The Hong Kong Rugby 7's starts soon. Its a fest of fast rugby playing and a crowd pleasing event for the expat community as well as thousands of tourists every year. I went last year and this wot I wrote.
“But I don’t like watching rugby” is the reason I have given as to why, after five years in Hong Kong I have never been to the Hong Kong 7s. . I was eventually convinced to go. I considered getting hold of a three day ticket but declined and after some extensive research came to the conclusion that the excitement of the first day, when everyone finishes work and gets to the Hong Kong Stadium as soon as they can, kick off 4.30pm, was the best way to sample the event in all its glory.
How to get there
I had never been to the stadium before. I didn’t know where it was apart from a vague reference to an MTR exit at CausewayBay. I need not have worried about getting lost on the way because it was easy to spot the gwilos among the Chinese faces and follow them. Spoilt for choice I stalked a nice chap wearing a kilt accessorized with colour coordinated socks and a Scottish rugby shirt, sure enough he was going my way.
Where to stand
Information that any virgin of the 7s needs to know is where to sit once inside. So after buying my jug of Pimms I positioned myself in the South Stand. If you want to be seen, want to be on the official website, want to be on the huge screens in the stadium the South Stand is the only option. The other criteria for getting seen involves dressing up. Queens, Mexicans, Hoola hoola girls, lions, tarts, vicars are all good as long as it’s a group of four or more.
Being vigilant
Watching the rugby became a secondary activity just fitted in between that fascinating hobby of mine, people watching. When I wasn’t doing that, while drinking my Pimms, I was on the alert for the huge orange beach balls being bounced around the stadium. Just in case one landed on my head I had to be vigilant enough to hit it out of the way. All that talk of rugby not being important all became clear to me. It is actually irrelevant to the shenanigans going on in the South Stand.
Dressing up and dancing
Behind me were two South Africans in sarongs, their bare chests and faces painted with the South African flag. In front of me was a guy in a big hairy gorilla suit. He might have been called Guy? To the right were a group of ‘official’ dancing girls, scantily clad and well rehearsed to shake their bootie along to the half time music. All music carefully chosen for maximum crowd pleasing and audience participation. Singing or dancing and general gesticulation (“We will Rock You” “Don’t Worry be Happy” “Lets Get it Started in Here” “I feel Good”). Right at the front were a group of about blokes all dressed as the Queen, that’s right HRH Liz II. Long white shiny dresses, blue sash and full Queen wearing tiara face mask, all waving graciously throughout the proceedings. They definitely made it on the screens and websites. Huge afro wigs of various colours were common as well as pink wigs and feather boas for either sex.
Crowd behaviour
Political correctness went out the window. Being among an international crowd didn’t seem to matter. The majority were British. I found myself joining in with the loud booing for Australia and any poor Australian supporter in the crowd who foolishly cheered for their team (who won their match!). The French supporters traditionally position themselves at the back of the South Stand, there weren’t many. As soon as the French team started their warm up, even before their game, the chant started “Stand up if you hate the French” in a few minutes the whole stand, on their feet gesticulating and chanting to the French cohorts at the back. Of course they deserved it.
Yellow Card
The hard core crowd position themselves behind the goal in the South Stand, their mission, to catch the ball after a conversion and nick it. It’s all part of the sport but the officials don’t like it at all. New Zealand kicked the ball into the crowd, someone caught it. Then the tactic is to pass it, under the seats, to someone else while other people deploy distraction tactics in another area to fool security and make it impossible for them to know where the ball is. Everyone stood up to watch this maneuver. Highly entertaining. Then one of the culprits involved was given a ‘yellow card’ by one of the officials, if he did it again he would be ejected from the ground. Oh the shame, it was my own son. We spotted him, using binoculars. As any self respecting mother would do in such a situation – I pretended I didn’t know him!
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