Organisers of this weekend's Air Asia Beach Fives have not only had to bring in 500 tonnes of fine sand from China to Repulse Bay, but they have now been told that they might have to take it away, too.
'Don't ask me why, but I have been told that if the district council does not like it, we will have to take it away after the tournament ends on Sunday,' said an exasperated Alex Brazendale, the tournament director.
The new sand, which cost HK$300,000, was needed after organisers discovered that Repulse Bay beach was just too coarse to play rugby on and would leave players with scrapes and cuts.
Now organisers have had to shell out for more than 2,000 metres of tarpaulin, which they have used to cover the area earmarked for the two rugby pitches and a volleyball court before unloading the sand shipped from Zhuhai.
'I don't know what to do with the sand. If we have to take it away, we will most probably store it in West Kowloon, where we put it after we brought it from China, and try to find someone who has need for it,' Brazendale said.
'This is just crazy. In the first place we never expected to bring sand to a beach event in Hong Kong, and now we are being told to take it away,' he added.
