East China Rugby Cup – “People are Getting Excited About It”

We had a multi-person call with the Presidents of four of the Chinese social rugby clubs that formed the new East China Rugby (ECR) Cup to learn how it came about and hear about their ambitions for the league and the ECR in general.

• Aidan – President of the Suzhou Late Knights.
• Jake – President of the Hangzhou Harlequins, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
• Ronan– Shanghai Rugby Football Club captain – his sixth year with the club.
• Alex – President of the Ningbo Rhinos.

You can read more here in our first segment.

Photo Credit – Hangzhou 10s 2026

How did East China Rugby Come About, and Why?

Ronan: “Alex and I started having conversations in terms of a format; it’s not really adding anything that we didn’t already have, as all of the clubs would all take turns hosting Tens rugby tournaments throughout the year. It’s all the same people, the same faces, same organisations, but we wanted to find a way that was a bit more structured, a bit more organised and set a calendar out at the start of the year that would give players more time to get organised. 

It would also give clubs more time to sort out their fixtures and better manage their resources & finances. Hopefully that will help us all to encourage more players to get into the game when they can see what is coming up and have a bit more of a tangible schedule for the entire season.

We chose Tens rugby because it’s a lot more accessible for clubs in China. Getting 23 players together for a XV game to travel away is difficult. We are in Eastern China, so it’s still up to four hours of travel time between some cities, so that is a genuine logistical issue, especially on weekends when people have work & families. Ten’s rugby is definitely more appropriate for the size of the squads we have.

All of us know each other at the clubs, and we’ve all played against each other before, so we have had years of collaboration; there’s already that communication, trust and camaraderie between ourselves and between clubs.

What I really like about these tournaments is that the fact that when you go and play in Hangzhou, Ningbo, Suzhou, etc you really get to know people from other clubs, and there’s a really good Eastern China friendship group of people that have played with and against other teams, so that translated to that banter on and off the pitch, which carries over to the socials afterwards. 

That sort of unity already exists, and now we have a fancy logo, added a bit more sort of organisation and continuity between everything to make things a lot easier.”

Photo Credit – Hangzhou 10s 2026

Alex: “It also helps us to actually advertise and promote our clubs too. There’s nothing worse than when I say, “Hey, come play for Ningbo”, and the guys are like, “But why?” Now we can say we can compete for the Eastern China Cup, and that we’re starting out in this new league. 

Any one of us can tell potential players, “If you come to our club, you can join this league; you get to travel to 7 different cities and meet people. All of us have met each other in the last couple of years.

We’re all great mates. We’re all hard on the field, but we shake each other’s hands and have a good drink afterwards, and that’s just a great way for us to say this is the next stepping stone.

We’re in a league now; we can advertise it to everyone and take it from there…”

Jake: I just want to add as well, or reiterate what’s been said, on the excitement of being in a league. Working within our region to build grassroots rugby, and getting people excited about it, is injecting a lot more energy into the smaller clubs regionally.

Aidan: For us at Suzhou, we are a pretty old club, but after the pandemic, we combined with the Shanghai Dolphins team because the numbers were low. The nice thing about this league is it does help these smaller teams such as ours, where we rely a lot on students and young individuals who are coming to China for the first time.

For them to travel to Beijing for a weekend, or travel to Guangzhou, especially when we’re in eastern China, is just too far. Now we have 7 clubs within the near vicinity of each other. As the others said, we can plan better, but at the same time, taking the train or getting a bus from Suzhou to Hangzhou is a lot more accessible. It creates more consistent rugby, and it’s allowing our clubs to stay afloat.

So it is very exciting. I think in the long term, it’s gonna bring rugby back to where it was pre-pandemic.”

Photo Credit – Hangzhou 10s 2026

Growing The Game – Grassroots and Community Rugby

We pointed out to the group that we were five caucasian expat males on the call, so the online critics will be quick to point out where the development of Chinese or women’s rugby players was. So what growth have they seen in rugby in China, and how will they help promote the game?

Jake: “I have talked about it being grassroots and community focused; that’s a big focus for us in Hangzhou, and I think it is a focus for all the clubs, but that’s a longer journey. It takes time. 

Rugby’s definitely growing in China. We started building our touch team at the end of last year, which has been a really nice way to bring rugby to people who are completely new to the sport.

A lot of players who are new to rugby are also coming to experience contact now, just because they’re seeing, okay, this is a bit different. Basketball’s really big in China, and the physicality of basketball, although it’s not quite the same as rugby, they kind of appreciate that. We’ve got Chinese players in the squad at the Harlequins and on the committee as well. 

It is fair to say that it is still a big expat involvement because of what rugby is at home for us. When I’m talking to Chinese authorities about just trying to find a rugby field, it’s like we’re looking for a diamond in the desert. It can be so difficult. Whereas back home, for me, every town has a rugby field and a clubhouse. It’s just something that really isn’t integrated into China yet, because it doesn’t have that history and that culture. 

I think that’s why there are expats at the heart and centre – because we come from a culture and a history where it’s been so close to us. But it’s definitely growing in China, and that’s great to see.”

Photo Credit – Hangzhou 10s 2026

Ronan: “The success of the Chinese 7s Women’s team at the Olympics has massively helped. The uptake in our women’s team is from Chinese women wanting to come and try it out for the first time.

We probably get more women coming to join for the first time than we do local men. That is a big part of China’s Olympic legacy – they do massively push Olympic sports, which is why Flag Football in China and here in Shanghai is huge, as that’s included in the next Olympics.”

Alex: “It’s the same from our side in Ningbo; we’ve had a push on the Chinese side with the ladies, and some cities do have a ladies team. At the Ningbo tens, we’re bringing in a ladies’ team. Shanghai, Wuhan and ourselves will bring women’s sides to compete, which are made up of both foreign and Chinese individuals.

