In the recent Barclays Asia Trophy, I have heard different voices on Hong Kong football. It is understandable that the England press said something like, Torres is definitely going to score against Kitchee, because it simply looked very easy to put the ball in the back of Kitchee's net (But he ended up scoring his precious goal against Aston Villa). Yes, our team is not good enough to play against English clubs and we are not going to argue on that. But what I don't understand is, friends went to the stadium and came back telling me many Hong Kong people were criticizing Kitchee throughout the game.
Hong Kong football doesn't get enough support is not a news. A few years back, sometimes you can even use your fingers to count the people in the stadium. There are a lot of football fans in Hong Kong, but not a lot who watches the local Division 1. Why? Their reasons are usually, not attractive, not exciting or even said the players just don't know how to play football. But have you ever asked yourself where these standards came from? It came from Hong Kong people's favorite Premier League, La Liga, Series A and so on. When you are using the Premier League standard to grade our players, have this ever came across your mind? 'If they have Premier League or La Liga or whatever European Leagues' level, they would have qualified for the World Cup', but not losing 5:0 and 3:0 to Saudi Arabia in the World Cup qualifiers.
So who is responsible for the failures in Hong Kong football? You could blame the government for not giving enough funding, no good facilities. But apparently Hong Kong is not the only place that don't get enough funding, the Japan women national team doesn't have enough funding too, they still managed to win the Women's World Cup. Management problems? Maybe. In fact these few years we have actually seen certain improvements in managing and policies, thanks to Steven Lo, Ken Ng, and other people who are pushing for some changes in local football. The main problem here, is actually the fans. If there are enough supporters, funds can be raised by selling tickets, shirts, clubs products; if there are enough supporters, there are voices, management will definitely improve as well; if there are enough cheering sound, the players would probably put in more efforts too.
Hong Kong football now is like a kid taking baby steps, a kid just learnt how to walk do not walk in a straight line, they are unsteady and clumsy. The question is, will you choose to scold the kid because he is not walking perfectly? Or you cheer him up, ask him to keep going? Just because you have scolded him, wouldn't make him able to run the next day, but you will discourage him and he might not dare try walking again. Only if you keep encouraging him, his steps will be more and more steady, and one day, he might be able to run. That, apparently takes time. The kid may fall down, may injure along the way, but as long as you give him chances, he will always get up from where he fell, and keep on walking.
No team is perfect in the world. In football, there is no the best, only better, you can always pick some flaws out of a team, no matter how good the team is. Footballers in Hong Kong, probably work harder than players in other places, because they need to work very hard to earn supports. Maybe it is a Chinese thing that you beat your kids to success, but in football, being supportive is probably more motivating than abandoned the sports, because if there're no audiences, what is the reasons for the players to continue playing football? In European countries, even the clubs in the lowest leagues have certain amount of supporters, no matter how bad their results are. If everyone support the good teams, then probably people will only be watching Premier League/La Liga/Series A, etc, and turn their heads to another clubs when Arsenal is having trophies drought and West Ham got relegated.
Support and success are interrelated, it is because there are fans who support the club no matter what, that motivates the club to improve, to success. Therefore, what Hong Kong football needs now is not criticisms, but supports. Who cares if the team loses? As far as they have tried, they have fought until the last minute, they should earn the respects from the audiences. The teams in Hong Kong are improving in these few years, and it is something that you cannot deny, in the Blackburn game, although they lost 3-0, I saw hope. Despite playing against a team that is obviously stronger, Kitchee still managed to create chances, to attack, not just sit back and defense. If you really want to compare, there are always teams that are better than Hong Kong, but ask yourself this question: Do you see improvements in Hong Kong team lately? It is only fair to compare the team to itself.
From now on, try not to apply your Premier League standards to our local team. Give them more supports! One day, they are going to surprise you.
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