As we approach our tenth anniversary year we will be interviewing some of the key people who helped launch and grow Hong Kong Scottish. We will be hearing about how the Club first started up and has evolved over the past 10 years – with some interesting stories along the way! We are starting with founding member and former Chairman, Stewart Saunders.
1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what brought you to Hong Kong?
I joined the Electricity Supply Industry straight from school as an apprentice electrical engineer in 1960 and worked with the same company, Scottish Power until I retired in 2002. I had been seconded to CLP Power for two and a half years from 1997, and after I retired from Scottish Power I was asked to come back to CLP as Chief Operating Officer. I retired from CLP at the end of 2007 and formed my own Company, ScotHong Management Consultants, to enable me to apply for Permanent Residency. I thought that PR would allow me to live in Scotland and come to Hong Kong for assignments occasionally! That didn’t happen as I’m still here and still working.
2. How did you become involved in the rugby scene in Hong Kong?
My involvement was down to Robbie McRobbie, who approached a few Scots in town and asked us to link up with the existing Nomads Rugby Club. He suggested we could leverage a link with London Scottish and our contacts in the Scottish diaspora in Hong Kong to help make sustainable the Nomads’ venture into the Premiership.
3. What do you do outside all you do for the club? – Job, hobbies, family, etc.
Outside of work and Hong Kong Scottish, I am fortunate that my wife Marie and I share the same interests – sport, travel, and most of all our family; the three of which are often linked. Although we travel far and wide for mainly International Rugby and our youngest grandson, Max, has started rugby with Kirkcaldy Rugby Club, our family’s passion is for Ice Hockey, with Fife Flyers – a team I used to manage in Scotland – and Buffalo Sabres in the NHL. We also keep abreast of the fortunes of Raith Rovers, now promoted to the Scottish Championship, and where our youngest granddaughter, Alyx, has started to play in the ladies’ section.
4. As the first Chairman, how were you involved with the founding of the club?
Current Chairman Roy Kinnear and I joined the Nomads Committee in early 2011 and we set out to plan for the future. Around the same time, the then Chairman of Nomads, Jason Collelo, decided to return to Canada to pursue his career and I was elected the first Chairman of Hong Kong Scottish at the next AGM.
The amount of work to establish the Club could not be accomplished by only volunteers, so Dave Whiteford was approached to become General Manager, and the foundation of the Club was established by Dave and our first coach, Craig Wilson. Both deserve a great deal of credit for that, and both have gone onto bigger challenges in rugby; Dave with the SRU and Craig at Yale University as Head of the Women’s Rugby Programme.
5. How have you seen the club grow in the past ten years?
At the start, we struggled to field two rugby teams but managed to put together a competitive First XV. Our Second XV team consisted mainly of local players who always tried hard but often found the opposition too big and too heavy. Our objective there was to make sure that we kept going, and celebrate small things like a try, a scrum against the head, or a turnover. It kept spirits up!
Nowadays we have good teams at all levels in both men’s and women’s rugby, and flourishing Netball and Football sections, both with their own success stories. Within the Club itself we have so many fine people involved who have the Club at heart, supporting every aspect of our operation, on and off the pitch or court. We have increased membership, sponsorship, and presence in the community, and I believe that our reputation has also risen, both in Hong Kong and elsewhere.
6. Where do you see the club in another ten years?
I think that any successful organisation should be sustainable in the long term, and I believe that we have the foundations to grow further in all aspects of the Club. We should never be satisfied with the performance, continuing to strive to do better in everything we do. That applies to play, coaching, managing, supporting, and if we apply that to the next 10 years it will translate into success in everything – winning trophies, arranging more successful events, raising money for good causes and building our own corporate social responsibility brand within our wider community. My hope going forward is that everyone who is or has been part of Hong Kong Scottish feels that they are better people because of it.
7. What are your favourite aspects of the club?
As a club, we are unique in that I see support both within and across the sections. There seems to be a sense of “belonging” to Hong Kong Scottish, and that is emphasised in many ways: from supporting games to coming together at Christmas and end of season Awards Nights; from meeting in our sponsor bars to going out together into the community. All of these make me proud and at the same time humbled to have been a small part of the Hong Kong Scottish journey.
8. What is the most legendary/memorable match played by HKS that you witnessed and why?
There are many – the first time I saw a Hong Kong Scottish team take the field at the Melrose 7’s in 2011, in the company of John Bruce and Gavin Hastings, was special. All 3 of us were wearing our Hong Kong Scottish tops and we won that game.
Also in the first season, against all odds our first XV won 4 games in a row and the 4th victory was at So Kon Po against Causeway Bay – one of our locks was sent off after reacting rather physically to some intimidation from an opposing player and was subsequently banned. As we really didn’t have a viable replacement, that was the last game we won that season!
More recently, I remember our game in the final of the Grand Championship against Sandy Bay, when we were near, yet so far from victory. In horrible conditions I recall a great performance, but also a serious injury to Ali Nardone which caused him to miss the whole of the following season.
9. What matchups against other teams do you enjoy the most and why?
I enjoy any match at any level and in any sport which we win…defeat leaves me miserable! The whole object is to win, and win by playing better than the opposition, but not at any cost, as we have values to live up to.
10. Do you have any pre-game rituals or superstitions and do they work?
I have no pre-game rituals, although if it works out, to have a meal with our Chairman and others before travelling to our games is welcome. Also, if we win a couple of games and I’m wearing a particular HKS top, I might continue to wear that (suitably laundered!) until the winning run stops.
Look out for next month’s interview with Hong Kong Scottish’s first General Manager, Dave Whiteford.
