Hong Kong football season: Already twice as popular as last year

Anyone who's been to a Hong Kong football league game in the past will have relished the game's unpopularity. Turn up five minutes before kick off without a ticket, still get inside and sit wherever you like. 

So it was a bit of a shock to see a queue at the ticket booth last weekend for the season's opener of Hong Kong's first division football league 2010/2011. It was the only queue we have ever encountered at a Hong Kong football league match. 

Fans were flocking to Hong Kong Stadium to watch the game. It felt like live football was suddenly back. 

Okay, I might be getting a little carried away. The game was far from sold out and spectators were spread out like tumbleweed across the vast desert of empty seats.

But it was a massive improvement on last year when a miserable 2,000 fans showed up for the first game. This year 4,500 people sat in the sun to enjoy the tussle between South China and Citizen. 

Hong Kong football eventually became a platform for locals to show British colonizers just what they were made of.

The politics of football

Hong Kong football has been in trouble for some time. But it wasn't always this way.

The league is the oldest in Asia and it's honor roll goes all the way back to 1908 when the first league title was won by a British Army regimental team called The Buffs.

A league that started as a pastime for colonial men with too much time on their hands eventually became a platform for locals to show the colonizers just what they were made of.

South China is the most successful Hong Kong league team and was deliberately set up in 1910 to be solely comprised of Chinese players. The team won their first title in 1924.

The popularity of local football reached its peak in 1985 when the Hong Kong national side pulled off a shock 2-1 victory against China in the Beijing Workers' Stadium. This was seen by mainland Chinese fans as a gross act of betrayal as it meant that the mother country was dumped out of the World Cup qualifiers. 

Since those rose-tinted days for live football in Hong Kong, its popularity has been steadily eroded by the success of televised European leagues and a general feeling that the local teams have sunk into the abyss of mediocrity.

The resulting drop in revenue has left Hong Kong football circling the drain. Before the end of last season there was serious talk of canceling the competition for a few years.

But the sport provided its own answers. In 2009, the Hong Kong national team surprised everyone by doing what seemed like the impossible: becoming champion at the East Asian Games football tournament by winning the final against Asian footballing titans Japan.

Ballman is one of South China's mascots. His profile states that his astrological sign is Scorpio and he likes to eat bananas.

Numbers behind the ball

The city went bananas. Chief executive Donald Tsang was in the executive box at the final and looked as if he may have been weeping at the final whistle. In the back of his mind, plots were hatching.

The Hong Kong government soon set up a task force to help save Hong Kong football and their recommendations were released just before the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

So the Hong Kong football season has kicked off with evidence of optimism on all sides. The game was great fun with two dramatic goals for South China that were wildly celebrated by the faithful.

There was cheering, booing, creative heckling and beer -- all the things that you find in sports stadiums all around the world, with a curry fish ball here and some instant noodles there for local color.

If football is your kind of thing, adopt a local team and follow them for a season. There's plenty of passion and skill and besides, Hong Kong Stadium at HK$60 a ticket is rather more affordable than Anfield or Old Trafford.

See the Hong Kong Football Association website for full schedule of first division games.

Top Teams

South China

South China are the biggest and most established team in Hong Kong and regularly compete in regional competitions. Most of the Hong Kong national team play for South China. They are the best run organisation, forging many commercial partnerships to keep their team well funded, including an official hairstylist and a partnership with Emporio Armani to provide the players with suits for media appearances.

League titles: 40
FA Cup wins: 9
Top Player: Siu Kei Chan is South China's goal machine and Hong Kong's East Asian Games hero
www.southchinafc.com

Kitchee

Kitchee are the second-oldest professional team in the league, founded in 1931. The team has spent most of its existence living in the shadow of South China and are relentless in their efforts to dethrone their rich rival. Kitchee has a strong Spanish contingent led by Spanish coach Josep Gombau.

League titles: 3
Top Player: Roberto Lousada is a new signing who scored 40 goals playing in Spain
www.kitchee.com

Sun Hei

Sun Hei were founded in 1986 during a boom time in Hong Kong football. They have done well to challenge South China and actually dominated the scene here between 2001 and 2006, winning 3 league titles and 3 FA Cups.

League Titles: 3
FA Cup wins: 3
Top player: Cristiano Cordeiro is a Brazilian veteran and captain of Sun Hei
www.sunhei.net

TSW Pegasus

Hailing from Tin Shui Wai (TSW), Pegasus are a recent addition to the league and were founded in 2008. They have been given a generous budget by their owners and won their first trophy last year winning the FA Cup.

FA Cup wins: 1
League runner-up: 1
Key player: Yuto Nakamura is a young Japanese striker with much potential.
www.tswpegasus.com