The stench was strong as I stepped over another cup of spilled beer, while a bunch of rowdy Americans dressed as Donald Trump were entertaining the crowd with their best Trump impersonations. Nearby a man dressed in Lederhosen was busy guzzling a beer while the crowd cheers him on. Welcome to the Rugby Sevens in Hong Kong, one of the biggest parties in of all of Asia.
I first heard about the Rugby Sevens through a friend last year. She missed her flight connection and was trying to get to Hong Kong for the Sevens to be with her now husband.
After seeing her pictures, I knew I had to go to Hong Kong to experience the Sevens myself.
There are four ways to get a ticket to the Rugby Sevens. If you know someone who lives in Hong Kong, there is a lottery that you can ask your friend to join. Limited tickets are given to locals that are chosen randomly, so the chances of actually landing a ticket are very slim. The public ballot lottery for 2018 Hong Kong Rugby Seven Tickets is now open until February 8!
The second option is to buy a ticket through Viagogo, the official platform for ticket resellers of the Hong Kong Sevens. However, the three-day tickets being sold on the site cost around $400, which is two to three times the official price for a ticket, making it prohibitively expensive.
It turns out that many locals who are able to obtain tickets immediately resell them to tourists on Viagogo, making a huge amount of profit for around 30 minutes of work.
The third option is to purchase a flight package that includes a three-day ticket to the Rugby Sevens via Cathay Pacific. The packages are reasonably priced, with Cathay merely adding the original cost of the rugby ticket to the price of a regular ticket. However, flights on Cathay Pacific are generally more expensive than those on low cost carriers in Asia. Packages from Manila were going for around $600, which is still a bit steep.
The last option is if you know somebody who works at one of the corporate sponsors of the Sevens, you might be able to get your ticket from them. If you’re unable to get a ticket, I’d recommend heading to Lan Kwai Fong, where a huge after party happens each night after the matches.
I was really excited about going to the Sevens, but I wasn’t exactly willing to shell out that much money for tickets. I decided to contact the Hong Kong Rugby Union, who graciously provided me with a media pass to the event.
One month later, I was flying to Hong Kong to experience the Rugby Sevens.
Next Post: Exploring the South Stand at the Hong Kong Sevens
