‘Why can’t we be like Hong Kong?’ The ambition that brought sevens success to Vancouver

There are more than a few threads that bind Gareth Rees and I. We will be forever bound in the dark blue of Oxford University, we have commentated together on some of the greatest tournaments in the world, and we both possess a deep passion for the game of sevens rugby. But there was a moment we shared that had slipped from my memory. 

In 2017, I won the Vancouver 7s with England – it was one of the best weekends of my career. The huge trophy, made out of solid wood that I just about managed to lift above my head on the podium, came with us on the night out. 

Anyone blessed enough to have experienced Vancouver’s nightlife has probably stumbled across The Roxy. This was the location for the afterparty back then. So, with trophy in hand, we found ourselves on stage and the resident band were accommodating, if not encouraging, our behaviour. 

After a quick rendition of Wagon Wheel, Gareth Rees – seeing that both our reputations and the trophy were in jeopardy – hauled us down and back into the pit out of sight to enjoy the rest of the night. The trophy survived, as did this memory for Rees – for some reason, memories that night are hazy for me...

He remembers things like this because he is a rugby man. He gets it. He sees the value in the post-tournament bonding for players, fans and families alike. 

So it is no surprise he is overjoyed to have the most popular party and competition going on in his backyard.

No joke

In a historic year for Canada rugby, they celebrate 10 years as hosts on the top tier of international sevens rugby. “It all started off the back of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, in 2010. Everyone had a buzz,” Rees said. “John Furlong, who ran that, contacted me and said, ‘Hey, can we bring sevens rugby here?’ And that’s how it all started.

“He said, ‘why can’t we be like Hong Kong?’. I’m thinking ‘You’re having a laugh – Hong Kong is Hong Kong!’ – but he had that confidence.”

It is an oddly poetic narrative that hosting the Winter Olympic Games would, in turn, lead to Vancouver becoming a regular stop on the circuit in a sport that has been an Olympic smash since making its debut at Rio in 2016. This tale continues to gain new chapters as the Canadian women return to their home leg this year brandishing their silver medals from Paris 2024.

Speaking of last summer’s achievements, Asia Hogan-Rochester said: “I feel like I’m living in a dream right now”. 

Olympic medals are accolades we rarely dare to imagine in the reality of our day-to-day thoughts. But the same can be said for the scale and reach of what Canadian rugby has achieved through hosting the Vancouver tournament.

“I grew up in this province,” Rees, who was raised in Victoria, said, “so to think that we’d put 70,000 people in that stadium over a weekend, watching rugby, was unimaginable.”

The tournament has grown into the largest annual sporting event in Western Canada – a huge accolade for a country where ice hockey is nominally front and centre, and basketball and soccer have been continually on the rise.  

As Director of Strategic Relations of Canada Rugby, Gareth is aware of the economic value of hosting their own HSBC SVNS tournament, saying that it had a ‘$24million impact to Vancouver last year’. 

But for a man who has dedicated most of his life to keeping Canada on the global rugby map, he understands the broader repercussions: “Most importantly for rugby, [the tournament] has funded the union, and the game for the large part of the last decade. 

“We don’t have a Six Nations, we don’t have Test matches guaranteed, so over that period it has funded rugby, from growing the game with kids and girls, to everyone being involved. That’s been the brightest spark for me.”

“They’ll take their shirts off”

Rees admitted some of it has been a happy accident; “Things started happening. The fancy dress bit! That wasn’t driven completely by us”. 

The international make-up of Vancouver helped get the vibe off the ground. “Vancouver is a city full of Aussies, Kiwis and Irish and people knew what the party was supposed to look like. Canadians loved that – they loved the chance to get out and have fun!”

Bringing a sevens tournament to the city was a new offering to the sports-fan consumer. The HSBC SVNS format not only provides a weekend-long party, but it gives everyone something to cheer for. 

Rees recalls in the early years sitting next to Sean Maloney in the commentary box: “Canada beat France for ninth place. It was a dramatic game. They won in extra time, the place was packed and going nuts. People just loved that Canada were winning…  They had a good experience in a great stadium.”

The success of big events, like the HSBC SVNS in Vancouver, is down to hard work, attention to detail and genuine understanding of the ingredients required to make it sing. Rees and the team at Canada rugby had these boxes ticked. But even the best organisers sometimes need some sprinkles from fate. 

At the first tournament in 2016, Rees allowed himself to temporarily support New Zealand men’s squad, a move that he now admits is not all that instinctive for him.

“It was the first final, New Zealand were in it, and I was thinking ‘Please win!’, because I know if they do, they’ll take their shirts off, do the haka and that’ll be the front page of the newspaper. 

“To have rugby on the front page of our paper in a North American market would be unbelievable. And that's exactly what happened. It was awesome!”

The pitch at BC Place has been littered with stardust across the last decade – most recently France scrum-half Antoine Dupont, who made his international sevens debut there, on the road to Olympic glory in Paris. 

Off-field star quality has lent its weight to Vancouver’s success as well. Chris Hemsworth has happily posed for photos pitchside with the players; and fan favourite Jason Momoa sported his old-school New Zealand rugby jersey. 

“He was there and we didn’t pay him a fee,” Rees said of the Game of Thrones’, Dune and Marvel movie star. “We just had to find him some Guinness because he wanted to drink Guinness and it wasn’t in the stadium! Stuff like that helped put eyes on rugby through the event.”

“I want to tell the story”

Rees’s passion for rugby is undeniable. He made history as one of the first players from outside the top tier of the game to enter the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2011, alongside Muliagatele Brian Lima. He has been flying the Maple Leaf flag for years and I was curious whether this patriotic crusade was still driving him.

“Absolutely,” he insisted. “It always has been. Whether it’s through commentary or anything else, I want to tell the story for Canadian players because we never had it. 

“I’ve been trying to promote rugby in North America my whole life, and there’s no better vehicle than a sevens tournament in full swing”. 

Recalling the opening ceremony of the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics, Rees saw sevens star Nate Hiriyama carry the Canadian flag on behalf of all athletes. “This is the stuff we never dreamt of when I was playing”.

I hope I get to build more threads with Rees – and not just because he’s a source of fun: he also stopped me from breaking the Vancouver Sevens trophy.

There is one final story to tell. During the inaugural Vancouver tournament in 2016, Rees checked in with security after hearing that more food and drink had been sold in the opening sevens weekend than either the BC Lions CFL team and the White Caps soccer teams managed in a season. He was concerned that the amount of beer consumed might have led to crowd control problems for officials.

Security staff informed him that – out of the 45,000 or so fans in the stadium over the weekend – they had asked six to leave. And of those, five agreed it was probably time to call it a night.