To no one’s great surprise the Hong Kong Rugby Union have announced that next year’s Hong Kong Sevens will be postponed, from April to 4-6 November 2022.
The HKRU commented, “It’s basically because the prevailing quarantine and travel restrictions are too difficult to bring in international teams.”
“We’re very disappointed for the rugby community here in Hong Kong and the fans around the world who look forward to the event. But equally, public health is the number one priority and we respect that.”
When asked if the postponement will affect Hong Kong’s reputation in the rugby world: “I don’t think it’s so much affecting Hong Kong’s reputation in the rugby world.”
“I think for all of the major sports events, the ‘M’ Mark events, it’s important we retain our respective places in the global sporting calendar. I think the thing that we are all really concerned about is ensuring that we can get back to hosting these events so that we don’t lose slots on the calendar and Hong Kong retains its place as an important destination for international sports events.”
“Sean loved Hong Kong rugby, and we loved him – there are so many special memories of him leading out our national teams and joining them for the anthem line-ups, although he wasn’t adverse on the odd occasion to pin his colours to another international team if he thought they had a better chance of winning!
….He made our lives better, as I hope we did for him”
The trial of the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) and it’s Chairman Pieter Schats on Criminal Defamation reached the plea stage at Eastern Magistrates Court on 22 April, 2016 with the charges in the private prosecution read out to the defendants:
The charges read out were:
Information has been laid THAT YOU, Hong Kong Rugby Union a limited company registered in Hong Kong did on the 25 September, 2015 in Hong Kong deliberately and maliciously published, in the form of the article annexed here, defamatory libel knowing it to be false and factually inaccurate in breach of Section 5 of the Defamation Ordinance, Cap 21 of the Laws of Hong Kong.
The article in the form of a letter written by the Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Union on the letterhead of the HK Rugby Union (HKRU) was published to “All of our friends at World and Asia Rugby, Hong Kong Rugby Union Past Chairmen and Vice Presidents, Board of Directors, Hong Kong Rugby Club Chairmen and the Hong Kong Rugby and Sporting Community. It was also published on the HKRU’s website www.hkrugby.com under the title “Note from HKRU Chairman Pieter Schats.”
On or before the 23 September, 2015 the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) – the organisation responsible for the running and management of the sport of Rugby Union in Hong Kong – did approve and implement a new rule imposing ethnic Chinese player quotas on teams playing rugby in Hong Kong.
The HKRU on the 23 September, 2015 published on it’s website and caused to be published in the SCMP a news release entitled “Significant changes made to Hong Kong Rugby Union Domestic League structure”. Part of the text of that news release was: The modified Championship Club structure sees that league now highly focused on serving as an entry point and breeding ground for Chinese players, with all teams required to include a minimum of 14 ethnic Chinese players in each match day squad.”
Simon Durrant, the editor and publisher of bc magazine for 21 years wrote an article about the introduction of active racial discrimination, via ethnic quotas, into HK Rugby. According to Chapter 602 The Racial Discrimination Ordinance this is illegal in Hong Kong. The article entitled Active Racial Discrimination in HK Men’s Rugby was published on www.bcmagazine.net on the 24 September, 2015.
The HKRU letter dated 25 September, 2015 in full and specifically but not limited to paragraphs 3,4,5 is defamatory, disparaging and factually untrue. It besmirches and stains the integrity and reputation of Simon Durrant as a journalist and the factual accuracy of his article and in doing so the reputation and integrity of bc magazine – where Simon Durrant often recognised in public as ‘Mr bc’ has been the Owner, Publisher and Editor of bc magazine for over 21 years. Contrary to Section 5 of the Defamation Ordinance, Chapter 21
The HKRU representative Mr Schats pleaded not guilty
Information has been laid THAT YOU, Pieter Lodewijk Schats as Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Union on the 25 September, 2015 in Hong Kong deliberately and maliciously published, in the form of the article annexed here, defamatory libel knowing it to be false and factually inaccurate in breach of Section 5 of the Defamation Ordinance, Cap 21 of the Laws of Hong Kong.
The article is in the form of a letter written by Pieter Schats, Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Union on the letterhead of the HK Rugby Union was published to “All of our friends at World and Asia Rugby, Hong Kong Rugby Union Past Chairmen and Vice Presidents, Board of Directors, Hong Kong Rugby Club Chairmen and the Hong Kong Rugby and Sporting Community. It was also published on the HKRU’s website www.hkrugby.com under the title “Note from HKRU Chairman Pieter Schats.”
