Mac Retnam on How Rugby and Sports Have Shaped His Life

We spoke to Malcolm ‘Mac’ Retnam, Operations Manager at The Kallang (formerly Singapore Sports Hub), who previously held roles in the competitive and coaching pathways with Singapore Rugby.

Mac is now leveraging his experience at The Kallang to support major sporting events and Singapore’s sports ecosystem, notably through his role in delivering HSBC SVNS Singapore, which takes place this weekend.

Introduction to Rugby in Singapore – Mac Retnam

“Rugby was actually something I picked up by chance. It wasn’t something that I liked, watched or actually played when I was younger. I started playing when I was 17, which is maybe about 10 years later than some of my peers. 

I started playing at school, and my coach suggested that I try to play at the club level. I didn’t realise I was playing with the adults, and soon I was in the first team at Bedok Kings.

At school, I would like to think I was the biggest guy on the field, but when I went to club level, playing with adults, I was nowhere near any of the big guys. But when you’re 19, you’re Superman, and you think you can do anything, right? So that was fun, and that’s where the love for rugby grew, and it’s really the friendships that were fostered along the way.”

His passion for the game quickly saw him expand his involvement.

“I got into coaching quite early. One of my coaches said, ‘Hey, can you come and assist in the coaching?’ as he was going to be late, and that’s how it started. I thought it was fun, so I carried on before national service. After national service, I took my first level one coaching course.”

Mac recalls lugging around bags of cones and balls to training and taking public transport busses to coach when he started, in his words, “apologising to the other 100 people in the bus, because it was almost as close as Santa Claus with his big bag of presents trying to get through the bus and get down off the bus, and take another half an hour walk.”

Mac Retnam at a Rugby Carnival 2013

Taking the Development Leap With Singapore Rugby

Mac said that Singapore Rugby Union (SRU) offered him a Development Manager role in 2007 and, over two decades, he was involved with organising competitions and coaching development, which have shaped his purpose and career. 

He progressed through competitive and coaching pathways with the SRU before leveraging his experience and joining The Kallang to support major sporting events and Singapore’s sports ecosystem, notably through his role in delivering HSBC SVNS Singapore. 

“I still say this, and this was something my mentor or my senior coaches said to me when I started, ‘You must always be willing to unlearn and learn best practices’. We’re all stuck in habits that we have in terms of coaching, and in terms of how we manage our groups, our players, our staff, our teammates.”

Mac said he has key takeaways from his experiences, and still uses them today:

“One is, you need to be able to unlearn and learn and always be humble and have humility. For me, that’s how it all comes together, because if you don’t have that much humility, you’re not going to be willing to unlearn what you know, right? 

I’ve been in rugby for the last 25 years, but I’m still learning and building to learn new things, like new styles of coaching, or even how you manage people. We’re dealing with a completely different group of younger generations now, and I don’t think I could use what we went through back then with the current generation. It’s just different.”

Mac Retnam at World Rugby (IRB) Educators Training 2011

Mac said before taking his current role at The Kallang, he was in an administrator’s role and part of the World Rugby workforce. From a coach, he became an educator.

“The educators run the courses, and then I got called up for the role as a trainer to help coach the educators. I travelled a lot and built up a huge network of people that I know. When Singapore started hosting the Sevens, I think in 2016, I was brought in to run the match administration and the match operations for the Sevens.”

Mac Retnam – Operations Manager at The Kallang

Yazed Osman, Group Head, Events & Placemaking and Place Management, The Kallang Group, said of the rebrand from The Sports Hub to The Kallang, “HSBC SVNS Singapore 2026 is the first sporting event delivered by The Kallang Group following the launch of our new brand identity, which aims to strengthen our position as a leading destination for sport, entertainment, lifestyle and community events in the region.”

So, what does Mac do exactly as Operations Manager for The Kallang?

“I love this question. At every event that we do, I always tell the teams at the briefing, “Please don’t find me for everything. But in fact, if there’s no one else to go to, they come to me.

“I think as an Operations Manager, you have to be that one guy who is looking to set things up and also to resolve things during the event. It is fun, because I get to meet all the different business units, and I have to manage some big things and many little things. You need to have a cool, calm head on your shoulders. The hardest thing is actually the planning before the event.”

Photo Credit – The Kallang

HSBC SVNS Singapore 2026 – The Family SVNS

Yazed Osman added of hosting the HSBC SVNS Singapore 2026, “We are excited to bring back the much-loved ‘Family SVNS’, an electric weekend of world-class rugby action and engaging, family-friendly programming, providing opportunities for families and friends to spend quality time together.

This event underscores our commitment to curating distinct experiences that reflect the vibrancy and energy of The Kallang, a place of many places and a rallying point for diverse passions and community. We look forward to welcoming everyone to a landmark rugby weekend at the National Stadium on 31 January and 1 February.”

Mac’s main responsibilities are to help deliver a good tournament at the National Stadium and all of the accompanying events as part of the Singapore SVNS Week in 2026.

