Memories are made of this...
The players, the fans, the weather, fancy dress and antics - 40 fans reflect fondly with Robby Nimmo on some of their great moments as the Sevens grew from humble beginnings into a world-class attraction
I'll never forget lining up at 3am at the gates, running to get halfway seats at 6am. Mum heading to St Margaret's for church while we kids caught up on sleep in the stand. She said a couple of prayers for the New Zealand team. When I became a mum, I remember taking a pram and three-week-old baby. That year, we had our photo taken with Eric Rush. It was his last HK Sevens and my boys' first.
Mae West said "I've known many places, and I've been many people". I suppose this applies to me. I attended my first Sevens in 1999 and I've watched it grow from a homespun event to the showcase for an Olympic sport. Around 2000, I became one of the dancing girls in the corporate boxes. I've appeared as a can-can girl, a mermaid, an American Indian and a Brazilian dancer. I believe in enriching family unity where a global kaleidoscope of people come together with the common goal of enjoying the Sevens. For a few years up until 2013, cameraman Peter Kline and I roamed the stadium creating plenty of entertainment. With these "Mel's Moments" we motivated the crowd to be the entertainment.
I've appeared as a can-can girl, a mermaid, an American Indian and a Brazilian dancer
In March 1988, I came down from Wuhan and got a ticket for Sunday's Sevens. In the afternoon, I walked down to the hoardings to get closer to the action and started talking to a young Pom, as one does (me being a Saffa/Yank working in China and desperate to talk rugby). Little did I realise I was watching history in the making. That was the last time Australia won the Hong Kong Sevens. And guess who I met one year later at the Sevens? The same Pom. And watched the same final, but with the roles reversed.
This will be my 35th Sevens, but one that stands out is in the late 1970s when the old HKFC pitch flooded. The mud was like a swamp. Teams sat with the fans in the stands and I got a job cleaning the mud off the Australian team's boots. I remember the Ella brothers and Roger Gould, who was the typical unaffected good Aussie country bloke. Both Ella brothers seemed right at home at the Sevens and always had a smile. For a 12-year old, it was a great honour.
I remember the Ella brothers and Roger Gould, who was the typical unaffected good Aussie country bloke
When I was planning my wedding in 1981 I had to make sure that we didn't double book or I might have had an empty church.