HKRFU Opens Rugby Facility at Renaissance College in Ma On Shan

The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union has opened a new rugby facility at Renaissance College in Ma On Shan.

Supported by an HKRFU investment of over HK$5 million dollars the new facility will support Renaissance College’s promising rugby and other sports programmes as well as hosting other local rugby clubs in the district including the Sha Tin Shapei Mini Rugby Club.

The facility will also be home to the myriad community rugby programmes run by the HKRFU in and around the New Territories.

The HK$5 million HKRFU investment in developing the pitch at Renaissance College brings the total amount invested in providing sports facilities to well over HK$100 million in recent years. The HKRFU has distributed over HK$23 million in the last 18 months alone to develop new grounds. Much of this funding is derived from the proceeds of the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.

Over the past year and a half, the HKRFU has funded several facilities development projects including upgrading sports facilities at South Island School, YMCA Tung Chung Christian College, King George V College, Hong Kong University and now Renaissance College.

In addition, the HKRFU has invested a further HK$ 15 million in upgrading the facilities at its King’s Park Sports Ground, home to the King’s Park Sports Association that includes rugby, softball and Yau Yee League soccer.

Since introducing its sports programme in 2006, Renaissance College has built a foundation in rugby where they have a number of National Age Grade representative players. Current Hong Kong U20s standout Calvin Hunter is a recent graduate of the college.

Several current Renaissance College students are also involved in the HKRFU National Age Grade (NAG) programmes for 2014/15 include Ronite Grewal and Alex Wood at U14s, Lucas Kang-Portillo and Jack Holden at U16s and Jye Paterson and Daniel Archer at U19s. Girls players from Renaissance College in the NAG include Maelle Picut and Hebe Talas (U16s) Arianna Talas, Robyn Beese and Alissandra Crowther (U18s).

The strong showing by Renaissance College in the NAG programme was achieved despite the previously limited facilities at the College. Prior to the development of the new pitch, Renaissance’s facilities for rugby were limited to a small exposed pitch on the rooftop of the school with a surface that wasn’t conducive to contact rugby.

Lack of suitable sports facilities is a situation faced by many schools in the Shatin District, with neither Shatin College nor the many other local schools with rugby programmes having any regular access to nearby sports fields.

As such, the HKRFU supported Renaissance College's request to partner to co-develop an adjacent parcel of land into a sports training pitch. Work commenced in June 2014.