Hong Kong Sevens 香港國際七人欖球賽
I was given a free Saturday ticket for the Hong Kong Sevens, the annual rugby tournament, held last week. Out of curiosity and with companion of my colleagues who knows the game, I decided to go watch the play. Chance sometimes only comes once in a lifetime, I believed, so better not miss it.
After getting off from the Causeway Bay MTR station, I was glad to have found a few westerners wearing the Rugby Seven T-shirt whom I could followed to the Hong Kong Stadium. Along the way, a few foreigners, holding a "ticket for sale" signage, peddled "Anyone want to buy tickets?"
As we drew closer to the stadium, the crowd grew bigger, adults and kids, and with more people wearing funny costumes/make up. The atmosphere was great even on the road. Half our way, the "selling tickets" guys vanished, and a man stood in the middle of the road asked loudly, "Got extra tickets to sell?" Later, I figured out the whole business going on here when more "buying tickets" guys emerged in small groups.
Arriving at the entrance, I looked for my colleagues but suddenly heard a familiar voice right next to me saying, "How can we find Jo?" In the next second, I said to them, "Hi, I am here." My colleagues turned around laughing and said, "Oh, that's easy!"
The weather was just perfect. It was the warmest and sunniest day over the week. The grasses of the football field smelled fresh. I sat at the lower stand looking forward to the day's first game, HK versus Tonga, at 10:30am. To my surprise, this sport is really exciting, though HK team lost with a "nil" (i.e. zero score). In the afternoon, the best game of the day was HK against France. HK team, performed totally different from they did in the morning, was very aggressive and leading most scores in the 1st 7-min section. The majority of the audience, local or foreign, united together to support HK team with loud cheerings. At the 2nd 7-min section, France team played very hard and finally drew to a tie at the end.
Rugby Sevens (7 mins play+2 mins break+7 mins play) was really intense and quick, comparing to full rugby (45 mins). Each team can score 5-7 points by carrying the ball to touch down beyond the goal line at the opponent's side. The only way for the opponent team to stop the ball carrying player is to push him onto the ground. SPEED was the key to win. On attacking, need to run quickly to get away from the opponent to reach the goal line. On defending, need to chase quickly to catch the opponent player and push him down. Each scoring requires a player to run half length of the football field with full speed, huge physical challenge in every minute.
Besides rugby, the atmosphere was another major attraction of this event that drew crowds from overseas flying all the way to HK for the 3-days games. The SCMP web broadcast summarized well : "It's a weekend of funny dresses, having a drink or two, enjoying the sights and international competition."
My colleagues asked whether I enjoyed the day. Absolutely, it was one of the most fun event I have attended this year. If there is another free ticket next year, I will definitely go again!!!