On or before the 23 September, 2015 the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) – the organisation responsible for the running and management of the sport of Rugby Union in Hong Kong – did approve and implement a new rule imposing ethnic Chinese player quotas on teams playing rugby in Hong Kong.
The HKRU on the 23 September, 2015 published on it’s website and caused to be published in the SCMP a news release entitled “Significant changes made to Hong Kong Rugby Union Domestic League structure”. Part of the text of that news release was: The modified Championship Club structure sees that league now highly focused on serving as an entry point and breeding ground for Chinese players, with all teams required to include a minimum of 14 ethnic Chinese players in each match day squad.”
Simon Durrant, the editor and publisher of bc magazine for 21 years wrote an article about the introduction of active racial discrimination, via ethnic quotas, into HK Rugby. According to Chapter 602 The Racial Discrimination Ordinance this is illegal in Hong Kong. The article entitled Active Racial Discrimination in HK Men’s Rugby was published on www.bcmagazine.net on the 24 September, 2015.
Pieter Schats letter dated 25 September, 2015 in full and specifically but not limited to paragraphs 3,4,5 is defamatory, disparaging and factually untrue. It besmirches and stains the integrity and reputation of Simon Durrant as a journalist and the factual accuracy of his article and in doing so the reputation and integrity of bc magazine – where Simon Durrant often recognised in public as ‘Mr bc’ has been the Owner, Publisher and Editor of bc magazine for over 21 years. Contrary to Section 5 of the Defamation Ordinance, Chapter 21
Mr Pieter Lodewijk Schats pleaded not guilty.
SCMP article “Hong Kong rugby to revamp domestic leagues in effort to strengthen national team” with ethnic quota rule introduction highlighted.
The cases centre around the Hong Kong Rugby Union’s introduction of Ethnic Quotas to local rugby in September 2015 – as announced by the HKRU in a 23 September news release on their website and also published in the SCMP (linked here) on the 22 and 23 September.
The HKRU website version (linked here) was quickly amended after Simon Durrant’s article (linked here) that ethnic quotas and racial discrimination are illegal in Hong Kong was published on the 24 September.
A day later on the 25 September Mr Schats published a note to the global rugby community (linked here) which according to Mr Durrant is defamatory and factually inaccurate.
Women’s rugby in Hong Kong has been going from strength to strength in recent years and this has been reflected in the national 15s and 7s team results; highlighted by the 7s team winning their first ever Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens Series tournament in Qingdao last September.
So it’s more than a little disappointing that the male dominated hierarchy of the HKRU continue to remain so blind to the attractions of women’s rugby, especially in an Olympic year when Hong Kong are still in with a chance of a place in Rio. With women’s rugby 7s expanding fast globally that only ten teams, down from twelve in recent year’s, will take part in the 19th Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens (HKWRS) is depressing.
bc has supported the Women’s 7s since its inception and know that teams want to come to play, and the national side needs the experience of playing teams outside Asia, but cite costs as the main problem in attending the tournament. The HKRU is awash with cash but the men in charge remain too cheap to, and blind to the benefits of, financially supporting the expansion and improvement of the HKWRS. The nine countries, from four continents joining Hong Kong are: Argentina, China, France, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Tournament Director Ruth Mitchell and former Hong Kong captain said of the announcement “I’m excited at how the tournament has progressed over the years. Hong Kong is the longest established women’s sevens tournament in the world and we have had 38 international teams participate over the past 19 years. This year, for the first time, all of the teams have played in the tournament before, so we can expect a high standard of play and with plenty of Asian teams involved, the rivalry is sure to be intense,”
Of the participating teams, France, Kenya and Japan have already qualified for the Rio Summer Games in August, where rugby 7s will make it’s debut at the Olympics. France and Japan are also participating on the Women’s Sevens Series this season with France in fourth place in the standings and Japan eleventh of the 12 core teams. Both teams have figured in recent HKWRS Cup finals. Japan lost to Canada, 19-12, last year while France was beat by Canada, 24-0, in 2014.
Argentina, China, Kazakhstan and Hong Kong will compete in the Olympic repechage tournament in Dublin in June, making the HKWRS an important preparation event for the final stage of Olympic qualification. The winner in Dublin will be the 12th and final team to qualify for the Women’s Rugby Sevens competition at the Rio Games.
As always, Asia is well represented with the hosts Hong Kong, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka and Thailand all taking part. Japan and China finished first and second in Asia last season with Hong Kong hot on their heels in third place in the region.
