Hong Kong 7s Dinner

Mike Jansen, Hong Kong, 20 April 2012

As a South African expat in Asia for over a decade, I can tell you that one of the most-anticipated events in Hong Kong (other than the actual Hong Kong Sevens) is the Southern African Association in Hong Kong’s Sevens Dinner. For as long as I’ve been in Hong Kong it’s been hosted at the swanky Hong Kong Football Club in Happy Valley.

The aim of the evening of good food, fellowship and socializing is two-fold: to officially welcome the Springbok Sevens Rugby Team to Hong Kong as well as take the opportunity to raise much-needed funds for two worthwhile charities; one in the Philippines and the other (in South Africa) being Ons Plek, a sanctuary for at-risk girls/women based in Cape Town.

This year’s guest-speaker was former Natal and Springbok great Dick Muir who proved to be very popular with the assembled crowd of expat- and visiting South Africans.

As always, the team members were introduced by team manager Sebastian Prim and an impromptu competition to see which table can cheer for their player the loudest ensued. Springbok coach Paul Treu again tried to keep a low profile, but it proved futile as the coach was mobbed by fans and well-wishers throughout the evening.

The SAAHK, via it’s chair Bruce Fowler, this week announced that a whopping HK$80,000 was raised at the 2012 Dinner.  Bruce took the time thank all the sponsors, the attendees as well as the Blitzbokke for their support.

Below is a slideshow of the images captured on the evening:

(The slideshow consists of 384 images and may load slow, you can also view images on our Flick page)