The local gents seem a bit more reluctant to play right now. When they see or hear rugby, they think of massive physicality and brutal hits, but actually, when they come down to training for the first time, they really love it and enjoy it.

It’s not what you see on TV, and just these massive 130-kilogram bodies that are running at you, you know, that sit five hours in the gym every day. It’s teachers and students who are working in China who want to have a weekend of just enjoying themselves.

It’s all about the rugby at the time, but then afterwards it’s all about the social aspect of just getting to know the person and networking, which is great. That is what this league is helping with and why we want to push it a lot more. The more exposure we get, the easier it is for people to see us.

Our biggest problem is that most of us are stuck on Instagram, for example, which the Chinese don’t really have legal access to. We want to obviously push that to channels where they can see a lot more of it, like with live streams. People are coming to see the videos, and that changes the advertising; that changes the promotion. The more and more we can do that, I’m quite sure by 2028, we might even have a full Chinese team in each one of our squads playing.”

Photo Credit – Hangzhou 10s 2026

Aidan: “It’s pretty much similar in Suzhou; we have a lot of young people, and among that group we have a lot of young people from China itself. We also see the same hesitancy in terms of going to contact, but the first point is getting them into a touch session and seeing from there.

At the end of the day, rugby, like any social sport anywhere in the world, as an expat or a local, is about meeting new people and the social aspect of it. I think that’s what everyone’s looking for. 

That is why I appreciate the league, as it’s a good way of exposing people to rugby. My message would be: see how you enjoy it. And if you don’t like it, you don’t like it, that’s fine. But if you do, hey, you are welcome to come and get involved and meet new people.”

What Do The Future Plans Look Like?

Alex: “We’ve already met to discuss what we want to do. We’ve already established this annual ECR Cup, which we are all playing for and will be presented at the final tournament in Shanghai. 

The ECR League acts like a Sevens Rugby-style leaderboard. The team that finishes highest in each place will get maximum points, and each below in descending order. At the final tournament, the trophy will be handed to the winner, and the plan is to use it as a floating trophy that stays with that team for that year. They get to brag about it, and next season it all starts again.

Eventually, as more and more people start realising that the league is great and as its travels to our cities, and as more and more people will start also coming to our universities, which is where we get a majority of our players come from, they’ll want to play some rugby, they’ll help the league grow and the quality of players coming through should improve and more and more people will be talking about it.

We’re looking for a full tournament sponsor too for the ECR. We managed to get some awesome balls from Rhino, which is a massive thing for us. We’re not doing things individually; we’re doing it all as a full ECR collective. 

We want to promote rugby for the ECR and all the clubs involved. We’ve only kept it for the founders right now, just so we can see how it goes for the first year. Beijing has already expressed interest in coming down, and Kunming wants to join.

To already have seven clubs interested and keen shows that we’re all on board.”

Photo Credit – Hangzhou 10s 2026

Ronan: That 7s series style means that we could still have winners of individual tournaments, as well as that Grand League overall; all of the tournaments are open to any other teams that want to, and they can win that individual tournament but might not play the full ECR Cup series.

All of our teams will at some point likely struggle for players or logistics throughout the course of a season. But by the end of the season, everyone is being competitive and still wanting to turn up, which is really exciting for us.”

Has The CRFA Worked With Them On This, Or Do They Support These Clubs In China?

Jake Smith: “Hangzhou Harlequins is sponsored by the Hangzhou Rugby Association, which is in line with the China Rugby Football Association (CRFA). It is great to have their support. It’s more of a partnership where they’ll help us out with match officials and the communication locally, with the padding for the posts and things like that.

We try to work closely with them, and some of their staff play for us as well, which is great.”

Ronan: “It is the same with Shanghai. Our Shanghai 10s for the last two years have been in partnership with the SRFA, and that’s the sporting branch of the government that deals with rugby, as well as AFL, Flag Football, etc. They’ve been really helpful for us, and having a good partnership with them has been really important for getting access to grounds, resources, and sponsorships. It’s been really good for us to work together there.”

Aidan: “For Suzhou Knights, we’re trying to build more of a relationship with the local government and get them to just be on board in terms of our events so that we can make it more inclusive. Last year, we did have a touch tournament to introduce people to the game and try to grow the community more. 

At the moment, the rugby community is not so big; we’re still at that grassroots level, trying to grow it and build the connections. And even with our upcoming tournament next year, we’re trying to, at the same time, also work with them to create a partnership similar to what Hangzhou has.”

Photo Credit – Hangzhou 10s 2026

Alex: “It’s quite challenging in Ningbo at the moment. They’re not that pro-contact sports, and then there can be huge expenses. We’re non-profit, and we rely on memberships, so it’s sometimes difficult to get enough members to afford match kits and all these types of things without sponsors.

We’ve only been around for about 7 years, and the pandemic put us back, and it’s a work in progress. If the ECR can get support from the CRFA or the government, that’s going to take us to new levels in promoting the game to the local market, which is exactly what we’re looking for.”

Is ECR XVs Rugby Planned?

Aidan: “There is potential for an ECR XVs team; it is exciting to have the accessibility of doing a combined team, because then people want to push for that and have that badge of honour.”

Jake: “I just want to reiterate what’s been said on the excitement of being in a league. For the smaller cities, it would be very difficult or wouldn’t be worth our while putting the effort in for Hangzhou by itself to be part of the All China Cup (XVs Rugby).

We can now look at a regional XVs team for the ACC. Obviously, Shanghai is already in the ACC, but it could be a regional collection of the smaller ECR cities.

It opens the opportunity to do things that involve more tours because we can work together and be a part of the bigger rugby community.”

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