SINGAPORE — With the Singapore Sports Hub’s 55,000-capacity National Stadium given top marks among the other 10 tournament venues worldwide that hosted the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series by World Rugby, the aim is to bring in even more fans for the second edition of the Singapore stopover next year (April 15-16).

In last April’s HSBC Singapore Sevens, the National Stadium saw just under 50,000 spectators over two days as Kenya upset mighty Fiji in the final to claim their maiden tournament triumph.

In the event’s review, the world governing body for the sport gave the stadium a perfect score, giving the nod to its design elements, which fosters interaction between sporting action and spectators, and air-cooled seating.

On the night of the final, the World Rugby website saw its largest traffic for the tournament that season, and the event also did well commercially, according to figures by the Singapore Tourism Board.

Sports Hub chief executive officer Manu Sawhney revealed that 98,000 cups of beer and 10,000 pieces of merchandise were sold during the event.

Said World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper: “It was a resounding success ... an amazing start, and I know there is ambition to move from 25,000 per day to around 30,000.”

To draw in a crowd of above 30,000 next year, Rugby Singapore, the commercial and marketing arm of the Singapore Rugby Union, are introducing new elements to the event, which has the theme of “Show Your Colours”.

First, the event will have a later start at 11am, from the original 9am, on both days to allow fans to “get in the kids’ tuitions in the mornings” and “Sunday prayers” before coming to enjoy the action, as well as to be able to include more entertainment aspects in the stadium later into the night.

One such entertainment aspect being explored is “Midnight Sevens” which, if implemented, will see local and regional clubs from South-east Asia take part in the sport from 9pm to 2am, with the after-party stretching until 5am. It is modelled after a wildly-popular event held by the Blacks rugby club in Singapore from 2004 to 2006.

Fringe activities such as school programmes to encourage students to take up rugby will continue for next year.

The South-east Asian (SEA) Sevens — which will also see the Singapore national men’s and women’s teams take part — is also set to be an important lead-up tournament to August’s SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.

“I’ve said many years ago that ‘pipeline is lifeline’. If you don’t have a healthy pipeline in your sport, you are dead. We will continue to have that, and we have been successful,” said Singapore Rugby Union president Low Teo Ping.

“Part of our intent in our strategic plan thrust for the next five years is not only about bringing in an entertainment sport for people to enjoy, and promoting growth of sports among schools, but also play good rugby. We will do a lot more in that, moving forward.” ADELENE WONG

TICKET SALES:

Tickets to the 2017 HSBC Singapore Sevens will go on sale this Saturday, Oct 15, at 10am.

From 15 Oct to 31 Dec 2016, a Category 1 two-day pass is S$120, while Cat 2 prices (level 4) are S$40 for adults, S$20 for youths (12-18 years old) and S$2 for children under 12. Family packages (two adults and two youths from 12 to 18 years old) are S$260. For fans who prefer reserved seating and to be closer to the action, there are Platinum (S$300) and Premium (S$200) passes.

For more ticketing options, visit www.singapore7s.sg