Drink, But Don't Eat at Rugby Sevens

Rugby Sevens 2022 will be a lot different than pre-pandemic

Two weeks ago at a talk at the Foreign Correspondents' Club about the future of Covid-19, University of Hong Kong epidemiologist Ben Cowling was asked if he thought the government's proposal to hold the Rugby Sevens tournament in November would go ahead.

He felt that with time ticking and no comprehensive plan in place as to how the event would be run and take social-distancing precautions and quarantines into account, it would probably not happen.

Cowling (left) thought rugby would not go ahead

It seemed all bets were off.

But suddenly the government announced a few days ago that the popular Rugby Sevens would go ahead -- mostly for the expat crowd. Players would be in a closed loop in terms of staying in one quarantine hotel, but... what about the people in the stands at Hong Kong Stadium?

The authorities have now come up with a plan which is: people can drink in the stands, but they can't eat.

Have government officials even attended a Rugby Sevens event before? I never did but I know that it entails people dressing up in silly costumes, hanging out there all day in the hot sun, drinking copious amounts of alcohol, and eating crap fast food.

However, the Commissioner for Sport Yeung Tak-keung told RTHK that drinking is allowed, but not eating, only in so-called "eating outlets", without elaborating further.

"For eating, you need to take off your mask, and we want to reduce and minimise the mask-off activities at the spectator stands," Yeung said.

So people can drink, but not eat, says government

"We want them spectators to observe the rules themselves, and also, the Rugby Union will send people around to remind people to put their masks back on after drinking."

Tell drunk people to put their masks back on? 

Good luck with that.

The feedback on Twitter was amusing, ranging from how clueless the government is, to how it seems to want to encourage rugby fans at the event to be 10 times drunker without food in their stomachs. 

Maybe the government wants to rethink its Rugby Sevens arrangement? It's still not too late to cancel for the sake of "dynamic Covid-zero"!