Rugby Recap

I’ve finally recovered significantly from this past weekend’s Rugby Sevens tournament to sit down and write about it! It was exhausting from start to finish, but boy was it fun—my third Sevens, and perhaps the most memorable yet.

As you may remember, tickets for the tournament are not particularly easy to come by, and Hong Kongers participate in a madcap scramble for them over the weeks and even months leading up to the event. Tickets are only sold as a three-day bundle, but if you get one of these sets, you are free to split it up and re-sell each day's pass individually. Two years ago, I managed to find a ticket for Saturday’s event only on Friday evening, meeting the seller in Wan Chai the night before. Last year, I got lucky when Kevin got me a free set mere hours before the first games began. Both times it worked out perfectly, but my days were stressful heading into the weekend.

This year, it was much easier. My friend Sarah plays on a netball team, and each member of the team is guaranteed two weekend passes to the Rugby Sevens at face value (HK$1500). However, Sarah’s mother and sister happened to be arriving in Hong Kong for the first time ever on Friday afternoon. Not having seen them in almost eight months, Sarah had no interest whatsoever in attending the tournament, and instead offered her tickets to me! So yes, in the end, I paid the full value of the tickets, but I’ve had no need to worry about anything these past months. It was so easy!

Still, if the stress of securing tickets had all but vanished, I still had to put up with my fair share in order to find the perfect costume. The South Stand of Hong Kong Stadium is the most fun place to be during the tournament, and many of the attendees choose to don fancy dress for the event. Last year, I went as a penguin while Rich went as a giraffe. It was a fun and easy way to participate in the costumed revelry of the South Stand. But the most memorable costumes are usually plucked from the headlines of current events, and I wanted to find an even better costume for this year's Sevens.

Owing to the very recent election of Pope Francis, I thought a topical papal costume would be a great fit. Apparently, almost all of Hong Kong had the exact same idea. I headed straight to Pottinger Street to search for a costume, but I was out of luck. Everywhere seemed to be sold out, one shop owner informing me that it would take two weeks to order one.

I even went so far as to visit the Catholic clerical store in Central during one lunch break, checking out legitimate priest vestments. The garments were expensive and absolutely beautiful, so I just could not bring myself to wear one in the infamous South Stand, where the potential for spillage and damage was just too great.

I found a list online of about ten Hong Kong costume shops, and began making phone calls and sending emails. Again, the replies were not too promising. But on Thursday afternoon, I called a lady named Gill at House of Siren. She was extremely friendly on the phone, and when I asked if she had a Pope’s costume, she excitedly began to describe one. “It’s absolutely beautiful,” she explained, “and must have cost around $40,000 to create.”

The second she said that, I knew it wouldn’t work out. There was no way I’d take such an expensive garment into the South Stand. About an hour or so later, she must have put two and two together and realized what the costume was for. She sent an apologetic but polite email saying that she couldn’t rent her costumes for an event like Rugby Sevens because they were of too high a quality. Still I was so intrigued by her description that I decided I would visit her shop after work that day anyway. Located just off Robinson Road in the Mid-levels, House of Siren is more of a private costume design studio than a simple store. Gill took me around and showed off various costumes, including the outrageously awesome $40,000 Pope costume.

Gill also said she had one—and only one—set of relatively simple costumes that she would be willing to rent for an event as dangerous (from the clothes’ perspective) as the Sevens. It was a pair high-quality Fred Flintstone caveman outfits, and I fell in love with one when I saw it. I even tried it on, got a picture taken to send to my email, and told Gill I’d have to sleep on it for the night.

Flintstone costumes at House of Siren

When I got back to my apartment, the one and only Amy was waiting for me. She had flown back from London for the Rugby Sevens, and this was the first time I’d seen her since I’d been in England over the summer. Excited about my potential Flintstone outfit, I logged into my email to show Amy the photo. And lo and behold, another costume shop, CDRP, had emailed me regarding my request for a Pope costume. The email had four photos attached, and one of them looked absolutely perfect: A white and stately chasuble complete with a deep red stole and uber-cool papal mitre!

