The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union has pledged to devote more attention and resources to its bourgeoning domestic game. The full HKRFU board held an offsite meeting at King’s Park on the morning of the recent Super Saturday games. The sole item on the agenda was domestic rugby in Hong Kong. In a bid to engage the rugby community, the directors then made themselves available to answer questions from the rank-and-file supporters who turned up to watch the matches later in the day. Four overarching themes came out of the offsite – the need for increased communication; recognition of the improving standard of Paul Y Premiership rugby and the resulting need for more support for the clubs; facility and ground constraints; and laws and referees. There are plenty of strong initiatives and developments regularly coming out of the HKRFU. However it was acknowledged that we can do a better job of letting people know what is going on and what we are working on. Regular meetings have been set up with the chairmen of the Premiership and Championship clubs to ensure that key issues are raised and from both a union and club perspective. This has sometimes led to full and frank discussions – shy retiring types are few and far between in the ranks of the Premiership club chairmen – and these meetings have proved to be invaluable. We at the HKRFU are grateful for the ongoing leadership and contributions from Kim Boreham of Valley, Marco Cassandro of DeA Tigers, Kevin McBarron of Kowloon, Graem Pyott of HKCC, Stewart Saunders of Hong Kong Scottish and Dave Slater of HKFC. A review of the club subvention programme was undertaken recently and one very positive result has been the extension of the club coaching officer scheme to ensure that clubs have access to qualified and accredited coaches. The HKRFU is also working on a suite of products that will offer best practices advice and templates designed to make the job a little easier for the key volunteers who run each club. Think of it as a “Dummies Guide” to running a successful club. A formal volunteer appreciation plan is also being developed. The HKRFU also plans to hold discussions with key stakeholders and sponsors, highlighting the goals and objectives for our four-year strategic plan and how we aim to meet this. We already have a stated objective to increase the number of Premiership clubs over the next four years. One club success story involves Tin Shui Wai, who won the Championship two years ago and are now playing in National League 1 where they compete alongside the top teams. Further assistance will be provided to the clubs that have a working structure, player base and the ambition to compete at the highest level. The success of this season’s three Super Saturday fixtures is well known and, subject to ground availability, we hope to include Championship and Women’s 15s matches at the next event. Our hope is that these additions will attract more non-traditional supporters and expose them to the high quality rugby found in the Premiership. The Broony Quaich – Hong Kong’s answer to the Ranfurly Shield in New Zealand – was also introduced this season, and it has certainly been doing the rounds after Kowloon gave it up to Hong Kong Scottish last month, only to have it snatched away by Valley the following week. During the offsite there were some interesting discussions about ground facilities for training and matches. A major constraint on the growth of the game has always been pitch availability and clubs have sometimes been forced to shift and share facilities due to redevelopment work. Our director of facilities Anson Bailey, together with our entire management team, continues to explore new opportunities and the HKRFU has a fund set aside for pitch development. At the recent Dubai Sevens, it was impossible not to be impressed by the amazing facilities at “7he Sevens” complex, with its seven full-size grass pitches – stands and F&B outlets included – all shimmering in the desert like a rugby oasis. While there are vast differences between Hong Kong and other parts of Asia in terms of the availability of land, the creation of a dedicated hub site with modern facilities would certainly be a game changer for the development of rugby here. Other sports, too. With increasing participation, tournaments and competition standards, it is also critical that laws and referees keep pace. Reviewing our existing disciplinary and citing procedures is an important task. Growing the number of referees is another key challenge, but it is one we hope to overcome by working with the clubs to encourage their members to attend refereeing courses and wield the whistle. The recent appointment of a dedicated community referees manager is also a step in the right direction. Ensuring that our referees have access to the resources in the HKRFU’s performance department – whether that comes in the form of fitness, strength and conditioning experts; technology resources to review performance; or continuing administrative support – is of critical importance. Rugby is a fast-growing and popular sport in Hong Kong and, responding to this growth, the board has increased its focus on the domestic game. We understand the key challenges involved and we are working to address them. Without a strong domestic game, Hong Kong will struggle to achieve its Rugby World Cup ambitions – starting with England 2015 and then Asia’s first ever RWC tournament, Japan 2019.