This year the Prudential New Year’s Day Youth Tournament celebrates its 50^th anniversary, and to mark this momentous milestone we will be running a special feature every Wednesday over the next 6 weeks.

Read as some of our international stars, past and present, share the memories of their own New Year’s Day experiences as we look back on five decades of rugby history…

This week, Kenzo Pannel, former Hong Kong 7s and 15s international, professional player in Japan, two time Larry Abel Trophy winner.

“I had the honour of playing at the New Year’s Day Tournament each year from 1997 to 2003 as well as coaching teams in 2005, 2006 and 2010. Growing up playing mini rugby in Hong Kong, apart from playing at the HK Stadium before the HK 7s each year, being able to play on New Year’s Day was a goal I shared with many other HK kids. I used to watch HK legends like Andrew Chambers, Jon Abel and Chan Fuk Ping dreaming of one day playing on the same field as they did. My first two years I started out playing for Hong Kong before playing for the Overseas Schoolboys. I can honestly say that the New Year’s Day Tournament was the highlight of the year rugby-wise and you most definitely did not want to be on the losing side, as it was a whole year before you could try and rectify the loss and get another opportunity.

My highlights would have to be in 1998 when the tournament was held in Aberdeen due to the HKFC field being under renovation. Despite the Overseas team being a much bigger side than us, we managed to come back and win the game in the second half and take a ‘famous victory’ in the U14s match. Another highlight would have to be my last year in 2003 playing for the U19s, when Overseas beat Hong Kong 31-0 (I’m not sure if the score is correct). The Overseas team was a mix of kids from all over the world: UK, Australia, New Zealand, etc and as with every year, we had only been together for 2 weeks of training but managed to create a fantastic team and culture in that short time and defeat the National Team who were about to take part in the Asian U19 Championships and later went onto play at the U19 World Cup. I was privileged enough to be able to play with and against many future Hong Kong internationals including Mark Wright, Tom McColl, Fan Shun Kei, Ricky Cheuk, Rowan Varty, and even a future Scottish International in Graham Morrison.

Many of my closest friends today were part of teams I played with during New Year’s Day Tournaments. It was amazing to be able to get together with friends from all over the world during school holidays and train every day (with only Christmas Day off!) with the goal of winning on New Year’s Day. I imagine many parents in Hong Kong were and are grateful that their children are kept occupied during this time of the year. Personally, it was always more special as my father, Tony Pannell, coached many of my teams during that time. My father, along with Rob Wright, loved coaching the New Year’s Day teams so much that when we graduated, they created the Overseas Old Boys (OSOB) team that competes in the HK 10s so that they could keep the tradition going!

Like my father, hundreds of parents and coaches have given up their own time to volunteer and manage teams on New Year’s Days. This tournament could not be possible if it weren’t for their effort, time and commitment and on behalf of all former and current New Year’s Day players, I would like to thank all volunteers over the past 50 years! I hope to see this tournament continue on for another 50 years and more.”