Hong Kong Sevens could be ‘catalyst’ for return of other sporting events South China Morning Post
Hong Kong Sevens could be ‘catalyst’ for return of other sporting events
Tag: Sevens
Women’s sevens rugby event shifts from Langford to Vacouver for 2023 – Victoria News
Langford may have hosted its last women’s sevens event, as Rugby Canada announced it is moving the tournament to BC Place Stadium in Vancouver starting next year.
The Canada leg of the Women’s Sevens Series, which has been hosted in Langford since its inception in 2015, will be hosted alongside the men’s event, with the weekend events expanding from two to three days to accommodate both tournaments.
The 2023 schedule for the series was released Tuesday, with the men’s and women’s tournaments running March 3 to 5 at B.C. Place.
Jamie Levchuk, interim chief executive office of Rugby Canada, said a request was made by the sport’s governing body World Rugby to combine the tournaments “for scheduling purposes and to better align with other tournaments on the Series.” Canada was the last leg of the series that held separate men’s and women’s events.
Having two “home teams” and providing equitable competition opportunities for the men’s and women’s teams, is important to Rugby Canada, he said. “The HSBC Canada Women’s Sevens in Langford was a great success and showcase for the women’s sevens game, but we feel 2023 will be an appropriate time for our events to evolve.”
Canada’s women recorded their highest finish of the 2021-22 series at Langford, finishing fifth in front of the home crowd at Starlight Stadium on April 30 and May 1. Overall, the team finished seventh on the series.
The City of Langford had outlined plans to expand the capacity of Starlight Stadium in its most recent five-year financial plan, but Levchuk said it was unknown whether the sevens series could return to Langford in the future.
“2023 marks the final year of our hosting agreement with World Rugby to operate World Rugby Sevens Series events in Canada. Our focus is on securing hosting rights for further years – once we are confirmed as a continuing host, we will evaluate hosting requirements and plan accordingly.”
He added Langford remains the home of Rugby Canada and that they are looking to bring other international events to Starlight Stadium. The women’s 15’s team is set to play Italy here on July 24, as they prepare for the women’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand in October.
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Premier Rugby Sevens announces events in California, DC and Texas
The first US rugby union competition to offer professional contracts to women will hold tournaments in July in San Jose, Washington DC and Austin.
Premier Rugby Sevens staged a pilot tournament in Memphis, Tennessee last October. This year, as in that event, women’s and men’s squads will compete for equal pay in one-day showcases of the Olympic form of the game.
In a new feature, only one champion will be named, based on combined points totals earned by four women’s and four men’s squads.
Owen Scannell, chief executive of Premier Rugby Sevens, said: “We are extremely excited to scale PR7s across America, bringing rugby sevens to major venues that will act as regional hubs for the rugby community.
“We believe the Bay Area, central Texas and the DMV [DC and parts of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia] will give our league a footprint for fans to easily witness the spectacle that is a PR7s live event.
“Each city brings entertainment options that will complement the festival and party environment that is synonymous with the sport of sevens around the world.”
Three Major League Soccer venues will host: PayPal Park (home of the San Jose Earthquakes, holding 18,000, on 9 July), Audi Field (DC United, 20,000, 16 July) and Q2 Stadium (Austin FC, 21,000, 30 July).
Men and women will compete in 14-minute games under squad names unique to PR7s: Experts, Headliners, Loonies and Loggerheads.
In Memphis last year, Perry Baker, an Olympian and two-time men’s world sevens player of the year, led the Experts to victory. Alev Kelter, an Olympian now playing in England with Saracens, led the Loonies to the women’s title.
PR7s said a “cumulative audience” of 472,000 watched on Fox Sports and TSN.
Ross Young, chief executive of sanctioning body USA Rugby, offered “a sincere congratulation to everyone at PR7s as they exponentially build on an impressive debut in 2021.
“The line of events in 2022 truly amplifies the sevens season this summer and in three of the best rugby cities the United States has to offer.
“With three-times the opportunity for current and aspiring Olympians to compete at a professional level, PR7s continues to present an invaluable platform for USA Rugby high-performance development and scouting.”
Three players who played in Memphis subsequently made US Eagles debuts: Logan Tago, Aaron Cummings and Sarah Levy.
The US sevens calendar is crowded, and PR7s will this year take place at a busy time in the amateur club calendar. In professional play, though, PR7s has set its stall out first. Its new events will follow the fifth season of Major League Rugby, the 15-a-side men’s pro competition. Sources within MLR said the league had no plan to launch its own sevens competition this year but could do so in future.
Last December, another USA Rugby-sanctioned sevens venture said it would hold an event in Las Vegas in October 2022. An announcement said US Rugby Sevens Major League would see “the world’s best international men’s rugby sevens players compete against the best US players for record-breaking prize money of $1m”.
The group behind the project, Rugby Football League (separate from the governing body of British rugby league, of the same name) also said that in 2023 it would stage 17 tournaments, featuring “up to 16 US team franchises playing with top international teams”. Little else has emerged.
The US market remains a tantalising prize, coveted across the rugby world. In sevens, the US hosted the last World Cup, in San Francisco in 2018. In 15s, it is on track to be announced in May as the host of the 2031 men’s Rugby World Cup and the women’s event two years later.
