All The Way Back to Football: The Story of Citizen Player, Michael Campion

Most people use the amount of money they earn, to measure their success in career, but this does not apply to Michael Campion, a footballer playing for The Citizen Athletic Association Limited, a club in Hong Kong bma 1^st Division Football League.

There is a connection between Campion and football ever since he could remember. ‘Since I was old enough to stand up is probably the correct answer, but I first started getting proper coaching when I was around seven or eight years old.’ His father was the first person who brought him to the field and this connection has never been broken.

Unlike other English kids who could be able to begin their football career at early age, being born and raised in Hong Kong had given Campion a different kind of pressure. ‘Education is very important for old parents, my parents really wanted me to go to university and get a proper education first,’ Campion explained. So despite went for trials at England clubs like Derby County and Nottingham Forest at age 16, he did not sign for any of them. ‘When you were age 16, you didn’t know what you want, but I could have maybe put up more of a fight,’ a bit of regret was there in Campion’s voice, now ten years later, he knows that was the thing that he should have fought for.

Fortunately, football is never far away from him. Campion started playing for Hong Kong Football Club, a team in the 2^nd Division, when he was 17. As he joined during his last year of high school, he had to move overseas for university, just after he joined the club for a season. But he played for the same club again after he graduated from university, and decided to go back to Hong Kong. However, he left again, after another season with the Football Club, as he had to further his study, to do masters in Business Management at the University of Edinburgh. That was how Campion missed another chance to be closer to professional football, because Hong Kong Football Club was promoted to the 1^st Division, after he left.

Few years working at the bank after graduated from university did not wash away Campion’s passion for football, indeed, it made him realized that office was not where he belongs. Having to sit at the office ten hours a day is definitely not what he enjoyed. ‘The human body wasn’t designed to be sat down like that. I want to make the most of my body when I am young,’ was the exact words he said to describe how much he dislike the office jobs, so last year, Campion went back to Hong Kong working as a sales manager in a wine company and played part time for the Hong Kong Football Club again, this time, in the 1^st Division. Unfortunately, history repeats itself, the Football Club was relegated, after just one season in the 1^st Division, but Campion didn’t let the chance slipped once again, he joined Citizen when they asked, and finally becomes a professional footballer.

It wasn’t an easy decision although with such great passion in football, Campion had to quit his much better paid wine job to become a professional footballer. ‘Financially speaking, the rewards aren’t great in football, especially in Hong Kong when you compare to the Premier League and other leagues,’ agreed Campion. But money can’t buy happiness, the satisfactions and enjoyments that derived from football is what Campion rather has.

Being a professional footballer, there was one big decision after another. In order to be able to play for the Hong Kong national team, Campion had also decided to give up his British passport, and has already applied for the Hong Kong passport, hoping this could help him to go further, in his football career in Hong Kong. When it comes to the Cantonese language, Campion laughed and said he is only able to speak a very little amount of it, some simple football commands. Yet, his heart is fully committed to the city. Campion hopes to play professional football in Hong Kong as long as he could, also helps Citizen gets into top three of the league and hopefully, plays for the national team in the near future.

Since this is his first season as a professional player, he is still adjusting himself and settling into the defender position as he was a midfielder most of the time. Campion may have taken a long way back to being a professional footballer, but like he said, ‘You don’t forget how to be a good footballer just because you stopped playing for sometimes,’ and people don’t forget a good footballer when they saw one, so keep an eye on the new Citizen no.4, Michael Campion.

Interesting Moments:

• When we asked can he speak another language except English, he replied, ‘I can speak a little bit of French badly, but when I had a few glasses of wine, I think I am fluent.’
• About how he communicate with teammates, he said mostly English,  since ‘Football commands are quite limited, press, don’t press, long ball, short ball, don’t foul, foul him!’  They are able to understand each other.
• On his previous job as sales manager for a wine company, ‘Basically just be best friends with all the restaurant and  hotel managers.’
• Campo said he has terrible memory, but when answering questions, he remembered clearly what year things happened. ;)