HKRU Confirms the 54th New Year’s Day Youth Tournament 2022

The HKRU has announced the return of the 2022 New Year’s Day Youth Tournament on January 1 at the Hong Kong Football Club.

Via the Hong Kong Rugby Union social media channels, they said “The New Year’s Day Youth Tournament is BACK! We are so excited to once again be showcasing the best of the best in youth rugby at the one and only Hong Kong Football Club. This year we will be kicking off slightly later at 12.30pm (good news for NYE revellers) and hosting an exciting match up between ESF Schools versus Clubs Select. Fixtures to follow, but save the date: 1 January 2022!”

The HKRU added that first ever youth rugby matches took place in the late 1960s and the Middlesex Cup for U19s Boys in the 1971/1972 season. The New Year’s Day tournament in 2022 offers matches for boys and girls from U12s through U19s, “symbolising the consistent growth in schools, youth and mini rugby in the SAR.”

Mr Patrick Donovan, Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Union said “The New Year’s Day Youth Tournament ranks only behind the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens as an event that year after year gathers Hong Kong’s rugby clans to celebrate the game – and each other. In challenging times like this, family and teammates are more important than ever before, and the HKRU is delighted to welcome the return of this time-honoured competition in 2022.”

The annual tournament did not take place due to COVID in 2021, and will follow a “more abbreviated format for 2022, given that continued travel restrictions have had an impact on the typical Hong Kong versus Overseas schools players format.”

There will be an innovative twist in format from the typical Hong Kong vs. Overseas school players to a more local ESF Schools versus Hong Kong Youth Rugby Club Select format said the HKRU.

New Year’s Day Youth Rugby Tournament 2022 Trophies

• The Naylor Cup for Girls U16s players.
• George White Trophy, contested by Boys U16s is the second oldest annual youth rugby match in Hong Kong, established in the 1972/1973 season and named after a former Hong Kong Rugby Union Chairman.
• The Lassies Quaich for Girls U19s.
• The Wright-Naylor Middlesex Cup for Boys U19s. The Middlesex Cup was first played in the 1971/1972 season, making it the HKRU’s oldest and most historic annual youth match and setting the Hong Kong vs. Overseas format still carried on today.

The day ends with the presentation of the Larry Abel Award for Best & Fairest Player. The Award “honours another pioneer in Youth, particularly Mini, Rugby in former HKRU Director of Youth Rugby Larry Abel, who passed away in 1994.”

The 2022 New Year’s Day Youth Tournament is supported by Dettol, the English Schools Foundation, First Point, Kely Support Group and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.

Attendance is free to the public with entrance through the Hong Kong Jockey Club Museum entry.

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