Hong Kong Sevens at ‘pinnacle’ on 50th anniversary, pioneering coach Peter Duncan says
First tournament in 1976 drew 3,000, while this year’s event at Kai Tak Stadium has attracted more than 140,000, with three-day passes sold out
Hong Kong rugby has reached a “pinnacle” as the city celebrates the 50th anniversary of its annual Sevens tournament, the man who coached the local team at the first edition of the event in 1976 has said.
“If you were sitting in the stadium in 1976 and you’d ask me, where is this going to go? You couldn’t have envisaged anything like this,” Duncan said in an interview on the sidelines of the tournament on Saturday.
“I think we’ve reached some sort of pinnacle as far as the game and facilities are concerned,” Duncan, who turns 80 in November, added.
Originally from New Zealand, Duncan first moved to Hong Kong in 1973 and went on to coach the Hong Kong team at the city’s inaugural Sevens tournament three years later.
In the decades that followed, he remained a pivotal figure in the governing body, including serving two stints as chairman – first for a year in 1988 and then for four years from 1997.