Start work now so Rugby Sevens can take flight at Kai Tak

Over the past weekend, Hong Kong staged a giant farewell party for one of its greatest landmarks. By most accounts, the last Rugby Sevens at Hong Kong Stadium was a rousing success. This time next year, after more than 40 years at the stadium, the world’s best sevens tournament will move about 10km across Victoria Harbour to its new home in Kai Tak.

For one last time, the sell-out crowd packed the 40,000-seat venue at So Kon Po to enjoy world-class rugby and see New Zealand’s men’s and women’s teams crowned champions of the city’s annual tournament. Friends, families and visitors from abroad gathered to mix and mingle, cheer and dance, share a jug of beer (or two) and serenade the neighbours on nearby Broadwood and Tai Hang roads with one last rendition of “Sweet Caroline”.

Once again, Hong Kong has shown it can stage the mother of all mega events without a hitch. A remarkable 42 per cent of tickets went to overseas fans, a testimony to the event’s international appeal and evidence of what World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin called “the jewel in the crown of sevens”.

Now comes the hard part. The work must accelerate to ensure we successfully transport the magic and mystery that permeated Hong Kong Stadium each spring to the new venue across the harbour. Recreating the atmosphere of the South Stand will prove to be most challenging. The legendary southern quarter transforms into one giant and decidedly adult party complete with fancy dress, drink and good humour from enthusiastic fans.

There is also the ecosystem outside the stadium. The Causeway Bay, Wan Chai and Tai Hang neighbourhoods provide plenty of bars, pubs, restaurants and shops, a full array of infrastructure to support 40,000 fans. Some there are, sadly, concerned about lost business.

Another challenge will be getting to and from the new venue. Two nearby MTR stations look to be slightly longer walks than from Times Square to the current stadium. There are also doubts if Kai Tak has enough restaurants, bars and shops, especially when everyone pours out all at once. But there is cause for excitement. There will be 50,000 seats in a stadium being designed with the Rugby Sevens in mind. A retractable roof will be welcomed by fans who had to flee to drier corners of the old stadium whenever skies opened up. Gilpin said some work must be done before the move was fully confirmed but there was a lot of confidence.

Once that is in hand, we will have less than a year to go to get this transition right and try to successfully recreate some if not all of the charms of Hong Kong Stadium. If this last hurrah was any indication, the city will rise to the challenge.