New-look stadium smacks of sex appeal
IT was a smart and snappy Stuart Leckie who stood before a group of journalists to talk about the annual rugby-fest that takes place at the end of the month and, for good measure, to model one of the Sevens rugby shirts that will be on sale.
While drawing the attention of the assembled hacks to the well-cut garment he was wearing, Rugby Football Union chairman Leckie mentioned that cushions would also be on offer at the Hong Kong Stadium this year even though ''the days of the old concrete benches were over''.
For the benefit of the Chinese media Leckie's remarks were being translated by a young woman.
But his seemingly innocent remarks seemed to take on a life of their own on her lips.
Frequently in the Cantonese interpretation the word ''sexy'' kept cropping up, with bashful female journalists from the Chinese newspapers eyeing Leckie up and down as their pens, we guessed, raced to keep pace with what they were hearing and what they were seeing.
But just when some us at the press conference were beginning to think we were witnessing the emergence of what might be the territory's newest sex symbol, our expectations (and, alas, those of Leckie, we suspect!) were dashed.
Some spoilsport in the room pointed out that the Cantonese word for concrete sounded remarkably close to ''sexy''.
So while things might have turned out to be a bit, er . . . hard on Leckie, so to speak, we can at least now boast that Hong Kong has the world's sexiest sports stadium.