The photo CDRP emailed me of their Pope costume

Between their broken English and my dodgy Cantonese, I tried to arrange to visit their shop in Ngau Tau Kok in Kwun Tong on Friday afternoon to pick up the outfit, still not 100% sure the costume was actually in stock. Having lingered in the Chapel Thursday night after the pub quiz until it was time to go to work on Friday morning, I wasn't entirely in the mood to gallivant across half of the SAR. It was a trek to get to, switching trains twice, but the journey was worthwhile. The costume was pitch perfect. It cost HK$600 to rent for the weekend plus a HK$600 deposit, but I didn't even have to think twice about hiring it for the weekend. I was beyond exited to get it home and show everybody.

I went over to the rugby on Friday evening with Amy and Bernadett, bumping into various other friends in the South Stand and soaking up the atmosphere, enjoying a few drinks, dancing and singing. We had sushi for dinner with Sonia and Motez, who had also flown up from Singapore for the weekend. And we decided to call it a (relatively) early night, hitting the hay around midnight to wake up early for a champagne breakfast at 7am before heading straight to the stadium.

Some rooftop tunes, mimosas and scrambled eggs kick-started our Sevens Saturday. I donned my papal vestments, while Amy suited up as a panda and Sonia and Motez put on traditional Tunisian attire. Bernadett soon arrived dressed as “all black,” a play on the moniker of the New Zealand rugby team. And off we went to the stadium and got there early enough to waltz right into the South Stand.

Panda and Pope

The Meeting of Two Pontiffs

My mitre became my best pal for the day, the perfect place to store my phone, tiny bottles of booze, loose cash and several other items. It was so convenient, especially for someone wearing a costume that made it so difficult to access one's pockets.

Mitres—putting pockets out of business since 1150!

Bumping into friends right and left—and making new ones—they day literally flew by. Sonia’s brother Kareem and his girl friend Jen joined us. And later, my friend Vivian showed up. Eventually an entire group of my French amis all arrived in stereotypical Frenchmen costumes. And all day long, the crowd was singing along to “Hey, Baby,” “Sweet Caroline,” and a live mid-day set by the Beach Boys. This is what the Sevens is all about!

With old friend Max and new friend Julian in the South Stand

With my French friend Edouard

At one point, a note was passed around so that the entire South Stand would do the Harlem Shake in a few minutes, and the video created as a result sums up the day about as perfectly as I’ve yet seen. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this video is probably worth around a million!

The Harlem Shake

By day's end, my perfectly white robe had soaked up its fair share of spilt drinks and other less-than-savory liquids covering the floor of the South Stand. Although it still looked remarkably clean considering the circumstances, it had clearly had a rough day. All things considered however, the papal robe survived with minimal damage. (The same cannot be said about my red “shoes” that I had to throw away the following morning.) The only true casualty of the day was a pair of lost fake sunglasses that I had bought in Malacca.

The Papal shoes did not fare so well!

Before heading to the rugby again on Sunday, I dropped my costume off at the downstairs drycleaners to ensure I’d get my HK$600 deposit back. And off we went for yet another day at the Sevens!

One thing I seem to have forgotten to include in this “rugby recap” thus far is any mention of the actual rugby! That’s what the South Stands will do for you! However, Sunday is the day where I actually enjoy watching some of the matches. With Sonia’s parents and other proud supporters of the Tunisian team, I spent Sunday morning watching the fast-moving games. I left the stadium at 12 to attend Palm Sunday mass, but when I got back in the afternoon, the view of the South Stand was just too tempting. I made my way down to meet up with my friends and send the weekend off with a bang, again dancing, singing, drinking and making new friends! Post-rugby fireworks lead to post-rugby rooftop drinks. Post-rugby rooftop drinks lead to post-rugby Lan Kwai Fong action. And our night finished up in Wan Chai after 5am!

Sunday in the South Stand

Post-Sevens LKF fun

Needless to say, work on Monday wasn't the most fun thing in the world, but the memories of the weekend helped me get through! As expected, the 2013 installment of the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens once again reinforced just why this weekend is the most anticipated event of the Hong Kong social calendar.

Already looking forward to Sevens 2014!