How Liam Herbert went from ‘Wasteman’ to Hong Kong key man at National Games rugby 7s
Talented at both football and rugby as a youngster, the Hongkonger almost chose neither, but wise counsel sorted him out in time
Liam Herbert was once “booted out” of Hong Kong’s youth rugby programme. Courted by football clubs in England following a series of trials, he ran for the hills.
“I’d been homesick and was calling my parents, telling them I wanted to get out,” Herbert said. “I came back and they were fuming, they told me, ‘You idiot, get on with it’.”
Showing an aptitude for understatement to match the talent and physicality that have made him one of Hong Kong’s outstanding rugby sevens players, Herbert added: “It all worked out in the end.”
An integral part of the Hong Kong squad that will target National Games glory at Kai Tak Stadium next month, Herbert won Asian Games gold medals in 2018 and 2023, and has played more than 30 international tournaments.
That an Olympic Games is not among them is a source of frustration and motivation, but we will come back to that.
Starting from the beginning, Herbert moved to Hong Kong from his birthplace Guernsey, aged three, because of his dad’s job with HSBC. Other than one year in Malaysia, Herbert stayed until he was 12, when he began to board at Phuket International School.
He lasted six months because of the homesickness that would stalk him in England. Herbert’s affection for Hong Kong stems from the “culture, everything being so close … and it’s so safe”.