Hong Kong Football Continues Despite Coronavirus Threat
Reported by Hong-shun Wong
It’s the 93rd minute of the game.
With limited minutes remaining before the whistle, Lee Man’s Givanilton Ferreira exploits the right flank of Kitchee with his exceptional speed, and delivers an searching cross into the box.
Cheng Siu-kwan is the man to convert the cross, but Kitchee keeper Wang Zhenpang saves it brilliantly.
Meanwhile, Micheal N’dri senses the smell of goal. Instinctively, he accelerates towards the six-yard box.
Yu Pui-hong and Cheng’s triple shots are all rejected by Wang unbelievably, and the ball is finally rebounded to the six-yard box.
The fox in the box times the ball perfectly, and headed it into the net. He rushes towards the spectator stand, hoping to share his joy with the twelfth man – but soon he finds that the stand is EMPTY.
It’s the city’s 8th consecutive behind closed door professional football match staged at the Tseung Kwan O stadium.
Facing the COVID-19 pandemic, football matches are all suspended around the world. Major competitions in Europe, including the UEFA Champions League, the Premier League and the La Liga, are all postponed for the sake of public health.
But in Hong Kong, one of the earliest cities outside Mainland China to face the pneumonia outbreak, has decided to continue with its football league. On 6th February, the Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) announced that the group stage of the Sapling Cup would go on despite the plague.
And this has created a huge challenge for the local football clubs. Playing football under such conditions has raised players’ concerns on their own health.
Even though the FA had implemented a series of anti-epidemic measures in the Football Training Centre (FTC), such as temperature check and health declaration forms, players still believe that their health is not secured.
“Health is obviously one of the biggest concerns,” said Andy Wong Ho-yin, 21, a defender who is playing for Happy Valley. “When one of the players catches the coronavirus, it would be very easy to infect others, as football is a team sport.”
As the government had decided to temporarily close ALL public sports facilities in the late January, the HKFA faced trouble in finding a proper football field for the matches to take place – and turned out matches were only allowed to take place in its self-managed Football
Training Centre in Tseung Kwan O. Players have voiced their concern on the gathering of large-crowd during training and matches.
“Under the closure of government stadiums and football pitches, more players have to share the same pitch for training or match-playing.” The young centre-back says. “And this may increase the risk of spreading diseases.”
Although the problem of match venues is solved temporarily, the quality of pitches has become another concern for the clubs.
Designed mainly for football training, the pitches in the FTC lack adequate ancillary facilities. Scoreboard is missing. Touchlines are not drawn in straight lines. Spectator’s stands are missing too. Also, as matches are mainly taken place in two specific pitches only, some concerns on turf maintenance are also raised, as the quality of turf will be hugely affected after frequent use.
“The quality of the pitches [in the FTC] must be not as good as normal stadiums.” Mr Wong says. He further points out that the lack of ancillary facilities would somehow affect the performance of players.
Changing rooms are located miles away from the pitches, and this has caused troubles for both the teams and referees. During the half-time break, players and referees can only stay in the pitch to have rests and team talks, affecting the quality of resting time and tactical briefings. Players even have to “relieve themselves” right next to the pitch due to the lack of toilets next to the pitches.
Meanwhile, due to the temporary closure of public football fields, including both natural and artificial turf pitches, clubs which don’t have their own training grounds face the lack of daily training grounds. Turns out clubs can only book non-government football pitches for daily training. The FTC and Jockey Club Kitchee Centre, which is located in Shek Mun, are the only options for them.
Under the closure of pitches, players even have to conduct their trainings at home, and this would be a challenge for the player’s self-discipline. Some coaches point out that they are worried about the training condition of players, as they cannot monitor their performance in a face-to-face method.
In the mid-February, the 10 Premier League clubs had convened a meeting concerning the match venue. They pointed out that the FTC is not an ideal venue for organizing professional matches, calling for the reopening of proper football grounds. As a result, clubs had agreed to boycott matches in March if the government refused to reopen proper pitches.
Thanks to the high public awareness of Hong Kong citizens, the outbreak of coronavirus was controlled in February, and the government agreed to reopen the Tseung Kwan O stadium as a match venue in March. However, scheduled matches, including the FA Cup and two make- up matches of the Premier League, are required to kick off behind closed door.
“I can’t wait for the return of football in stadiums,” says Kyle Tam, 21, a fanatic of local football. “The distance between players and fans are closer in normal matches. I miss that feeling a lot.”
“I’m ready to return to the stadiums and cheer for my team.” Mr. Tam says.
Under such a chaotic situation, players, coaches and fans are all hoping that it would go better in the following weeks. However, things just go contrary to their wishes.
On 21st March, the city’s leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced that sports facilities will be closed again starting from 23rd March, due to the significant surge in imported cases. The semi-final match of the FA Cup between Wofoo Tai Po and R&F is probably the last match to be held in the coming weeks.
Players hope that matches can return after the spreading of coronavirus is under control.
“I hold an optimistic view towards the reopening of the Hong Kong Premier League,” says the young defender. “I believe that Hong Kong people can get through this challenge.”
“Let’s hope for the best and prepare for the worst.” Mr. Tam says. “No matter what, I would still support local football forever.”