Kong Sevens there would be no HSBC Sevens series. Without Hong Kong Sevens there would be no Olympic Sevens. It’s everything.”
Instantly recognisable, the Hong Kong Stadium has sky-scrapers at one end and sky-high levels of fun at the other. With a sea of fancy dress and hedonistic vibes, the alcohol-fuelled South Stand is as notorious as any part of any rugby ground in the world.
“The saying goes that, if you get bored, you can turn around and watch the rugby,” laughs Hong Kong China Rugby’s CEO Robbie McRobbie, who is preparing for his last Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.
“And there’s more than an element of truth in that. It’s Hong Kong’s Mardi Gras and people come because they want to let their hair down, and they just want to have fun.”
Another favourite #HK7s Greatest Hit: When the Caveman @Seb_Chabal had the South Stand in stitches 🎤
None of us will ever forget Seb wowing the packed stands with his rendition of 500 Miles – or *that* outfit 🎶👏 #HK7sGreatestHits pic.twitter.com/9xr0E8UdCp
— Hong Kong Sevens (@OfficialHK7s) February 18, 2024
At the Hong Kong Sevens, it is impossible to go a weekend without smiles and belly-aching laughter.
“A lot of stuff that we’ve done has been a bit tongue in cheek,” explains Robbie. “There’s always been a lot of humour about the stuff we’ve done, whether it’s been having David Hasselhoff here or kung fu rugby or Sébastien Chabal dressed as a caveman – there’s always been an awful lot of humour. And that’s reflected in the fancy dress ethos too.”
On what will be an emotionally charged weekend anyway, for McRobbie it will be doubly so. With the most Scottish of names, there is no doubt where McRobbie is from but his heart is in Hong Kong, having spent the last couple of decades working for the union.
“I arrived as a 21-year-old police officer in 1992 and so my first few sevens was in the South Stands as a punter,” he explains. “Coming out to Hong Kong was an adventure, but then finding sevens took it to the next level.”
As Bryan Rennie, General Manager Hong Kong Sevens, points out there is only one party in town for three days in April.
“The whole city buys into it, that sevens fever,” he says. “You can see that around the bars and restaurants, all the corporates buy into it, and there is obviously a huge amount of fancy dress within the stadium. It’s a thirsty crowd, that’s for sure.
“It puts rugby on the map, it is a huge strategic push for us to try and grow the game locally and within Asia and the tournament definitely helps us do that.”
While the enduring success of the Hong Kong Sevens means it never needs to reinvent itself to appeal to the masses, Rennie and his staff are always looking at ways of improving the experience.
Across the weekend, there will be several live acts including Canto Pop band Lolly Talk, America’s Got Talent finalist Celine Tam, top reggae band The Wailers and Sunday Journey lead singer, Arnel Pineda, who was discovered in the bars and clubs of Hong Kong. On Friday, there will be a DJ set performed by former England star and Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens ambassador James Haskell.
Haskell is not the only DJ to be known to Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens. All Blacks Sevens’ long-standing captain, DJ Forbes also mixed it with the best at the event, which has been a key event in the World Series since its inception.
“For me, Hong Kong definitely had a certain aura about it, it was basically the World Cup of the World Series. Every athlete for every country wanted to be involved,” says Forbes, who won every trophy there was to be won during a stellar sevens career.
“I know in those early days there was a cash prize up for grabs and also at one stage, double points, so it definitely made for a spectacle.
“Given it’s likely to be the last time that it is played there, there is going to be a lot of excitement and a fair bit of tension to get that last victory in the famous Hong Kong Stadium, so I am really stoked to be involved and I am looking forward to being back in April.”
With both the men’s and women’s teams playing inside the stadium and a host of subsidiary tournaments planned to run alongside the main event, the Hong Kong Stadium is going to celebrate its 30th in style.
Rennie is confident though that the unique spirit of the stadium will be kept alive once the move across the Bay does take place.
“It’s been our home for so long, the ground holds some great memories, and a special spirit runs within the Hong Kong Stadium. But, at the same time, there was an opportunity for us to move over to Kai Tak to an incredible, really smart stadium that has fantastic facilities – a retractable roof, an additional 10,000 elevated seats, bars and hotels on-site, as well as additional facilities outside like bigger training pitches.
“So it is a hugely exciting time in Hong Kong in the Greater Bay area for sports and entertainment.”
To find out more or book your tickets for the 2024 Hong Kong Sevens, visit hksevens.com
Comments on RugbyPass
“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
5 Go to comments