Congratulations to Valley Black who are the 2019-20 Women’s Premiership: Grand Final Champions after a comprehensive 36-15 victory over USRC Tigers in the final.
Image: bc magazine
Author: simon
Hong Kong Is Showing Symptoms of a Failed State
With empty supermarket shelves and rising public distrust, the coronavirus-hit city is ticking most of the boxes.
Crowds are irrational everywhere, and social media hardly helps. Yet the palpable anxiety in coronavirus-hit Hong Kong these days suggests worrying levels of distrust in a city where citizens have always expected private enterprise at least, if not the state, to keep things ticking over. Both have failed miserably, preparing inadequately even after the SARS outbreak that killed almost 300 people in the city in 2003.
A fragile state is usually defined by its inability to protect citizens, to provide basic services and by questions over the legitimacy of its government. After an epidemic and months of poorly handled pro-democracy demonstrations, Hong Kong is ticking most of those boxes. Add in a strained judicial system, and the prognosis for its future as a financial hub looks poor.
A snapshot of the situation first. Hong Kong is not, at least for now, as grim as parts of mainland China, where the outbreak of novel coronavirus has people building barricades, or being followed around by drones. This isn’t Wuhan….
Read the full article on here on Bloomberg
The Regret of Wuhan: How China Missed the Critical Window for Controlling the Coronavirus Outbreak
Out of mountains of reports about the coronavirus epidemic, we at China Change have taken a keen interest in two areas: the origins of the virus, and the decision-making process. The cover story of China News Weekly (中国新闻周刊), published on February 5, put together a detailed timeline and asked the right questions. Within a day, the article was deleted from the magazine’s own website as well as major Chinese news portals.
Luckily, the report is preserved in various news aggregate sites outside China in both simplified and traditional Chinese (武汉之憾：黄金防控期是如何错过的？). The timeline it presented focuses on the discovery of early coronavirus cases, local government’s responses in the seven weeks from December 1 to January 20, what the local and national Center for Disease Control and Prevention did in that period, and without directly raising the question, how the most critical decisions, especially the decision to downplay the outbreak in the first weeks, were made at the State Council and ultimately by the Communist Party leaders in Zhongnanhai.
Unfortunately, we still don’t know much about the first case of the 2019-nConV. This is a translation of the censored article. We added notes at various points of the text to provide more details and context, and links are embedded for your easy reference. – The Editors ChinaChange.org
The Regret of Wuhan: How China Missed the Critical Window for Controlling the Coronavirus Outbreak
By Li Xiangyu (李想俣), Li Mingzi (李明子), Peng Danni (彭丹妮), and Du Wei (杜玮), in the February 10 issue of China News Weekly
December 31, 2019 saw an announcement that interrupted the Chinese people’s joyous spirit as they prepared to usher in the new year. Circulating on social media sites was a red-letterhead document bearing the official seal of the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission (武汉市卫健委) and sounding an emergency notice: “Cases of a pneumonia of unknown cause have intermittently surfaced at Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Market.”…
Read the full translated article here on the China Change website
Soccer Sevens Cancelled
The 2020 edition of the HKFC Soccer Sevens scheduled for 22-24 May has been canceled due to the ongoing issues in Hong Kong.
Tournament director Chris Plowman said “the difficulty in securing the necessary commitments to be able to deliver an event of the scale and quality that is expected of the Soccer Sevens” left the organising committee no alternative.
Plowman continued “Naturally we are very disappointed and we would like to thank all the teams, sponsors, stakeholders and fans who had committed to the 2020 event. We will be back in 2021,”
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/HK-Soccer-Sevens-HK-Football-Club-18-May-2019/i-KXsGgZx
Images: HK Soccer Sevens
The Same Sickness That Spread the Coronavirus Threatens to Bring Hong Kong to Ruin: the Chinese Communist Party
The core problem is that China, for all its high-tech gloss and high-speed trains, remains saddled with a communist-structured political system. However efficient this might look from afar, it is configured to promote repression, misery and ruinous error. Incentives are grossly skewed to promote the party line, never mind the realities. Inside mainland China, this is too often obscured by propaganda coupled with tight controls over any sign of dissent.
Continue reading on The Dallas News Website here
Women’s Rugby Results – 18 January, 2020
Premiership
HKFC Ice 7-10 Gai Wu Falcons
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 18:00
Kowloon 5-14 CWB Phoenix
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:30
Tai Po Dragons 22-12 HK Scottish
@ Shek Kip Mei, Kick-off: 18:00
Valley Black 39-0 USRC Tigers
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 18:00
National League 1
HKFC Fire 65-0 HK Scottish Kelpies
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 16:30
Gai Wu Fawkes 53-5 Tin Shui Wai Pandas
@ KG V, Kick-off: 16:30
Revolution SRC 7-10 Valley Red
@ KG V, Kick-off: 15:00
HKU Sandy Bay Storm v USRC Tigers 2
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 13:00
National League 2
University 0-40 City Twinkles
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:00
Kowloon v Gai Wu Hawks
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 16:30
Image: hkrfu
Women’s Premiership Champions 2019-20: Valley Black
Congratulations!!
Sevens Challenger Series Launches
The match schedule and pools have been drawn for the inaugural men’s tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series, which will take place in Viña del Mar, Chile, on 15-16 February, 2020.
Sixteen countries will compete across two match days in the first of two Sevens Challenger Series tournaments which will take place in Chile and Uruguay in February.
The new series has been launched by World Rugby to expand rugby sevens growth across the globe and to offer teams quality competition.
Hosts Chile are drawn in Pool D and will face Brazil, Mexico and Zimbabwe, while hosts of the second round of competition, Uruguay will be joined by Japan, Portugal and Tonga in Pool A.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong, Colombia, Jamaica and Papua New Guinea make up Pool B with Germany, Italy, Paraguay and Uganda completing the Pool C line-up.
Teams will travel to Montevideo, Uruguay, for the second round of the Sevens Challenger Series on 22-23 February before the top eight teams progress to the final play-off tournament at the Hong Kong Sevens on 3-5 April, 2020 where they will compete for a spot on the World Rugby Sevens Series 2021.
The promoted team will replace the bottom placed core team in the World Series rewarding the winners with an opportunity to play against the world’s best.
“We are incredibly excited at the opportunities that lie ahead for the players and unions participating in the inaugural World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series tournament in Chile,” commented World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont.
“The Sevens Challenger Series will provide a solid foundation for the emerging talent on the international rugby sevens scene as these individuals set their sights on the prospect of competing on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and we look forward to seeing them in action.”
World Rugby Vice-Chairman and President of Rugby Americas, Agustín Pichot added: “The World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series will be a huge driver in developing rugby sevens within South America, a region where there are many passionate players and supporters of the game.
“I am delighted that this exciting new series is kicking off in South America. It is a huge opportunity for both Chile and Uruguay, who will be tremendous hosts and excellent advocates of this new and exciting competition.”
Teams who will compete in the 2020 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Portugal, Tonga, Uganda, Uruguay, Zimbabwe.
Additional reporting and images: World Rugby