“We have a template that we work off, and I think the main bit is designing a skeletal plan as part of that process, and then executing the setup. It’s interesting because when it comes to a setup, I don’t think I’ve spoken to as many people as I have in my life within the last month. I have to interact with so many working groups, but it’s great to work with international federations such as World Rugby. But my main role here is to resolve things.” 

The Singapore Rugby Fest 2026 sees a number of rugby activities take place from Touch Rugby to Schools, minis and juniors at Ruck and Rumble, the SEA 7s, and more.

“We’ve got great events. One is Ruck and Rumble. It’s the Family Sevens in Singapore, and this is so important. This event has mini rugby, and U6s to U10s. Kids don’t drive themselves to training, and parents and grandparents don’t come for the matches alone. They also come with their sisters, their brothers. And I think this is one of the reasons why the Ruck and Rumble event is great.”

The finalists play before the entire stadium and thousands of people. “I played rugby for 25 years, and I never got a chance to play at the National Stadium in Singapore. We get parents coming up to me and telling me that this is the best thing going, not just for the kids, but for them too. They’re right there watching their kids play, and some of them will volunteer, and they are out on the pitch too.”

Mac adds that he sees the HSBC Singapore Sevens as involving all these different communities, and that’s why it offers wonderful opportunities.

Singapore SVNS 2026 Ambassadors

Photo Credit – HSBC Singapore SVNS

One of those opportunities is meeting some legends in the sport. There are three official ambassadors at the HSBC Singapore SVNS tournament in 2026.

“I want to say they are all famous, but they’re all fun as well. They’re going to be in the crowd. They’re going to mingle and talk to a lot of people.”

Of Fijian two-time Olympic Gold medal Rugby 7s winner Jerry Tuwai, Mac explained. “If you can get the raw video of Jerry promoting himself coming to the Sevens in Singapore, it is amazing. It was as raw and beautiful as rugby would be in Fiji. I can only imagine the interaction that he’s going to have with the fans, and I am sure they won’t lock him up in the hospitality area. They will put him amongst the crowd who are going to enjoy his company.”

Black Ferns 7s and 15s World Champion and Olympic 7s Gold medal-winner Ruby Tui is also coming to Singapore. “Her passion for people and the relationships she has built is amazing, and this is going to tie in with the theme of the Family Sevens. Ruby is not someone who’s just going to sit there; she is someone who will talk to you, ask you for your phone and take selfies.

Ruby Tui is also important for women’s rugby worldwide. The Asian girls, and even the players representing their countries at the SEA 7s, will love having her here with all she wants to do, all that she’s doing. Ruby is someone they can look up to and a role model.”

Nathan Hirayama is the former Singapore 7s Men’s captain and famously won with the Canadians in Singapore.

“All you can think of is the 2017 Canada’s win in Singapore and Nathan being part of the win. He is down to earth, he’s going to be there with the people, and he wants to be there. I think whoever is the chaperone with him will have a hard time pulling him away from the crowd, because he will want to be with the crowd.”

Rugby and Sports Development in Singapore

Photo Credit – thatparticularshot – Singapore Rugby Women 7s 2026 – SEA 7s

Outside of this week, Mac says that it is not lost on him how “blessed” they are in Singapore to have the resources and facilities they have access to. We discussed his experiences of seeing grassroots development in countries with less.

“I say we’re blessed with the development of sport in Singapore. At the stadium on the second floor is actually the SportsSG governing body, and they’ve got amazing facilities. National teams get to use these facilities, the gym, the pool, the track and get access to training venues easily. With public transport here, you can finish work at six but be at a training venue by 6:45. I think we try our best to give athletes the available resources and somewhere which is easy to get to. 

Another thing we help national athletes with is sports science. A sport like rugby has become very technical, and I think I want to say this scientific age has helped give the edge to the team that wins.”

Singapore is set to host the 35th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 2029, which will be the 14th time the country has hosted the biennial event, and the first time since 2015.

Photo Credit – thatparticularshot – Singapore Rugby Men 7s 2026 – SEA 7s

Mac said of the rugby 7s pathway and development, “I know getting a medal is important; commercially, you get sponsorships, and you get grants. But I think maintaining a certain stature of the teams being in the tournament is also important. I think consistency and sustainability in a program are important. At some point, your goal would be to win.

For Singapore, at the SEA Games in Bangkok, our 7s teams picked up medals again. What’s important is maintaining and improving these positions. Alex Ferguson said, “Winning the league one year is no big deal. Let’s win it for the next two years.” That is what I see as well, and the SEA 7s help offer the teams chances to prepare for other major tournaments.”

Sevens Rugby News 2026

• South East Asian (SEA) 7s 2026 – Everything You Need To Know.
• HSBC SVNS Singapore 2026 Pools Confirmed – Fans’ Guide to All the Singapore Rugby Fest 2026 Events.
• Asian International Rugby Tournaments 2026.
• 2026 HSBC SVNS Series Dates and Venues Confirmed.