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Jeremy Walker

AT long last, Hongkong has a national stadium to be proud of.

 The Hongkong Stadium at So Kon Po was a magnificent sight in the sunshine yesterday morning as the crowds flocked in for the Sevens.

 And if it looks so good now, just imagine what it will be like when the work is finished at this time next year.

 The lower tier of the stadium is only feet from the pitch, putting the spectators in the thick of the action. I must admit I felt sorry for athletics when the planners decided there would be no running track around the pitch, but the decision has been justified by the intimate atmosphere generated.

 Corporate hospitality boxes are a major part of sport these days and the middle tier of the stadium should attract millions of dollars from the business community over the next few years.

 And the top deck, steeply banked, literally puts the fans right on top of the action. The top deck was sparsely populated in the early stages yesterday, offering spectators a wonderful opportunity to lay back and sunbathe.

 It is not just the three-tier viewing which makes the stadium so special, however, but also the behind-the-scenes facilities.

 The area under the stands offers spectators a spacious walkway where the kiosks and the toilets can be found.

 The turf, too, looked lush and springy, a true work of art considering it was grown in China, transported to the territory in small squares, laid in place and allowed to knit together.

 The shame of it all, though, is that it has taken so long for Hongkong to have a national stadium like this.

 And, let us not forget, it was only the generosity of the Jockey Club which has made it possible.

 In such a modern, technologically-advanced city such as Hongkong, the old national stadium was an embarrassing disgrace, out-dated and totally inadequate to host major sporting events.

 But all that is in the past now and Hongkong has a stadium to match its position in the business world.

 It should be a major step forward in the development of Hongkong sport.

  Glitter obscuring selection anomaly  THE colour and excitement produced by teams at the Hongkong Sevens is camouflaging the shambolic eligibility rules in operation in international rugby.

 A week ago, for example, Fijian winger Paula Bale was playing for New Zealand B in the Fiji Sevens. Today he is playing for Fiji.

 Having already represented the All Blacks in two Hongkong Sevens tournaments, playing against Fiji in the final on each occasion, Bale wasn't picked for the Kiwis this time, so was snapped up by Fiji.

 New Zealand have, however, included Junior Paramore, who represented Western Samoa in last season's Sevens, and picked another Samoan, Lolani Koko, only for Koko to pull out of the Kiwi squad and play for his home country here.

 The New Zealand squad also includes two of Paramore's Western Samoan teammates from the 1991 World Cup, Pat Lam and Frank Bunce.

 Confused?  I'm not surprised - but it is allowed to happen because individual unions are allowed to have different rules. In New Zealand, as Hongkong rugby's resident Kiwi George Simpkin explained, it's a season by season arrangement - Samoa this year, New Zealand next.

 But a solution may be just around the corner in the form of an International Rugby Football Board meeting in Edinburgh next month, when the agenda will include the eligibility issue.

 There is a proposal on the table which, if supported by North and South, would sort things out once and for all.

 And it's quite simple - that once a player chooses to represent a country at under-21 level, that is the country he must stay with for the rest of his career.

 It works well in soccer, giving players their schoolboy years and beyond to gain international recognition at junior level, and should bring order into rugby's extremely amateurish selection process.

  Fielder all cut up over getting the bird BAD light stops play is quite a familiar term in cricket - but how about bad kite stops play?  Hongkong Cricket Club batsman Seamus O'Brien can speak with first-hand experience of the latter phrase after a painful incident at So Kon Po last Saturday.

 Minding his own business on the boundary fence, fielding for Gap Ramblers against Craigengower, the 28-year-old television producer was attacked and knocked to the ground by one of the large hawks which circle the area.

 ''I was sitting on the ground holding my head and wondering what on earth had happened when a couple of players ran over to me,'' said Seamus.

 ''The kite was coming in for a second go and I just managed to get out of the way and it swooped over me.''  The hawk had left its mark, though, and three talon marks in his head resulted in a visit to hospital for a tetanus injection after the game.

 ''Someone said it was the kites' mating season and I must have been fielding too close to this one's patch. Next time I play there I'm going in the slips,'' he added.

 A teammate commented: ''We know the birds chase after Seamus but this is ridiculous.''     Sports Person of the Week: David Campese, the all-time rugby great making his final appearance at the Hongkong Sevens.

 Sports Quote of the Week: ''He has tremendous charisma, is a tremendous ambassador for the game and is an outstanding player and bloke. His credentials are top of the range.'' - Former British Lions captain Finlay Calder talking in Hongkong about the appointment of fellow Scotsman Gavin Hastings as captain of the Lions' tour to New Zealand.



Sevens opens doors on home to be proud of