“It won’t come as a great surprise to learn that the Covid-19 situation has been an accelerant,” McRobbie said. “I suppose a catalyst, you might say, it’s exacerbated those revenue challenges. The rescheduling of the Sevens obviously kicked in a short-term cash flow issue, but it is still those underlying revenue trends which we’ve had to address.”

McRobbie said he has spoken to a number of rugby unions and they are all in the same boat in trying to right their ships financially.

The staffing cuts made last week were across the board in terms of departments, McRobbie said, noting jobs were made redundant all the way up to senior management. The extensive measures also included salary reductions for senior and middle management.

The review included a benchmark exercise comparing the organisation to similar sporting bodies across the world to gauge organisational structures and salary levels. No rugby programmes were affected because of the cuts.

Revenue for the HKRU did increase from 2018 to last year, as the organisation capped off at HK$250 million, according to its annual report. This was up from HK$235 million in 2018, but McRobbie said: “whilst revenue peaked in 2019, the union still recorded a loss and the revenue projection since then has been revised downwards significantly, and at a faster rate than we have been able to cut costs.”

McRobbie acknowledged the 2020 Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, originally scheduled for April and now pushed to October 16-18, has brought their singular funding issue to the forefront like never before.

“The union is heavily reliant on the Hong Kong Sevens – 95 per cent of our revenue comes from that event. And over the past year there have been some significant changes that have affected that revenue … the civil disturbances quite frankly haven’t helped, so the union was already facing some revenue challenges.

“And on that basis, we have been undertaking cost efficiencies over the last year, looking at whether it’s discretionary spending, making sure that we’re putting money into the right areas.”

McRobbie said the Sevens, albeit a cash cow, is tough in terms of tapping additional revenue. He said there is no appetite for broadcast rights locally or internationally, and the inability to allow gambling also hinders revenue expansion options.

According to the annual report, in 2017 the union earned nearly HK$100 million in “subscriptions from members” under which the corporate boxes are tallied. Sevens ticket sales generated more than HK$62 million in revenue, while almost HK$60 million came from “sponsorship, events and royalties”.

“So we are very heavily reliant on bums on seats, tickets and sponsorship, and both of those areas are becoming increasingly difficult,” McRobbie said. “There is no quick fix, there is no easy win in the world of sport at the moment. Everybody is trying to reposition themselves, trying to maximise existing revenue streams.”

McRobbie credited previous leadership at the HKRU for building up the organisation’s reserves, a “finite” amount of money they are now drawing heavily upon.

“The rule of thumb for the union used to be to have enough money in the bank to operate for two years. As we’ve grown we’ve now got enough for about a year without the Sevens.”

The pandemic ravaging the economy has also put more pressure on the HKRU to continue to look at expanding away from relying so heavily on one event, McRobbie said. The “mythical second event” is something they have been trying to put together for years, but has now become much more of a pressing issue.

McRobbie said they are in regular contact with World Rugby about the rescheduled Sevens, but trying to theorise or plan is tough given the changing landscape. He said if the Sevens in October were cancelled it would have a “major impact” on the HKRU, but it would not be the death knell for the organisation.

“We wouldn’t go under, and in six months’ time there is another Sevens in the calendar. We would survive.”