Women’s Rugby Results – 7 January, 2017

Women’s Premiership

Kowloon 0-44 Valley Black
@ Happy Valley

HKFC Ice 29-8 City Sparkle
@ HK Football Club

Gai Wu Falons 79-5 CWB Phoenix
@ KGV

National League 1

Gai Wu Fawkes 43-17 HKCC
@ KGV

Tai Po Dragons 0-0 Revolution SRC
@King’s Park

HK Scottish 7-29 Valley Red
@ Tai Hung Tang

Photo: Phoebe Leung

Hong Kong v Japan World Cup Qualifier @ HK Football Club – 17 December, 2016

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Hong-Kong-v-Japan-World-Cup/i-vb2Zfcr

What an 8 days!!
Today’s match ended in defeat to Japan 20-8, but barring the first 8 minutes Hong Kong held their own against a talented Japanese side. A significant improvement on the Asian Championships when HK were soundly beaten in both games.

In truth this was a good game to lose, amidst the two World Cup pools there looks to be one winnable game for either Japan or Hong Kong and that is Wales – and they’re in Pool C with Canada, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

A lot of work to do between now August 2017, hopefully the HK Rugby Union will properly fund the players and their training! This is a magnificent achievement. Congratulations to the whole squad and the coaches!!!
Click on any photo for the full gallery.

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Pride In The Shirt

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Hong Kong’s historic qualification for the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup “sets a real precedent about the potential we have in Hong Kong,” said coach Jo Hull after watching Japan beat Fiji on Tuesday – completing the line-up for next year’s showpiece in Ireland.

Hull’s side opened the three-team qualifying tournament with a 45-7 win over Oceania qualifiers Fiji, and with Japan beating the Pacific Island nation 55-0, Hong Kong are guaranteed a place at next year’s 12-team tournament alongside the Asian champions Japan.

It marks the first-time any Hong Kong team will feature at a fifteen-a-side World Cup. “It’s huge; it’s hard to put it into words. For Hong Kong women’s rugby, hopefully it is going to be a huge turnaround and encourage youngsters and women to get involved and play in that Hong Kong jersey and take a lot of pride in that,” said Hull after having watched Japan run in eight tries against Fiji at King’s Park.

https://youtu.be/IVknFGHm11U

Hong Kong face the Asian champions on Saturday at Hong Kong Football Club to determine the winner of the qualifier and will be looking to avenge their defeats in the Asia Rugby Championship earlier this year.

“We are happy with qualifying for the World Cup, but we are focused on our next task. Japan play the Japan style and are fast and play at a high tempo,” said Hong Kong captain Chow Mei-nam.

“We will look to do our own jobs and play our own style to beat them. We are confident to beat them and be the first team in Asia.”

The winner on Saturday will join hosts Ireland as well as France and Australia in pool C of the tournament which takes place between 9-16 August next year, with those three teams “huge in terms of their skill level” according to Hull.

The runner-up will join 2014 second place finishers Canada, New Zealand and Wales in pool A, which Hull believes “is undoubtedly the most physical pool,” with defending champions England, the USA, Italy and Spain drawn in pool B.

“It will be pretty amazing for these girls. Whoever we play against, it is just about being the best we can be and being in that environment and enjoying it, but most importantly representing Hong Kong and taking pride in that,” added Hull.

“A lot of the girls have played these teams at sevens, but to come together and play them at fifteens will be an amazing experience. We want to do well. We don’t just want to turn up; having earned our place, we want to justify being there.”

Next year will represent a third World Cup appearance for Hull who was assistant coach for Scotland in 2006 before returning four years later as performance manager.

“Going to a World Cup is an experience you will never get in any other walk of your life. It is three weeks of intense pressure, but it is an amazing three weeks, surrounded by amazing athletes and coaches and a really high performance culture. It is about celebrating how far women’s rugby has come,” she said.

“Both my experiences showed how competitive and how far the women’s game has come. To be there you have to be prepared. You have to be ready for the pressure, and you have to be able to perform at the right time.

“We are not getting ahead of ourselves and saying we can go and win the World Cup, but if we are there, we want to give a good account of ourselves for Hong Kong so we get young kids, girls and women saying they want to be there in 2021,” Hull added.

Hong Kong v Japan
Women’s World Cup Qualifier
Date: 4:30pm, 17 December, 2016
Venue: HK Football Club
Tickets: Free

Hong Kong Qualify for Women’s World Cup

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Hong-Kong-45-Fiji-7-World-Cup/i-grqd38C

Massive congratulations to Hong Kong’s womens rugby team for qualifying for the 2017 World Cup in Ireland!!!