Hong Kong Women’s Sevens coach Anna Richards commented on the field assembled saying, “There is a good range of teams this year with sides from Africa, Europe and South America, alongside the top teams from Asia. It’s always good to get a chance to play against teams with different styles then those we see in the region and it will be helpful for us as prepare for the Olympic qualifier in Ireland where there will be 16 teams from all over the world.”
Last year, Hong Kong, after beating beat Samoa in the quarterfinal, narrowly missed out on reaching their first cup final losing the semi 10-5 to Japan. Another close result went against the hosts when they lost the third place play-off to the Netherlands, 14-7. It was Hong Kong’s best ever performance in the HKWRS and set the stage for a strong run in the Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens series later in the year.
“We got on a roll last year with a great start on the opening day when we beat China and Kazakhstan. Those performances gave us the self-belief we needed to go out and compete both on day two and later in the year on the Asian series. We will need another fast start this year so a lot will be riding on what pool we are drawn in as we need to finish either first or second in our group to advance to the cup,” Richards said. The tournament draw for the HKWRS will be held alongside the Hong Kong Sevens draw on Monday, 14 March.
Complicating matters for Richards is a lack of warm-up events for the women’s team ahead of the HKWRS: “Last year we had two tournaments in the build up to the sevens, but this year we don’t have any. We’ve been training really hard and are working closely with the Sports Science team at the Hong Kong Sports Institute, but I know the girls are excited about the prospect of our first tournament action since November last year.”
Richards has had to get creative to accentuate the build-up campaign. The sevens training squad will play a series of training games against a touring side from Princeton University on March 16.
Richards, a former New Zealand international, has also negotiated with the New Zealand Rugby Union to organise a group of New Zealand Sevens development players who the HKRU are flying up to Hong Kong, where they will mix with top local players in a Barbarians format, for a two-day training camp at the Hong Kong Sports Institute on March 19 and 20.
The HKWRS tournament in on Thursday and Friday, (7-8 April) with the opening day’s action at Kings Park in Kowloon. Day Two will be held at the Hong Kong Football Club (8 April) with the final again being held beneath the lights at the HK Stadium as a main focus of the opening day of the Hong Kong Sevens.
On the 25 September the Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU), Pieter Schats sent a letter to the world rugby community – you can read the letter here. Rather than admit they screwed up by imposing ethnic quotas in local rugby (read the unedited announcement here) the HKRU and Mr Schats decided to lie, and also to libel bc magazine. Here is the text of bc’s reply breaking down Mr Schat’s letter.
With regards to the letter sent by the Chairman of the HKRU Pieter Schats on the 25 September, 2015 to World Rugby, Asia Rugby, Hong Kong Rugby Union Past Chairmen and Vice Presidents, Board of Directors, Hong Kong Rugby Club Chairmen and the Hong Kong Rugby and Sporting Community and published on the HKRU’s website www.hkrugby.com
bc magazine finds the letter defamatory, libelous and factually inaccurate.
There is nothing ‘alleged’ about the HKRU’s desire to introduce racial quotas into rugby in Hong Kong – it was clearly stated in the HKRU’s news release that was published on the HKRU’s website that “The modified Championship Club structure sees that league now highly focused on serving as an entry point and breeding ground for Chinese players, with all teams required to include a minimum of 14 ethnic Chinese players in each match day squad.”
Mr Schats also confirms that the rule existed by admitting later in his letter that the rule has been amended to read “a minimum of 14 players in a match day squad of 22 who are Hong Kong permanent residents”.
The existence of a rule regarding ethnic quotas for match day squads is also confirmed in an email (see below) received by bc magazine from Aaron Bleasdale, Chairman, University Rugby Football Club.
Mr Schats then goes on to further disparage bc magazine’s reputation by saying “The article turns a positive development idea considered by HKRU”
The idea was not considered – ethnic quotas were implemented and published as a rule.
And he continues to further besmirch bc magazine by claiming that “a story that fails to capture the spirit and intent of our proposal”
bc’s article fully and accurately reflects the intention of the HKRU to implement quotas in match day squads soley based on skin colour (ethnicity).
bc magazine’s article also stated that ‘ethnic quotas’ were illegal in Hong Kong – something that Mr Schats confirmed later in his letter.
Mr Schats further uses his letter to disparage bc magazine in an attempt to deflect attention away from HKRU’s active implementation of racial discrimination – which would have taken place, without bc magazine’s article – by starting his letter “my apologies for having to send this note”.
