Loud and proud, outgoing chairman Gregory lets his actions do the talking
Departing HKRFU boss has had plenty to say during his eight-year tenure, but it his achievements that have shone so brightly
Silence and Trevor Gregory do not go hand in hand. On the contrary, when the big, brash and colourful Gregory – that is how we described him eight years ago when he became chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union – walks into a room, you can expect a blast of sound.
But even he was left gasping or words that memorable day in 2009 at Hong Kong Stadium when the Hong Kong men's sevens team lost the East Asian Games gold medal to Japan in the dying seconds.
"I nearly swallowed my Adam's apple when that guy scored in the last minute," Gregory remembers. Despite having to settle for second best, he describes that as the defining moment of his tenure, which draws to an end on Thursday.
"Rugby is no longer a 'gweilo' sport in this town and our successes at the 2009 East Asian Games – a silver medal for the men and a bronze for the women – largely helped changed the attitudes of the local community," Gregory says.
Prior to becoming chairman in 2006, Gregory served as secretary of the union and he knew that the game was regarded mostly as a pastime for mad dogs and Englishmen.
Even though there was a smattering of local players – most notably Chan Fuk-ping, a protégé of Gregory's at DeA and the first local Chinese to represent Hong Kong at the Asian Championships and the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 1997 – they were the exception and not the rule.