By Tobias Whinney - Photos by Hadrian Yip (@_hprods ) and Velocity Imaging (@velocity.imaging) with thanks
The Tradition Hong Kong Football Club 10s celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2026, with three days of heart-stopping rugby from Tuesday 14th to Thursday 16th April. This tournament is designed to be the ultimate curtain raiser to the world-famous Hong Kong Sevens. In fact, when the “World’s Best 10s” first started in 1976, the Sevens tournament was held at the same venue of Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC), nestled within the very aptly named Happy Valley.
The tournament has played host to some of rugby’s greatest stars and elite teams through the ages. This year proved to be no different with the likes of Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, Ruby Tui and Chiharu Nakamura gracing the women’s competition; Jordan Conroy, Kalione Nasoko and Henry Speight featuring in the men’s. The coaching lineup was equally impressive with Sir Gordon Tietjens, Mike Friday and Ben Gollings all involved. Needless to say, the quality of rugby on show, the pace of the matches and expectations were all very high!
My travel began with a race from work, combatting Friday rush hour on the Elizabeth Line before a 20:15 flight from London Heathrow, touching down at Hong Kong International at 15:45 local time (HK is 7 hours ahead of BST) on Saturday. I took in the beautiful Victoria Harbour view for the evening before indulging in a stunning seafood buffet and a much needed sleep.
Most of the overseas match officials were due to arrive on Sunday evening but with thanks to some excellent recommendations, I was able to escape the city on Sunday to Lantau Island and traverse the 5.7km long cable car to Ngong Ping village. This is home to the remarkable Po Lin Monastery, founded in 1906. I was able to witness a reverential Buddhist ceremony in the Hall of the Great Hero, then ascend the 268 steps to the 34m tall Tian Tan Buddha statue, 482m above sea level.
On Monday, the overseas match official contingent and I explored central Hong Kong before riding one of the world's oldest and most famous funicular railways, The Peak Tram, rising to 396m above sea level. At the steepest point, the slope was a sheer 25.7°, a wonder of engineering! We were treated to an excellent lunch overlooking the Victoria Peak Garden before heading back to base.
The match official briefing followed at HKFC where we met the match official team (Karl Dickson exempt after flying in from Scotstoun following his Champions Cup QF) and decided upon our core objectives for success around the tournament in our respective roles. The refereeing objectives were:
· Clear the tackle area on the floor
· Absolute clarity in decision making
· Back up and support our teams on and off the pitch
We had 25 match officials and coaches in our team, operating at the highest domestic level in Australia, South Africa, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and three from England, including Karl Dickson and Alex Powdrell from the RFU/Hertfordshire and myself. A highly prestigious group to be a part of and some brilliant people to share in this experience with.
The teams invited to Happy Valley featured 12 men’s teams and 8 women’s teams from Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania.
Day 1, ‘Women’s Night’, kicked off with a traditional opening ceremony featuring Chinese dragon dancing and the first two rounds of pool play running from 16:40 to 20:40.
Day 2, ‘Happy Wednesday’, saw the men’s pool stage take place and final round of the women’s pools commencing at 07:45 (tough on the jet lag) and concluding at 18:00, ahead of ‘Racing with Rugby’ night at the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Happy Valley Racecourse.
Day 3 showcased the knockouts, beginning at 08:30, ending with the final whistle at 21:00, several intermittent firework displays, dancing interludes, the legends touch match (Jim Hamilton’s still got it!) and local age grade cup finals, producing a total of 55 tournament matches across nearly 27 hours.
I was appointed to referee the following fixtures:
Day 1 – Nanairo Prism Fukouka (Japan) vs Shaohua Rugby (China)
Day 2 – Froggies Club (France) vs Chennai Bulls (India); Chennai Bulls vs Tradition YCAC (Japan); RGH Shogun International RFC (UK) vs Ashbury Tropics (UK).
Day 3 – HKFC Natixis Ice vs Nanairo Prism Fukouka (Women’s Cup QF); AOne New Zealand Legends vs Nanairo Prism Fukouka (Women’s Cup SF); HKFC Natixis Ice vs Shaohua Rugby (Women’s Bowl Final).
I had plenty AR1 appointments alongside across the three days, including the Men’s Plate Final, Rugby Tens Selects vs TP ICAP First Nations & Pasifika.
The pace of the matches was the fastest and the playing ability was undoubtedly; the highest level I have ever experienced refereeing in any format of the game. The artificial grass pitch superheated the action along with the ambient conditions, peaking at approximately 30°C and 88% humidity. Altogether, this made for a challenge unlike anything I had faced before in my officiating career. Self-management between matches, the importance of accelerating off the mark at the start of each phase and dealing with high-pressure close matches would be my greatest challenges. Apart from getting enough sleep!
My personal highlights from the rugby perspective involved the biggest upset of the tournament with the seemingly unbeatable NZ Legends losing 7-10 to eventual winners Fukuoka, the blisteringly fast YCAC vs Chennai fixture, the UK derby of Shogun vs Tropics and the closest final of the lot, HKFC Women’s beating Shaohua in Sudden Death!
The match official team and our visitors were highly collaborative, sharing videos of their big calls which we would discuss and agree on our next steps. I was able to learn a great deal, participate in some valuable insight, get to know everyone and their own respective refereeing journeys, sharing our stories in a wonderful blend of rugby cultures.
Away from rugby, Karl showed us his lucky side at the races, I shared refreshments with current and former international players and referees from all over the world, managed to use chopsticks reasonably well (aside from Kowloon street dumplings, sorry Chris Howe) and soak in the dynamism of a marvellous event and the city.
Then, once the on-field action concluded, the party really kicked off! I’ll leave the details to your imagination but the South Stand at Kai Tak Stadium at the sevens is not to be missed! It’s fair to say I was less fresh on the returning flight but very, very happy.
Hong Kong. How does one sum it up? Vibrant, dynamic, full of surprises and in this author’s opinion, home to the greatest rugby party on the planet.
I am incredibly grateful to the London Society for selecting me and would like to express my thanks to everyone who was able to facilitate this remarkable opportunity in both the UK and Hong Kong, particularly Pedro Diogo and Mark Jackson from HKRRS. I hope to assist with incoming exchanges and strongly encourage anyone to explore opportunities to broaden your officiating horizons, especially through these society interchanges. Say yes!