The Blarney Stone Shield for rugby sevens | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

The Blarney Stone Shield for rugby sevens

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Submitted by David on Fri, 2019-05-17 14:51

Although the Hong Kong Sevens tournament was first played in 1976, seven-a-side rugby in Hong Kong goes back much further.

After reading about the building called Blarney Stone, Dave Inglis wrote in to ask if the HK Football Club's "Blarney Stone Shield" was connected to it in any way. He's heard that Blarney Stone was a ‘mess’ for young single employees of one or more of the big hongs, and it was the members of the mess who started the sevens competition pre-ww2.

A search for Blarney Stone in the local newspapers finds plenty of matches. Looking down the list of results, the earliest mention of it with a rugby connection is from 1935, with the headline "CLUB WINS BLARNEY STONE SHIELD". However the text says that the "holders of the trophy" were beaten, suggesting that the competition had already been held in 1934, and possibly before that.

If anyone has more information about how the competition got started, and how the shield got its name, please let us know in the comments below.

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Submitted by moddsey on Fri, 2019-05-17 17:05.

At a meeting held on board HMS Tamar on 19 January1932, it was decided to hold the first rugby seven-a-side tournament on Club grounds in March 1932. Page 11 of HK Daily Press 29 February 1932 refers. Preliminary rounds were played on 9 March with the latter rounds and final being held on 12 March as noted here 

The Blarney Stone Rugby Sevens Challenge Shield was competed for the first time in 1934. Mention is not made of the origin of the Challenge Shield but it is noted that every year the tournament was played in March just prior to St. Patrick's Day.

Submitted by David on Sun, 2019-05-19 16:01.

Thanks Moddsey. Just been reading the 29 Feb 1932 article you mentioned. It says the first tournament was in aid of "Naval and Military charities", and that one or two teams from the following rugby clubs could take part:

  • The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank
  • Kowloon
  • S.W.B.s ((South Wales Borderers))
  • A. & S. H. and other military units
  • Each Cruiser
  • HMS Hermes
  • 4th Submarine Flotilla
  • HMA Tamar and small ships

Submitted by moddsey on Sun, 2019-05-19 16:17.

Kowloon would be the Kowloon Football Club.

Submitted by David on Tue, 2019-05-21 13:01.

There's a longer write-up of the finals in the Hong Kong Sunday Herald, 1932-03-13 (it's on printed page 12, shown as page 16 in the online viewer). It says the matches were played at the Hong Kong Football Club's ground, and that the winners were the Hong Kong Rugby Club.

Submitted by David on Tue, 2019-05-21 16:16.

Though the Sunday Herald called the winning team the "Hong Kong Rugby Club", Moddsey notes they were actually a team from the Hong Kong Football Club. The teams playing in the competition were listed in the Hong Kong Daily Press, 1933-03-11 (printed page 10, page 12 in online viewer) and the team that would go on to win is clearly shown as: H.K.F.C. "A"