Obituary | ‘Renaissance Man’ Jim Rowark remembered as mentor and leader of 1992 Hong Kong Sevens ‘band of brothers’
- The former Hong Kong coach who guided Hong Kong to Plate victories at the 1990 and 1992 Sevens died on Friday at the age of 73 after a battle with cancer
- Stuart Krohn and Gary Cross, who played under Rowark in the early 90s, pay tribute to the Englishman
“Renaissance, Revolution, Reformation”. Jim Rowark wrote this on the chalkboard for his Form Three history students as he was about to begin the chapter on Europe’s emergence from the Middle Ages to global leaders in the arts, philosophy and economics.
Rowark was all those things to Hong Kong rugby, from when he first arrived in the city in 1977 to his time as the senior team coach who won two Hong Kong Sevens Plate titles and qualified the squad for the 1989 Cup competition.
Hong Kong rugby is in mourning after Rowark died on Friday at the age of 73 in England following a long battle against cancer.
He was Hong Kong rugby’s Renaissance Man. A teacher at King George V School, he revolutionised coaching methods, reformed his players by improving fitness standards and helped the Hong Kong sevens team emerge as a serious threat to the major sides at the annual tournament.
American Stuart Krohn, Rowark’s inspirational forward and engine room of the great Hong Kong side who won the 1992 Plate title at a rain-sodden Government Stadium, said the squad were “forever brothers” under their mentor.