Asanga must move fast to get Sri Lanka into Hong Kong sevens
View(s):The International Rugby Board this week announced the 12 teams to play in the qualifying competition for core team status in the World Sevens Series next season.
These qualifiers will be part of the Hong Kong Sevens in March. Sri Lanka, by virtue of finishing third in the Asian Sevens Series, will unfortunately miss out. That is unless the IRB will give one remaining spot in the 16-team core series to Sri Lanka.Confused? You have every right to be for the IRB has been moving the goalposts over its showpiece World Series for the past seasons leaving observers nursing a headache comparable to one which many of us have in these festive days.
Let’s try and explain. The Hong Kong Sevens comprise 28 teams. It is the only tournament in the World Series which boasts so many teams and is rightly considered the jewel in the crown.
SLRFU President Asanga Seneviratne in a deep discussion with Sri Lanka Sevens coach Nilfer Ibrahim during the Asian Sevens Series in Mumbai. - Pic SLRFU
These 28 teams are split into two tiers. The top tier of 16 teams includes all 15 core teams – who play in every leg of the World Series – and is made up of the likes of New Zealand, England, Australia, South Africa etc.
As there are only 15 core teams, the 16th team needed to make an equitable draw – four groups of four teams in the preliminary round – is invited by the world governing body. So for instance if the tournament is in Dubai, maybe an African team is invited to fill the last spot.
With the Hong Kong Sevens being part of Asia, wouldn’t it be nice if the IRB invited Sri Lanka to fill that last slot? After all Fazil Marija and his men really deserve it on merit alone as they finished third behind Japan and Hong Kong in the Asian Sevens Series this season.
Japan and Hong Kong will be taking part in the 12-team qualifying competition mentioned before to unearth one core team for the IRB World Series next season.
Each of the six global regions – Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, North America and the Caribbean (Nacra) and lastly Oceania – will send two representatives each to the qualifiers and Japan and Hong Kong are Asia’s two teams.There will be three new teams at the Hong Kong Sevens this year, America Samoa (Oceania), Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago (both Nacra). They will be joined in the qualifiers by Cook Islands (the other team from Oceania), Italy and Russia (Europe), Tunisia and Zimbabwe (Africa) and two yet to be decided teams from South America.
The 12-team qualifying competition will be played separately with the winner of this competition earning the right to become a core team next season. There will not be any co-mingling with the big guns who will be playing in their own tournament.
But all the matches will be played at the 40,000-seater Hong Kong Stadium with action starting on Friday, March 28. Mark this down in your calendar and if you can get a ticket, turn up for it will be an experience of a lifetime.
There will be a total of 70 matches played and each one will be crucial, especially for the qualifiers, who will be all bidding to win promotion to the World Series.
Yet, that 16th spot remains unsolved. With Hong Kong being an integral part of the Asian Rugby Football Union, it would be the obvious choice to give that extra berth to an Asian team.
That 16th place was an insurance for organisers of the Hong Kong Sevens – the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union – who bargained with the IRB that in case their own team failed to qualify, that spot would go to the hosts. But Hong Kong has earned its spot by right, finishing runner-up to Japan. So that spot will now be decided by the IRB.
Gone are the days when the HKRFU called the shots. Ever since the Hong Kong Sevens became part of the IRB World Series in 1999, they lost total control of their own tournament.
The Hong Kong Sevens was originally created to foster the growth of rugby in Asia. The inaugural tournament at Hong Kong Football Club in 1976 had a number of Asian teams including Sri Lanka. There were others like Malaysia and Thailand.
It is unlikely that these teams will ever get the chance to grace the Hong Kong Sevens again now that the IRB has taken over. A few years ago the tournament reserved three slots for Asian countries including one place for the hosts, and now that has been reduced even further to just two making it tough for even Sri Lanka to get in.
The world has moved on. But with one slot still vacant, albeit in the core team tournament, it would be great if the IRB and the HKRFU gave it to Sri Lanka, a country which was one of the original supporters of the Hong Kong Sevens.
Asanga Seneviratne should use his new position as secretary general of ARFU to push for this immediately. He should push forward Sri Lanka’s claim to appear next March and I’m sure he will receive a sympathetic hearing from ARFU president Trevor Gregory who is also the chairman of the HKRFU.
It is not an unreasonable demand after all. Sri Lanka on merit alone should deserve this slot. Yes, we might get thoroughly caned by the likes of New Zealand and England, but the experience of playing on the world stage is not one to be sniffed at.
ARFU must tell the IRB that next March, and in the future, the remaining slot in the core team division at the Hong Kong Sevens must go to an Asian team, that is unless Hong Kong doesn’t qualify automatically by finishing in the top two in Asia.Rugby in Asia is the new frontier of world rugby and ARFU must flex its muscles. They should push for this place before the IRB decides to fill it by giving to some other country outside Asia.
It was only a few days ago that the IRB made its official announcement and released the list of countries taking part in the Hong Kong Sevens. So it is paramount that Seneviratne moves fast.