Spirit of Hong Kong Sevens lives on in new stadium

Hong Kong Sevens fans feeling nostalgic about the loss of the famed South Terrace party stand can relax – the new state-of-the-art 50,000-seat stadium hasn’t forgotten their spirit by creating their own socialising space.

A view at night of Kai Tak Sports Park, Hong Kong's largest sports, entertainment and cultural landmark, on opening night on March 1 Picture: Supplied

The ink was barely dry on invitations to the opening of the new $A6bn showpiece home of the Hong Kong Sevens before word crept out World Rugby is considering culling teams on the circuit – and possibly venues.

The Australian broke the news on February 28 the number of World Rugby Series Sevens teams – men and women – was being reviewed, with the current 12 countries in scope to shrink to eight due to financial losses incurred across the competition.

It comes less than 18 months after the sport’s ruling body axed 25 per cent of men’s teams, reducing the roster from 16 to 12 to match the women’s circuit.

World Rugby communications head Dorian Grimaud confirmed to The Australian this week that the review was across the board, including the iconic Hong Kong event on a World Sevens circuit sponsored by the former British territory’s biggest bank, HSBC.

“A comprehensive review of the Rugby Sevens landscape is being undertaken in partnership with stakeholders, including Hong Kong China partners, with the objective of taking the sport to the next level on the journey through to the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028,” Grimaud said.

“(It) will examine the optimal program of HSBC SVNS and World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger events within the next Olympic Games cycle and beyond.

“World Rugby frequently reviews its competition structures to ensure they continue to optimise strategic outcomes.”

After their own cash battles, Australian rugby are riding into a bumper year with the British and Irish Lions coming in June and the 2027 World Cup on the near horizon, but the global game is hurting.

Forced changes were rolled out of RFU headquarters in London before Christmas, with 40-odd staff axed. CEO Bill Sweeney takes home £1.1m ($2.25m) to run an organisation described in London’s The Independent as “tone deaf” after it emerged he also stood to earn £462,000 in bonuses had he met 100 per cent of his targets. He was only paid out 77.5 per cent of that amount after falling short in some of his KPIs.

Crowds outside Kai Tak Sports Park on opening weekend Picture: Supplied

Purpose built for Sevens

All this serves as white noise for a party-hungry Hong Kong and its state-of-the-art 50,000-seat stadium – complete with retractable roof – purpose built with rugby sevens and music concerts in mind.

Since Hong Kong CEO John Lee opened Kai Tak Stadium three weeks ago, its creators have been on their edge of their airconditioned seats ahead of them hosting the venue’s first international sports event in a matter of days. They want to open the eyes of the world on the region as a sporting host and neutral venue.

After three decades at the Hong Kong Stadium in Causeway Bay, the Sevens has moved across Kowloon Bay inside a Kai Tak Sports Park that is unrivalled in a built-up city environment. It sits on 28 hectares of prime real estate Hong Kong’s government was under heavy pressure to use for public housing. But they opted for a sports precinct that would bring in locals seven days a week, both as spectators and active sports users.

The project, bringing together high-quality sport and entertainment, was crafted by Brisbane-based design architects Populous, who dipped their toe in stadium design by famously turning around the pitch on Cardiff Arms Park when transforming it into Principality Stadium for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Closer to home, they have created Suncorp Stadium – some of whose DNA can be found in the Hong Kong centrepiece, Sydney’s Olympic Stadium and Melbourne’s Docklands.

“It took 20 years to get to this point from first helping the government in Hong Kong,” Populous senior principal Paul Henry said. “We’ve been building it over the last six years.”

The Kai Tak Sports Park, flanked by metro train stations at either end, features:

● 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium and retractable roof.

● 10,000-seat Kai Tak Arena, an indoor arena capable of hosting sports including badminton, basketball, gymnastics, table tennis and tennis. This month it hosted a World Grand Prix Snooker event featuring world champion Kyren Wilson. Australian Neil Roberston whitewashed his opponent 10-0 in the final to pot the spoils.

● 5000-seat Youth Sports Ground with an athletics track wrapping around a football pitch. It has already hosted a rugby match between Hong Kong and Brazil in November.

● 200 retail stores and eateries in three five-level buildings, including a futuristic “Sportainment” concept mall of virtual-reality gaming.

● 14ha of open spaces, including a much-prized events village sitting on the doorstep of the stadium.

An interior view of Kai Tak Sports Park on opening night – this is the 50,000-seat stadium that will host the Hong Kong Sevens next weekend. Picture: Supplied

‘Last one standing’

Twelve months out from their 50th anniversary, the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens weekend will launch under the retractable roof at the heart of Kai Tak Sports Park, itself built on the foundations of the former airport.

“My personal opinion on it is if World Rugby was going to skinny down the Sevens, Hong Kong would be the last one standing,” said straight-talking Scotsman John Sharkey, the Kai Tak Sports Park chief executive.

