On Friday 20^th April a rugby touring party with a difference gathered at Hong Kong airport – 7 men, 1 woman and 2 coaches ready to set off on a rather big adventure, to the first ever World Deaf Rugby 7s Tournament in Sydney!  Led by Stuart Gunn, the HKRU’s Community Inclusive Participation Manager with his faithful sidekick Sures Gurung and Deaf Rugby Coach Winnie Cheung, this trip represented the climax of 3 months of dedicated training and fundraising.

All of the players, including Winnie, are experienced members of the HKRU’s Deaf Rugby tag programme which has been running for more than 7 years, and over the past 2 seasons this group have transitioned to full contact rugby and are playing regularly with the Kowloon and USRC Tigers clubs in the local leagues.

While there have been regular international 15-a-side deaf rugby matches between countries in the past, this was the first 7s tournament, and representatives from 9 different nations gathered together for this historic event.  It had been arranged for Winnie to play with the Australian women’s team, while our men joined forces with a few more Aussies to form the Warriors side, but before the actual competition kicked-off there was an opening ceremony and a trip to the local Wanda Surf Life Saving Club to enjoy, as well as a training session with the Argentinian and Italian players.

The 7s competition took place over 3 days, and whilst the Warriors didn’t win a match they impressed everyone with their tenacity and enthusiasm, while Winnie made her own bit of history as she proudly became the first Hong Kong player to score a try in an international deaf rugby match; for the record the silverware was lifted by the Welsh men and the English ladies.

The rugby wasn’t quite finished yet, as everyone then switched attention to 15s rugby for a special challenge match between the World Deaf Barbarians XV v Pacific Deaf Barbarians XV, and for the Hong Kong lads it was a first taste of victory as the World team ran out with a comfortable 65-27 win.

Away from the pitch, Stuart attended the World Deaf Rugby conference which proved a useful forum for sharing knowledge and experience, and looking at future opportunities for collaboration and competition.

Having the opportunity to play in an international competition and represent Hong Kong is always very special, and there is no doubt this trip will be a treasured experience for all who were involved.   It is fitting to leave the last words to Winnie, who has been a pioneer of deaf rugby in Hong Kong since the very beginning;

“I was very honoured to be able to attend the Sevens, and we all knew that we had a great responsibility to represent Hong Kong proudly.  After the Barbarians XVs match, our players were very excited and emotional, and one of the Italian players said that everyone should remember that you are never alone, we are all family, we must all work hard together and never give up - this is a key message for all deaf rugby players.

Our time together was short but it was wonderful to meet all the players from around the world, and we became not just teammates or friends, but brothers and sisters, like family…for Hong Kong players, this is the best memory in our lives.”


Hong Kong Results:

Men’s Warriors Team
V Dragonflies 0-29
V Fiji Barbarians 0-2
V Wales B 0- 42
V Australia Barbarians 0-28
V Wales 0-47
V Australia 0-46

Women’s (Winnie played for Australia)
England 32 – 0 Australia
England 19 – 10 Australia
England 17 – 10 Australia
England 20 – 0 Australia
England 12 – 0 Australia 

With thanks to Standard Chartered Bank, Friends of Asia, Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, and Hong Kong Corporate Sevens for their support of the HKRU Community Foundation’s Deaf Rugby programme.