Portraits of National Sports Association

 

Interview with KK Chiu, Head of External Affairs, and Fung Kai Hang, General Manager
(Rugby Participation)

 

When asked about rugby, most people will know of the Hong Kong Sevens. This competition is indeed a famous international sporting event and it is like an international carnival with a heated atmosphere that fully engages the audience every time. In addition to organising international competitions, the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) is also committed to building a rugby community for people from all walks of life and creating a local rugby culture.

Looking forward while focusing on locals
The HKRU was established in 1952, a time when rugby players were mainly foreigners or students who had returned from studying abroad. It wasn’t until the 1980s that the management of the HKRU started to believe that development of rugby would always be limited if it was only driven forward by foreign athletes, so the management began to actively promote a local rugby culture. In 1988, the HKRU hired New Zealand coach Mr George SimpKin to be the technical director. They explored ways to make rugby take root in the community, developed a form of non-contact rugby, simplified the original rules, minimised physical contact and taught only basic skills and rules. Over time, like-minded people organised clubs and non-contact rugby leagues. In the 1990s, the HKRU brought rugby to youths and children and encouraged parents to participate. It made good use of regional facilities to promote rugby.

Hierarchical training to nurture elites
To this day, the HKRU still focuses on the promotion of rugby in the academic world with a view to nurturing new blood for rugby in Hong Kong. Towards this end, it established a complete training path which can be summarised into the following four levels:

Mini Rugby – designed especially for children aged between 5 and 11, with focus on introducing them to rugby and arousing their interest in the sport. The HKRU helps parents or coaches to organise mini rugby clubs and competitions for different age groups.

Colts Rugby – targeted at secondary school students aged between 12 and 18. The HKRU helps schools to arrange rugby classes outside class hours. It also teaches students safety regulations through the coaches and has a youth team to train outstanding athletes.

Tertiary Rugby – provides guidance or assistance for university rugby teams or related societies.

Adult League – organises official competitions for the HKRU.

Organising events to promote exchanges
The HKRU is committed to hosting competitions at various levels. In addition to attracting audiences of different ages, it also aims to create commercial value and inject more resources into the sport by organising events such as the Asia Rugby Championship, community league, youth premiership and various secondary and primary competitions, etc. On the other hand, the HKRU believes that the Community Sports Club Project has a positive effect on the development of outstanding local athletes as it not only provides resources for members to set up regional rugby clubs and promote the sport at the community level, but also releases information through the LCSD platform, which is more effective than if the information was disseminated by coaches.