The Far East feast which flew in the face of elitism

Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful

What’s happening here?

It’s March 29, 2009 and the third day of the Hong Kong Sevens although frankly it could be any day at that brilliant tournament in the noughties or indeed the mid and late 90s. The wonderful Hong Kong Stadium, arguably the best appointed and most spectacular city centre stadium on the planet, is packed to the rafters with revellers and fans for a brief parade before the action begins as the far flung world of rugby takes bread together.

What’s the story behind the picture?

A rugby institution that was nearly killed at birth in 1976 when Rothmans, Carlsberg, Hong Kong financial giants Jardine Matheson and the Hong Kong Rugby Union wanted to stage a high profile international sevens tournament for teams around the world.

This did not find favour with the IRB or the RFU who came out in a rash at any mention of commercialisation. So initially it was downgraded to a local Asian event with teams from Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands competing. New Zealand club side, the Cantabrians, won the inaugural event beating an Aussie pick up side, the Wallaroos.

Future England flanker David Cooke, surfing on a gap year in the Far East, represented Indonesia in this first tournament.

What happened next?

The tournament pretty much took off instantly with the old Government stadium in Hong Kong proving the perfect laid-back venue for the huge expat communities around Asia that started to earmark the Sevens as their big run ashore for the year.

Another sponsor, Cathay Pacific, also came on board and national teams started arriving from around the world. Fiji, New Zealand and Australia immediately sensed this was a big and important tournament worth taking seriously while for others, like Western Samoa, it was a stepping stone. Nobody who watched the Samoans slug it out in the knockout stages in the 1980s would have batted an eyelid when their fifteens beat Wales at RWC1991.

The British and Irish Unions, though, were still sniffy and refused to send national squads. However, their amateur players wanted to travel, enjoy the craic and the rugby, and started to muster in various guises. Scottish teams of near national strength arrived as the Cooptimists of the Scottish Border Club, both reaching the final; there was also the Irish Wolfhounds while the Public School Wanderers and Barbarians also ventured forth.

Indeed, a Barbarians side with Clive Woodward, Les Cusworth, Andy Ripley and others won the thing in 1981, defeating Australia in the final, but they were to be the only European winners until 2002 when England, finally taking the Sevens seriously under coach Woodward, sent a highly competitive squad to win the first of three straight titles.

Why is the picture iconic?

For the best part of four decades, until the emerging World Series slightly stole its thunder, the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sevens was an iconic tournament that flew in the face of Rugby’s horrible penchant for elitism. It was Hong Kong that recognised smaller non-Tier 2 nations and gave them their day in the sun, a target to aim for and a stage to perform.

It was Hong Kong that truly embedded the rugby talents of Fiji and Samoa in our mind, that gave us Waisale Serevi and the flying Fijians, that offered up early glimpses of Zinzan Brooke, Jonah Lomu, Christian Cullen and Joe Rokocoko; it’s where legions of young Aussies like Tim Horan, Jason Little and Ben Tune cut their teeth, where David Campese reigned supreme.

It’s where, in the absence of any other team willing to play them in fifteens, the Cote D’Ivoire side played in

March 1995 as part of their World Cup warm-up and probably, above all else, it’s where fans worldwide first got to mix and appreciate the rugby world.

Before the World Cup, in global terms, there was only the Hong Kong Sevens. In fact, there is a very strong argument to be made that the World Cup sprung out of the Hong Kong Sevens. It was the only tournament that recognised the global element, that rugby was played in Japan, Portugal, South Korea, Tunisia, USA, Canada, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Kenya, China, Morocco and all points west and east, north and south, as well as the traditional nations.

I finally got to experience that during a memorable series of visits in the 90s when the rugby was sensational and Hong Kong was partying like no tomorrow before the changeover in 1997. Fantastic, heady, rugby days and nights that usually ended around dawn at Joe Bananas of blessed memory.

This year, due to Covid, the Hong Kong tournament has been moved from its traditional spring date to November 4-6. Fingers crossed for a spectacular return.