HK keen to bring women into fold
Women will have their own Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2009 - taking place alongside the men's event - and Hong Kong has expressed an interest in hosting both these tournaments.
The International Rugby Board announced this week that the host city of the next RWC Sevens should also be willing to stage the inaugural women's World Cup, something the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union is more than willing to do.
'We have put forward to the IRB our expression of interest in hosting the 2009 World Cup Sevens for men and women,' said Pieter Schats, HKRFU director of finance. 'With our history of hosting the international women's sevens tournament during the Hong Kong Sevens, I feel we are well capable of hosting both events.'
Unions have until the end of this month to express their intention to tender for the 2009 tournament which will consist of 24 men's and 16 women's teams. It is believed that England and Australia will also put their names in the hat. The IRB will select the host union at its April 2007 meeting.
'We are reasonably optimistic of hosting the 2009 tournament. We have an advantage over everyone else because we have a proven track record of hosting women's sevens events too,' added Allan Payne, HKRFU executive director.
England won the first World Cup Sevens for men, which was held in 1993 at Murrayfield, Scotland. Since then three more editions have been played, the last one being in Hong Kong, last year, when Fiji emerged champions.
The IRB has now belatedly realised the importance of also holding a World Cup for women. For it was the lack of a recognised tournament for women that probably was the downfall of rugby union's bid to make Sevens a medal sport at the 2012 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee voted against rugby's inclusion at its congress last year in Singapore.
IRB chairman Dr Syd Millar said a Women's World Cup Sevens would help raise the profile of women's rugby. 'The introduction of a Women's World Cup Sevens, with the aim of providing an elite level of women's Sevens tournament, will raise the profile of the women's game on a global scale,' said Dr Millar.
'It is the first time that there has been a major focus on the women's game and the introduction of an integrated tournament is not just an exciting development for women's rugby, but also for Rugby Sevens,' added Dr Millar.
The HKRFU's board of directors will meet tomorrow evening for a preliminary discussion of the bid. Now that Hong Kong has expressed its intent on hosting the 2009 event, the next step will be to wait for the IRB to send out its bid documents.
'Apart from submitting our bid, I believe every union will also have to put forward a formal presentation. From a personal point of view, I think it won't be too difficult for Hong Kong to manage both a men's and women's World Cup Sevens,' added Schats.