James Farndon, CEO of Sevens host club Hong Kong China Rugby, is confident the tournament rolls on. “We’re still talking through the engagement phase with World Rugby about next year and the year after and the next three years. But we see ourselves as one of if not the premier tournament on the series.”

Their own improving rugby fortunes are intrinsically linked to the Sevens tournament, he says.

“Hong Kong China’s men’s sevens team are the defending Asian Games gold medallists and our women’s team are the bronze medallists, while our men’s fifteens team are also the current Asian champions.

“This competitive success has also been forged by the Hong Kong Sevens teams.

“We are very proud of our history – Hong Kong being synonymous with rugby sevens and a key driver in the sport’s inclusion to the Olympic Games in 2016.”

Hong Kong China men will compete next weekend in the lesser Melrose Claymores competition, while China’s women are in the main draw.

An aerial view of Kai Tak Sports Park in Hong Kong Picture: Supplied

Pandemic effects

Few regions felt the economic effects of the pandemic more than Hong Kong – in business, tourism and sport. Before Covid, the Sevens were tracking at around 40 per cent of their tickets sold to overseas in 2019. The pandemic obliterated overseas traffic but the numbers climbed back to 30 per cent last year. With ticket prices frozen at the levels of 2024, there’s every chance the Hong Kong Sevens in the new stadium can plug some of those holes this year.

The Hong Kong government had three objectives for the project:

● Bring big events in – continue the Sevens, the likes of Coldplay (playing in April) and Taylor Swift concerts.

● Encourage community sports and schools.

● Encourage elite athlete training.

While tightly focused on those targets, Populous senior principals Richard Breslin and Henry – both big rugby fans – always had the tournament synonymous with Hong Kong in their planning.

They felt it crucial the magic of Hong Kong Stadium, which hosted the Sevens for three decades, could be transported across Victoria Harbour. And that energy will be found in the South Stand come game day.

LIV Golf has its party hole and the Paris Olympics put their swimming in an arena and turned each night into a rock concert, but the legendary South Terrace at Hong Kong’s old terrace was arguably the father of sports fanaticism at live event – think businessmen in pyjamas waving giant inflatable penises (true story) as the action continued on the field below.

Kai Tak Stadium’s South Stand will be a nod next weekend to the South Terrace and those memories. Some 5000 fans can be seated watching the action, while in behind the grandstand there is a platform capable of holding 3000-4000 spectators, backing on to a panoramic glass wall that frames the harbour’s edge. That’s party central – if you get lost, look for the 100m-long bar temporarily installed for the tournament.

“We really wanted to pull something in from the old vintage – give it some character,” said Henry. “People get a chance to let it rip.”

Hong Kong’s largest sports and entertainment precinct sits proud on the harbour’s edge Picture: Supplied

Big concerns

Two of the biggest concerns to get right in the build were making the spectator comfortable enough in Hong Kong’s climate to see out the match/show and keeping the expectant stadium noise inside the walls, not reverberating around a neighbourhood of 100,000 newbuilds – bare land when Kai Tak Sports Park’s first sod was turned.

There is a secret sauce in the acoustics, says Janice Lau, a Populous architect who worked extensively on the stadium. “The insulation has a two-way effect, avoiding sounds leaking into the stadium and allowing the sound inside to be more focused inside for a better atmosphere.”

This was a major reason why the clock was always ticking with the Sevens’ previous home in Causeway Bay.

“There’s a lot of very, very, very expensive real estate in that area with all the (residential) towers around it,” Breslin says. “It just got to a point where all the locals complained and they just weren’t able to host concerts or noisy events.”

Because of the climate outside, each seat has its own airconditioning nozzle to cool the immediate space around the fan. As a guide, if it’s a 35C burner outside, expect to be sitting in around 24-25C.

Those climate concerns, and a count of the number of events in the foreseeable years that might require a natural-grass pitch, gave way to roll-up grass being trucked in from the operation’s turf farm less an hour’s drive away in mainland China as required, Breslin said.

Open spaces

Henry is at pains to emphasise the importance of building in open spaces into the stadium surrounds. He points to the grassed events village in front of the stadium – much like the northern and southern plazas of Suncorp Stadium, it is a spillway and “time out” for fans.

“The Sevens is different to other rugby because it goes all day long,” he says. “So it’s like the cricket in that it goes all day long. It’s a festival atmosphere. You actually need to have somewhere else they can go during it. The aim is the whole area outside to be all tents used when you have a sevens-style event.”

Hello world

A country eager to showcase they’re a world-class venue have lined up four events at Kai Tak Sports Park including China’s 15th National Games in November.

“Hong Kong is now better positioned to actively attract large-scale international events,” Kai Tak CEO Sharkey added. You had better believe it.

Garry Ferris travelled to Hong Kong courtesy of the government’s public relations office, the Information Services Department