The only reason the article exists is because of the intentions of the HKRU to implement ‘ethnic quotas’, and the only reason he (Mr Schats) has to write and apologise is because the HKRU chose to implement racial segregation.
Mr Schats then further tries to ‘blame’ bc magazine for his letter by claiming to be “deeply saddened by this and would like to clarify this issue” – but he isn’t seeking to clarify the issue, having already lied in the previous sentence by using the word “alleged” for something that he knows is true. He is looking to blame and defame bc magazine to save the HKRU’s reputation amongst the global rugby community and the big money sponsors that support the HKRU and the HK7s.
I as writer of the article and publisher of bc magazine will not have the HKRU and Mr Schats libel, defame and smear bc magazine and myself by factually misrepresenting and outright lying in his letter to World Rugby and Asia Rugby about HKRU’s incorporation of ethnic quotas for match day squads into the rules of HK Rugby for 2015/16.
The ‘ethnic quota’ rule would still there if bc hadn’t exposed the rule as being illegal and racial discrimination.
A smidgen of common sense – amidst pressure from World Ruby, Asia Rugby and the fact that racial discrimination is illegal in HK – has begrudgingly seen the HK Rugby Union remove the ‘ethnic quota’ rule from it’s 2015/16 rule book.
Let’s hope that ‘we know best’ attitude of the Union doesn’t see it become an ‘unwritten rule.
A letter from HKRU Chairman Pieter Schats announced the change while claiming the ‘ethnic quota’ rule was introduced for the ‘good’ of the game. Two other club chairman David Knights of SCAA Causeway Bay Rugby Football club and Aaron Bleasdale of University Rugby Football Club – read their opinions below – have emailed bc claiming the same, that racial profiling is good for the local game. If that’s the case then there’s something seriously wrong with men’s rugby in HK!
There is and never will be any time when a person’s skin colour should limit their participation in sport or any other aspect of life. Kick racism out of sport!
Email from SCAA Causeway Bay Rugby Football Club Dear BC magazine,
I just read your article on the above subject and am appalled by the misguided, misinformed and inaccurate nature of the report which amounts to nothing more than a pathetic piece of sensationalism.
If your reporter had bothered to check the facts with anyone involved in the sport in Hong Kong they would have quickly realised that far from this being any form of racial discrimination it was in fact an attempt to foster the widest possible participation in the sport by players of all races,ages and abilities which is central to the strategic aims of the Hong Kong Rugby Union.
There is no barrier to participation in rugby in Hong Kong, players of any race can aspire to play at the elite level of the sport or simply enjoy a game with their (multinational) mates on a Saturday afternoon.
As Chairman of one of the largest rugby clubs in Hong Kong and also quite possibly the one with the most racially diverse playing membership of any club I think I know what I am talking about.
Rugby is making a huge effort to get Hong Kong kids of all races and backgrounds away from their X-boxes and into something more healthy. Why don’t you write about that, particularly during the Rugby World Cup rather than the ill conceived garbage contained in your article.
Yours sincerely
David Knights
Chairman, SCAA Causeway Bay Rugby Football Club
Email from University Rugby Football Club Dear bc
Your accusation of “racism” by the HKRFU against non-Chinese players is based on a misunderstanding of the structure of Hong Kong’s domestic rugby leagues.
The men’s “Championship” division for which this ethnicity requirement would be implemented is a solitary division of play operating alongside the five graded “National” league divisions (NL1 – NL5). Players from both the Championship and National divisions are free to progress up to the Premiership, which is the primary feeder league for the Hong Kong National Team. An ethnicity requirement in the Championship division alone would not create a so-called “selection discrimination” against non-Chinese players because they would still be free to progress up through the National and Premiership leagues.
You should also consider the very good reason for which the Championship division’s ethnicity requirement has been implemented – to create a division that best fosters the development of local Chinese rugby talent. The HKRFU is extraordinarily committed to this goal, and should be applauded for their attempts to achieve it.
Further, to refer to the people driving the HKRFU as “white leaders” is, in addition to being insulting to the many non-caucasians that run the HKRFU, totally nonsensical in the context of an article complaining about racism against non-Chinese players, many of whom themselves are caucasian. A curious form of racism indeed!
Next time, check your facts before throwing around accusations and polarizing language.
Kind regards,
Aaron Bleasdale, Chairman, University Rugby Football Club
Image – please note the letter from Pieter Schats was two pages long – bc magazine combined the pages to create a single image for ease of reading the original is here.