What an absolutely historic achievement for the players and the coaches!

Hong Kong’s qualification was confirmed when Japan beat Fiji 55-0 at King’s Park today. Hong Kong will play Japan on Saturday at the HK Football Club (4:30pm) to decide the winners of the World Cup Qualifier and who will face hosts Ireland as well as France and Australia in Pool C. The runner-up will join WRWC 2014 runners-up Canada, New Zealand and Wales in Pool A.

Womens Rugby World Cup
Date: 9-26 August, 2017
Venue: Dublin, Ireland

Hong Kong 45-7 Fiji!!!! Hong Kong’s Going to the World Cup!!!!

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Hong-Kong-45-Fiji-7-World-Cup/i-FnkScfz

45-7! 45-7!!!
Hong Kong’s going the World Cup in Ireland 2017
Massive congratulations to all the players and coaches.
What an amazing achievement. So totally proud of you all!!
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Hong Kong v Fiji World Cup Qualifier @ King’s Park – 9 December, 2016

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Hong Kong beat Fiji in game 1 of the Women’s World Cup Qualifier at King’s Park.
Click on any photo for the full gallery

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Hong Kong Rugby’s Sexual Bias

This week Hong Kong’s women stand on the brink of a stunning achievement, qualification for the rugby World Cup. Not now and perhaps never again will Hong Kong have a better chance in a global team sport to reach a World Cup.

Ardent HongKonger that I am, I’m also a realist and unless the new Messi is a HK resident Hong Kong are sadly never going to make the football World Cup. Nor sadly, however much money is pumped at them, will our men’s rugby team – much as I’d love to see them qualify – with the current format there are simply too many countries ahead of us.

Recognition should be made here of the HK men’s cricket team who qualified for the last two T20 World Cups and with the current crop of super talented youngsters both male and female could well do so again – but cricket is not yet a truly global game.

Rugby is a global game and with the popularity of the Sevens at the recent Olympics growing fast. This is what makes our women’s potential achievement so amazing. Especially as they are playing not only the opposition but also the blatant sexual discrimination and lack of interest within their own male dominated Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU).

When the Hong Kong football team played their World Cup qualifiers last year, the HKFA advertised heavily, produced posters, banners creating a buzz and a massive awareness in both traditional media and online. Everyone, whether you were a football fan or not, knew the matches were coming.

The extent of the HKRU’s marketing is one ugly banner, the first published version of which hadn’t even been proof read and had Hong Kong playing Fiji twice. Even the recent men’s rugby Cup of Nations competition was advertised on a tram and accompanied by numerous articles, banners, tweets… There’s one ugly banner for the Women’s World Cup Qualifier.

The first two games of the World Cup Qualifier are being played at King’s Park which is frankly nothing more than a school playing field and a complete pain for fans to get to. Why are the games not being held at Mongkok Stadium – which with even basic marketing could have been a noisy sell-out – or at any of the other LCSD grounds which at least have a grandstand where the crowd can really get behind their team and help lift them to qualification? It’s frankly embarrassing to have such important matches played at such an amateur ground.

It’s frankly disgusting that the HKRU promotes rugby as a game for all – yet as you can see the Women’s World Cup Qualifier isn’t even listed in their upcoming events! There are more articles on the HKRU website about the New Year’s Day Youth Tournament, than the women’s national team being one step from playing at the World Cup.

The sexual bias at the HKRU is sadly not just limited to the national level, where HK’s women professional rugby players are paid far less than their male counterparts (none are willing to comment on the record, such is the petty vindictive nature of the male dominated culture that permeates the HKRU), but extends to club level.

The HKRU made a big deal at the start of the new season about a sponsorship deal for women’s rugby one part of which, as can be seen published on the HKRU website includes a live video stream of the women’s Premiership game of the week. Look online you can find extensive video coverage of the men’s Premiership. There’s video of women’s first games of the season (all the matches were played consecutively  at King’s Park), where are the rest? Will KPMG the sponsor complain? No chance. Many of it’s senior HK management are rugby old boys and it heavily sponsors the mens game.

The HKRU is perhaps the wealthiest sports organisation in HK, it’s 2014 financial returns show assets of around $250million and it extravagantly funds the men’s game. It’s sad that they are so blind to the women’s game where the potential for great things exists.

Let’s hope that the 26 women picked for the squad can take that final step and make the World Cup. Perhaps then the old men running the game will take notice – but then again, probably not as there’s nothing in it for them other than trying to steal the spotlight from the women who made it happen.

Hong Kong’s women need your support, lend you voices and your presence head to Kings Park, 7pm tonight and cheer them on against Fiji!

MAKE SOME NOISE, GO HONG KONG!