He may be the ‘King of Sevens’ but Waisale Serevi slept on the floor of the Hong Kong Hilton during 1990 triumph
If the ‘little master’ thought winning the MVP in 1989 as a 20-year-old meant glitz and glamour on his return to the territory, he was sadly mistaken
He had burst onto the scene as a 20-year-old by winning MVP at the 1989 Hong Kong Sevens, but if Waisale Serevi thought that meant glitz and glamour on his return to the territory, he was sadly mistaken.
He was already the star of a powerful Fijian team that was about to win their first Sevens in six years, but throughout the barnstorming 1990 campaign, Serevi was ... sleeping on the floor of Hong Kong’s Hilton Hotel.
A new book tracking the life of the little master – Waisale Serevi, The King of Sevens – outlines how the manic excitement surrounding the little master mattered little to his more senior teammates.
“By tradition, two players roomed together for each tournament but in 1990 the inclusion in the touring party of the coach’s father, Ratu Ilisone Ravoka, made space a valuable commodity,” the books says.
“As the baby of the party, Serevi was assigned to a room with his halfback partner Pauliasi and his uncle Vesi, eight years his senior.