In 2015 it’s disgusting that the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) have announced active racial discrimination! For many years millions of people have fought and struggled to be accepted for who they are regardless of skin colour. That in Hong Kong a multi-cultural melting pot where ability, regardless of race, has always been recognised should find one of it’s leading sporting organisations actively racially discriminating against non-ethnically Chinese rugby players is disgusting and illegal.
The recent press release from the HKRU (read the now edited entry here) states that “The modified Championship Club structure sees that league now highly focused on serving as an entry point and breeding ground for Chinese players, with all teams required to include a minimum of 14 ethnic Chinese players in each match day squad.”
UPDATE: The HKRU has deleted the above sentence from their website, and made no reference to the edit – the original can be read here, relevant sentence is at the bottom of page 1
How far stuck up their arse’s are heads of the white leaders of the Hong Kong Rugby Union? Did they not hear the furour when earlier this year the Chinese Football Association published racially insulting posters about HK’s Football Team. Did they not see HongKongers reaction to it both on social media – mass condemnation – and in real life, the booing of the Chinese National Anthem and tickets selling out so fans of all races and colours could show their support for the HK team.
How insulting is it to the HK eligible players that they’ll face selection discrimination because of their race – even though they might have been born in HK, be eligible and good enough to represent the HK National team – yet find their way blocked because they are not ethnically Chinese.
I can fully understand the desire to improve the national team, but rather than make divisions made on race, why not instead of “a minimum of 14 ethnic Chinese players in each match day squad” it’s a “a minimum of 14 HK eligible players in each match day squad”.
The Basic Law of Hong Kong specifically bans racial/ethnic discrimination. Chapter 602 The Racial Discrimination Ordinance long title starts “An Ordinance to render discrimination, harassment and vilification, on the ground of race, unlawful; … the function of eliminating such discrimination, harassment and vilification and promoting equality and harmony between people of different races…”
The ordinance further goes on to define Racial Discrimination as
1: In any circumstances relevant for the purposes of any provision of this Ordinance, a person (“the discriminator”) discriminates against another person if (a) on the ground of the race of that other person, the discriminator treats that other person less favourably than the discriminator treats or would treat other persons; or…..
3. It is declared that, for the purposes of this Ordinance, segregating a person from other persons on the ground of the race of that person is treating that person less favourably than the other persons are treated.
Even before any match day squads are selected, the press release and decisions made by the HKRU amount to Racial Harassment under Section 7 of the ordinance.
The HK Sporting Institute makes no discrimination on the race of the Rugby Union players it gives professional contracts to!
How many of these men will be denied the chance to represent Hong Kong because they are not ‘ethnically Chinese”
A rugby 15’s match day squad is usually 23 players, to demand that 14 are ethnically Chinese is over 50%.
Here is the squad list Hong Kong v Japan, 2 May 2015:
1 WEI Hon Sum Leon; 2 Alex HARRIS; 3 Jack PARFITT; 4 Adam BUTTERFIELD; 5 Paul DWYER; 6 Matthew LAMMING; 7 Toby FENN; 8 Nicholas HEWSON; 9 LEE Ka To Cado; 10 Ben RIMENE; 11 Charlie HIGSON-SMITH; 12 Max WOODWARD; 13 Jamie HOOD; 14 Tom MCQUEEN; 15 Alex MCQUEEN; 16 John AIKMAN; 17 Lachlan CHUBB; 18 Jack NIELSEN; 19 Alex BADDELEY; 20 Damian BAILEY; 21 Adam ROLSTON; 22 Jonny REES; 23 Niall ROWARK; 24 Jack DELAFORCE (2 ethnically Chinese players)
Here is the Hong Kong squad for the recent Qingdao 7s:
Max WOODWARD (captain); Nick HEWSON; Jamie HOOD; Rowan VARTY; YIU Kam Shing; Benjamin RIMENE; Alex MCQUEEN; Cado LEE Ka To; Christopher MAIZE; Tomasi LAWA; Calvin HUNTER; Michael COVERDALE. (2 ethnically Chinese players).
Which of these non-ethnically Chinese players who are selected as good enough to represent their country will be dropped to satisfy the racial quota demands of the HKRU?
RACIAL DISCRIMINSTION IS DISGUSTING AND ILLEGAL!
Change the squad requirements to “14 players eligible to represent Hong Kong”
bc magazine has asked the HKRU, World Rugby, Asia Rugby and HSBC, the national team sponsor, for comment on this active racial discrimination.
