I spoke with Sebastian Prim in Hong Kong last week where the Boys were playing a warm-up game against the West Indies. “So Mike, this is what (the Saffas in Hong Kong) have been waiting for,” he quipped, referring to the start of the mother of all Sevens. “Yes, I gushed. It’s what we’ve been waiting for, for all of 365 days since last year’s final whistle!”
The Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens again lived up to it’s billing as the premier event on the IRB Sevens World Series. While the Hong Kong Stadium in So Kon Po wasn’t at any stage during the weekend packed to the rafters, tickets were sold out months before so the organizers should again be smiling all the way to the bank. The spectacle of rugby, coupled with the excellent entertainment on offer over the three days should also stand the IRB’s bid with the IOC in good stead.
If you followed my posts in last week, you will have noticed my pre-occupation with the weather reports. I was concerned that the impending rain would rob us of the spectacle of running rugby that is Sevens. When the first game kicked off and the players churned up the notoriously bad Hong Kong Stadium turf in the first half, I thought my worst nightmare would come true. Yes, it did rain intermittently over the 3 days and the pitch did sustain quite a bit of wear and tear (to put it mildly) but thankfully conditions did not turn into the mud-bath that I feared. While there were a hellavu lot of spills and other handling errors, judging from the spectacle of running rugby that the Springboks and Fiji dished up throughout the tournament, the conditions will be the last to be blamed for a lack of scintillating rugby if at all.
In the two years that I have been covering the HK Sevens, this was the first time I have seen so many South Africans in the rafters. The Green & Gold in all shapes and sizes were to be seen all over the stadium. There was barely a wide-angled camera shot that didn’t have swaths of Green & Gold! The Saffas defied the global credit crunch and proved (SA finance minister) Trevor Manuel right when he said that South Africa is not suffering the financial effects of the mess-up in the USA. They were all over the place: on the trams, the MTR, the ferries, in Lan Kwai Fong and Wan Chai! I met a tour-group of mostly KZN-based Saffas brought over by EduSport, who held their own in their construction-worker costumes in the madness of the infamous South Stand.
Cheers for all the whiskies in Wan Chai on Sevens Sunday, guys! Hope to see you back here in the future.
Speaking of the South Stand, this year I scraped together enough courage and ventured into the den of zero-inhibitions and lots of beer! The HKRFU’s ban on jugs on the South Stand notwithstanding, the place was a mess and reeked of stale hops, barley and water… a smell that no less would have caused a lot of glee-full hand-wringing on the part of official sponsors Guinness. To take nothing away from the staunch South Standers, the most-colorful Stand in the HK Stadium was nevertheless a happy, jovial place. There was hard-lined support for their individual teams, but also kind appreciation for the opposition. Their shared dislike for stadium security coupled with their appreciation of the handful of pitch-invaders was what bound them together. The beer was the glue to it all! In today’s financial climate and given the average Hong Konger’s penchant for overworking, any happy place should be frequented when the opportunity arises. This weekend it did. Thankfully there are also many establishments around the city that also offer ‘Happy Endings’ or so I am told (I have to add in haste!)
These Ooms from back home must be thinking: waa de f#k is ons nou!
On the rugby front there were unfortunately no ‘Happy Endings’ for us. In a FaceBook Group message last week, I told members how I impressed I was with the Boys’ physical condition and mental preparation. Though they started slowly against the Koreans in their first game, things started falling into place as the tournament progressed. I remember walking around the stadium before the Cup Final and my impression having talked to the numerous Saffas chomping at the bit, was that yes… we’re in with a chance to lift our first-ever HK Cup.
Sadly it was not to be. The Boys let themselves down again by not successfully executing the first-time tackles and against a side like the physically imposing Fijians, it was suicide, as the first-half proved. The Bokke left themselves with too high a hurdle to overcome and while we all held our collective breaths when Sticky lined up the final kick, it proved too much to ask in the end.
In many ways, for me it brought to an end what was an emotionally draining week. People speak of the ‘impartial media.’ Well, I must be the most biased media person in the HK Sevens Media Box and unashamedly so. I have my flag out when the Bokke play and support them vocally when I think it is required. In a previous post, I spoke of the amount of emotion that we as staunch supporters invest in the game and for it to come to an end as it did was just too draining. For almost 30 minutes after the stadium announcer ended proceedings I just sat there in the media box, not able to or wanting to move, let alone type a single word.
The crowds have long since left….
I was persuaded to visit Wan Chai later the evening because the Bokke normally also make their appearance. A few of them did, but for me it was not the same. Coach Paul true even ventured in the party-district after last year’s losing final against the Kiwis but was absent this time around. A poignant moment for me after the final this year was cameraman David Van Der Sandt embracing a seemingly emotional coach after his TV interview in the middle of a darkened HK Stadium. (video clip coming soon) I remember my wife saying that the coach needed a hug, but that is the life of a professional, traveling sportsman.
Having to deal with so much disappointment and being so far from your loved-ones who provide the emotional support cannot be easy.
Disappointment aside, the Hong Kong Sevens 2009 was again a wonderful experience to be cherished and remembered for everything that was good about it. I met some wonderful rugby-loving people, many of them Saffas visiting as well as those like me who, for the time-being call Asia our home.
Visitors from SASOL with my family.
I met more of the Springbok players and managers this time around so to Hugh, Sebastian, Coach Paul, Kyle, Philip, Frankie, Chase, Mpho, Neil, Sticky and all the other blokes whom I met last time around … Cheers guys. I hope to see you all again in the near future.
Chase Minnaar and Kyle Brown at HK’s King’s Park.
Lastly, I was still feeling out-of-sorts for much of today, until I opened my Inbox. In it I found a totally unexpected, though much appreciated note from a Springbok Sevens player’s family writing from PE. In it they say how during the last few days, they stayed “glued to blitzbokke.com” because it “is their connection to” the Boys.
This is the kind of support that blitzbokke.com strive to give to the Springbok Sevens side. Inadvertently it is also developing into a means of support to some of the families who send their Boys off on the IRB Sevens World Series circuit all over the world about 8 or 9 times a year.
It is the kind gestures like this that makes it all worthwhile.
Mgoi sai. (Thank you very much in Cantonese)
