The Hong Kong Tens: A Brief History
By Gordon Ross and Chris Helm

In 1986 Hong Kong Football Club's Rugby Section decided to commemorate the Club's centenary by holding a ten-a-side rugby competition. Many years before, the HKFC had been the original venue for the now world famous 'Hong Kong Sevens' so there was a tradition and a degree of expertise within the Club for organising successful tournaments. Expatriates in Hong Kong have many links worldwide, particularly in Asia, and for the centenary tournament these links were utilised to invite teams from as far apart as Seoul, Singapore, Muscat, Australia, Thailand and Europe. It was a twelve team competition, eventually won by the hosts themselves, HKFC. As the tournament was such a success a decision was taken to make it an annual event and the Hong Kong Tens as the tournament is now known was born.

The timing of the tournament was important, coming just two or three days before the 'Sevens' which, because of it's popularity, had now been moved from HKFC to the larger Hong Kong Government Stadium. Holding the Hong Kong Tens in the same week as the 'Sevens' meant that teams and spectators from overseas could come to Hong Kong on a six day package tour and take in both tournaments. A significant saving in costs!

Since then, the Hong Kong Tens has gone from strength to strength and is widely recognized as the premier club ten-a-side competition worldwide. It is now a twenty-four team tournament with teams being seeded into eight groups of three. Group winners play for the Cup in a straight knockout format, runners-up for the Plate and bottom teams for the Bowl.

But what of 'Tens' as a game? First of all, many of the worlds leading rugby brains believe it is actually a better game than 'sevens'. Played on the same normal sized pitch, it lasts longer, is tactically more variable, and can be played by every type, size and shape of rugby player. When was the last time you saw a 'prop' playing 'sevens'? With an extra three players on the field and three minutes longer to play in each half, teams have a greater capacity to hit back after an early score against them, and there is less chance for one single player in a team to dominate the game purely by having so much more pace than anyone else. It is a well known fact that spectators like to see contact in a game, a good tackle often being appreciated as much as a brilliant side-step. Since 'tens' gives players far more scope for tackling than 'sevens', it is fair to say that 'tens' is potentially a better spectator sport than even the highest standard of 'sevens'.

If however, the standard of player playing 'tens' is almost equivalent to the standard of the player playing 'sevens', the game becomes a veritable feast of attacking rugby with thunderous tackles and tremendous skill. Just what spectators come to see!

In that respect the Hong Kong Tens have been extremely fortunate over the years. As its reputation has grown, so too has the quality of players wishing to take part. The first team to bring out what we might call 'name' players was Neary's Select, comprising a few ex-England players such as Mickey Skinner and Steve Smith. Over the next couple of years they were superceded by teams such as England Classicals and Scottish Survivors, both made up of ex-internationals from their respective country. The fact that neither team ever won the tournament was an early indication of how much the standard of play was improving.

Perhaps the team that took the standard of play to a different level again, was the 'Aliens'. They were mainly composed of Kiwis playing and coaching professional rugby in Japan and they brought to the tournament a level of commitment and pace that few could match at the time (in 2001 they brought Graeme Bachop and Alama Leremia, and in 2002 Dallas Seymour who then rejoined the New Zealand Sevens team and helped them win the IRB World Sevens Series). And fantastically for Hong Kong, in 2004 Dallas Seymour accepted an advisory position to the Hong Kong national sevens side.

The 'Aliens' dominated for a couple of years but were eventually deposed by a succession of teams from Fiji, all of whom played with the scintillating brand of skill and abandonment which teams from that country are noted for.

The 2001 Cup Final was, for the first time contested by two teams from New Zealand, the Lucent Technology New Zealand Wasps and the Auckland Metropolitan Rugby Team. The teams played each other again in the 2002 Cup Final with a much closer score line than their first encounter.

Over the years the Hong Kong Tens has seen hundreds of international players in the tournament. Fans witnessed Tim Rodber, Scott Hastings, Phil de Glanville, Garry Pagel, Niall Woods, Jim Staples, Dallas Seymour and many others playing alongside young up and coming players. To show how far the Hong Kong Tens has come in the world of abbreviated rugby, Hong Kong Sevens teams have been known to copying Gordon Tietjens, the New Zealand Sevens coach, and place reserve players on teams playing in the Tens so that they can get the experience of playing in a very competitive international tournament.

So, sit back, relax and enjoy the Tens. And thank you for helping to make it one of the best in the world.