The Hong Kong Rugby Union has announced the schedule for the upcoming HKRU Domestic League. While similar on the surface to last season’s competition, the 2015/16 season ushers in some profound and long-term changes in the structure of local rugby.
Primary amongst these changes is the decision made jointly by the HKRU and its member clubs to ring-fence the Men’s Premiership around the six existing Premiership clubs at both Premiership and Premiership A levels for the coming three seasons.
Valley RFC, HKCC, Hong Kong Football Club, Hong Kong Scottish, Kowloon and USRC Tigers retain their Premiership spots for the coming season and will maintain this status for three years.
Dai Rees, General Manager, Rugby Performance at the HKRU, commented on the changes saying, “The objective is to ensure a stable competition that is structured around two performance leagues, Premiership and Premiership A, and supported by a development and community league structure that will ultimately contribute to the national team and high performance rugby in Hong Kong.
“These changes are a culmination of months of consultation with local clubs to secure their buy-in. As a result the final structure places significant emphasis on establishing clear playing levels, with Hong Kong’s elite level rugby ring-fenced around the clubs participating in the Premiership and Premiership A leagues,” Rees said.
The Premiership and Premiership A leagues will now mirror each other with club fixtures played at the same location each week. The new structure will allow the Premiership teams in these leagues to support each other on any given league weekend and maximize the development of their performance players.
Below Premiership A level, National League 1 will become a feeder system and development structure grooming potential high performance players who aspire to play Premiership rugby.
National League 1 will feature nine teams, headlined by Tin Shui Wai Pandas, who voluntarily relinquished their Premiership A spot to support the wider objectives of Hong Kong Rugby.
Discovery Bay Pirates, SCAA Causeway Bay, Gai Wu, University Wizards, Valley Mavericks, PLA and two Hong Kong Football Club sides round out the National League 1 competition this season.
The Championship Club league has also been revamped for 2015/16 with nine clubs: City RFC, Discipline Services XV, East Kowloon, Gai Wu Crusaders, Kowloon Barbarians, Revolution, Tai Po Dragons, Tin Shui Wai 2nd XV, and USRC Tigers Development taking part.
The modified Championship Club structure sees that league now highly focused on serving as an entry point and breeding ground for Chinese players, with all teams required to include a minimum of 14 ethnic Chinese players in each match day squad.
Following the amendments to the structure, the National and Championship Club leagues are now clearly identified as development competitions entering the season, with the aim to establish partnerships and mutually sustainable links with Premiership teams and to provide a clear and direct player pathway through to performance level rugby in Hong Kong.
National League and Championship Clubs sides will work closely with the HKRU to identify potential performance players. A new dual registration system will allow Premiership clubs to register and develop these players with nominated players allowed to play at both levels in a given season while officially remaining with their mother club.
Already there are signs of progress with U20s stand-out Eric Kwok Pak Nga, who developed his game at City RFC, now seconded to USRC Tigers in a move that has greatly hastened his development. Kwok was named the 2014/15 HKRU Development Player of the Year and is currently in the elite rugby sevens athlete programme at the Hong Kong Sports Institute, having represented Hong Kong in the Junior World Rugby Trophy and as vice captain for the men’s U20s sevens team which defended its Asian sevens title in August.
HKRU league competition rules continue to emphasise the selection and development of local talent with the Premiership rules requiring 12 of the 22 or 23 players selected (depending on the team’s front row configuration) for a league fixture to be eligible to represent Hong Kong.
The HKRU will continue to work in partnership with its member clubs to identify future strategic directions after the coming three seasons as it continues to refine and strengthen its development structures.
Complimenting the league’s move towards enhancing the stability of domestic Rugby and further preparing Hong Kong players for international competition, the HKRU will be announcing several other transformative development initiatives in the coming weeks.
Super Saturday marks 2015/16 Season Start
The Premiership will be played over 15 rounds with break for the Asia Rugby Sevens Olympic Qualifiers on 7-8 November at the Hong Kong Stadium and for the Cup of Nations (13-21 Nov) at Hong Kong Football Club when Hong Kong will face off with Russia, Portugal and Zimbabwe.
The 2015/16 HKRU season will kick off with a Super Saturday on 3 October, gathering all six Premiership and Premiership A teams for a triple trio of rugby excitement at King’s Park. Admission is free.
Towards the business end of the season, a quarterfinals competition will be held with the top two teams entering the quarterfinals (27 February) receiving a first round bye. The semifinals will be held on 5 March with the Grand Final on 12 March.
