Jewel in crown helps propel massive growth

"Healthy" is how Brian Stevenson describes the state of the Union as the game reaches a landmark - its 60th anniversary - this year.

Stevenson, the president of the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union, says the sport's rude health is due to a couple of factors. The first being that rugby is the keeper of the goose that lays the golden eggs - the Hong Kong Sevens - and the other being that it has a remarkable community of volunteers who give up their time unhesitatingly for the good of the game. They come forward, be it on a Sunday morning at mini-rugby or when the city puts on the greatest show on the world rugby circuit, the Sevens.

"Rugby is in very good shape thanks to the Sevens and the army of volunteers we have," says Stevenson. "Hong Kong is a remarkably resilient place and despite all the economic problems we have had, we have pulled through. We are very fortunate to be in a strong position."

The HKRFU can afford to give itself a pat on the back for its coffers are overflowing thanks to the Sevens. At last count, there was in excess of HK$237 million in reserves, making it the richest sporting body - behind the Jockey Club - in town and one of the richest unions in Asia, if not the world.

All this would not have been possible without the Sevens, which over the past few years has seen the ageing 40,000-capacity Hong Kong Stadium being packed to the rafters. The demand for tickets is insatiable. The 4,000 tickets which were made available in a public ballot for this week's event were over-subscribed by six times.

It is a far cry from 1976 when the first Sevens was held at the Hong Kong Football Club. Stevenson, an accountant by profession who arrived in 1970, was the treasurer of the HKRFU. He remembers counting the profits from that first event. "It was just over HK$6,000. And to think that today we have millions in the bank. It is just amazing."