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In pictures: 50 years of mud, sweat and beers at the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens

Try, try again: a look back at the thrilling sporting action of Hong Kong’s premier tournament

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New Zealand’s Dallas Seymour powers his way through the mud as his team faces Hong Kong at the 1992 Cathay Pacific-Hongkong Bank Invitation Sevens at Hong Kong Stadium. The All Blacks won, obviously. Photo: SCMP Archives
Alexander Mak

Since the whistle was first blown on March 28, 1976, the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens tournament has grown from a regional invitational into a global spectacle, expanding from 12 teams in its inaugural edition to 30, competing in three distinct competitions, in 2026.

In those 50 years – from the early days at the Hong Kong Football Club, in Happy Valley, through the Hong Kong Stadium era to games at its current home, the Kai Tak Sports Park – the contest has transformed dramatically, a pair of significant milestones coming in 1997, when the event morphed into the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament for the first time and women’s teams began competing. And from the first kick, Team Hong Kong – full of grit, heartbreak and flashes of glory – has been lifted by passionate home support.

Here’s a look back at how South China Morning Post photographers have captured the excitement.

Seremaia Tui Cavuilati shows the dash that made Fiji such a hit at the Rothmans-Cathay Pacific Seven-a-Side Championship, as it was known in 1976, at the Hong Kong Football Club. Cavuilati is pursued by Gary Thomas (left) and Stephen Streeter in the semi-final against the Wallaroos. However, the Australian team would progress to the final, where they lost to the winners of the inaugural Hong Kong Sevens, New Zealand’s Cantabrians. Photo: SCMP Archives
Seremaia Tui Cavuilati shows the dash that made Fiji such a hit at the Rothmans-Cathay Pacific Seven-a-Side Championship, as it was known in 1976, at the Hong Kong Football Club. Cavuilati is pursued by Gary Thomas (left) and Stephen Streeter in the semi-final against the Wallaroos. However, the Australian team would progress to the final, where they lost to the winners of the inaugural Hong Kong Sevens, New Zealand’s Cantabrians. Photo: SCMP Archives
Fiji (in white) beat Australia during the 1977 Rothmans-Cathay Pacific International Seven-a-Side Championships. Photo: SCMP Archives
Fiji (in white) beat Australia during the 1977 Rothmans-Cathay Pacific International Seven-a-Side Championships. Photo: SCMP Archives
The final day of the Cathay Pacific-Hong Kong Bank Invitation Sevens in 1983, at the Government Stadium in So Kon Po (site of the later Hong Kong Stadium), saw the Scottish Borderers – one of two teams invited from Europe – beat the United States national team, the American Eagles, in the Cup semi-final. Photo: SCMP Archives
The final day of the Cathay Pacific-Hong Kong Bank Invitation Sevens in 1983, at the Government Stadium in So Kon Po (site of the later Hong Kong Stadium), saw the Scottish Borderers – one of two teams invited from Europe – beat the United States national team, the American Eagles, in the Cup semi-final. Photo: SCMP Archives
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