HK7s: The Pioneer & Paragon of Hong Kong Sport Industry

Answer this easy Yes or No test to find out how much you love the sport.

🏉You never understand the rules of game. The only rule you know is to cheer and shout whenever some action is on on the field.

👹It's your first haka. I mean, "mentally" you follow All Blacks' eyes widening, tongue poking (and you are a lady), arm and thigh slapping, and foot stomping, uncontrollably.

🥳You think rugby sevens was created by Hong Kong.

All YES? That's OK. It's 50 years of Hong Kong Sevens, been there, done that. It's hopeful that we all have yet another half-century to learn from and enjoy world's best rugby sevens tournament.

There are countless factors driving the development, influence and success of one single happening—the existence of a creative brain, persistence to execute, a lifestyle so stressful that every chance to go crazy is appreciated, to name a few. For HK7s, the humble one-day event was already a sellout back in 1976; but it takes time and concerted effort of government, commercial and sport sectors to grow the event to a global sensation x elite tournament x culture gala, joined by 113,395 and praised by many more.

And the organiser. Rainy season in April? Crowd (some, if not many, drunken) control? Striking the perfect balance of professionalism and entertainment? Look, they are even so sensitive to trends of parenting. They added inflatable castles, face painting, rugby clinic and mini games at the 50A Fan Village, targeting kids and families, to the "traditional" beer and DJ music, so that everyone can make the most of the event.

So what makes the HK7s so great?

1. Infrastructure

New Kai Tak Stadium, Fan Village, transportation and accommodation facilities to support VIP service (reception of global teams)... these couldn't be done by the government, fuelled by a little kick of the recent rising of sport-tourism.

So no one can deny Hong Kong is lucky—our transportation is known to be tiny but mighty. That's why the international financial centre is also the host of major corporate and sporting events such as Bloomberg Square Mile Relay (BSMR), Hong Kong Masters, LONGINES IJC & HKIR, as well as "M" Mark FIVB VNLHK, and more. The world-renowned entrepôt is also blessed with a East-meets-West, Old-meets-New cultural setting, that we Kongers are always up for the fun!

2. Commercial Sponsorship

We've had darker days when the locals generally considered "athletes = kids bad at studying". Remember the "golden quote" of HK's first Olympics gold winner Lee Lai-shan "HK athletes are not rubbish"? But things changed thanks to brains in branding/marketing industry and later legalisation of ESG, plus the astonishing developments in technology and social media.

Sponsorship riding on sports and athletes is not news anymore. For example, I suggested Blue Cross Insurance to pick foil fencer Shawn Cheung Siu-lun back in their rebranding campaign in 2015—those were the days when fencing was as "well-known" locally as

Paralympics, and look now! Every fencer (and other elite athletes) is a KOL whom sponsors and media would spend budget on.

"No money, no talk" is the eternal rule for sport (if not everything else) development, and the commercial world plays a crucial role in the journey. What's better is the popularisation of social media has significantly reduced advertising costs. That's why more and more funds are invested into the sport industry (say, the Pinnacle Project), supporting life of athletes, so the struggle between income and dream wouldn't be that painful, so more young people would be attract to and can stay in the sport industry, so the HK sport industry could grow, so the HK athletes could get better results and awareness, so the commercial world would follow people's choice and spend more money...

3. Athletes

No athlete no sport. Why didn't you go to the HK7s tournament 10 years ago (i.e. 2016)? It's probably because, not until the gold winning at Jakarta 2018 Asian Games, the moving story of Salom Yiu Kam-shing didn't reach you.

We all are humans, so a "human touch" is always the best. We all need an idol. True story.

The same goes to swimming got the attention through Siobhán Haughey, fencing through Cheung Ka-long, track cycling through Lee Wai-sze, the list goes on and on. Human story is always the easiest entry point to get a brand into people's lives.

How to judge the influence of an athlete? Simple. Their performance. I said "performance" because it's not only about medals. Their courage to take up a challenge, disciplines in training and daily life, resilience against adversity, friendly smiling face... the audience is always hard to please, but that's exactly why not everybody can be a star.

It's been 50 years and the HK7s has grown from a one-day event to a world famous Rugby gala.

The 50th Anniversary of Hong Kong Sevens shows how the elite tournament leads the way in local sportainment.

The undefeated tradition of HK7s: COSTUMES and dressing up!

2026 SVNS champions: Men's South Africa shuts out defending champion Argentina by 35:7 for a historic first win, while mighty Women's New Zealand wins their fourth successive title. Hong Kong masters an affecting 19:15 victory against Japan and bags their Melrose Claymore title for the 3rd straight year.

Sportainment at the Fan Village ensures that everyone is enjoying the tournament in their way.

To mark exactly fifty years since the inaugural Hong Kong Sevens at Hong Kong Football Club, the organiser invited 1976 Hong Kong team captain Bob Lloyd to recreate the whistle blowing and kicking ceremony at HKFC.