I had mixed feeling on 519. Several very good players on the Chinese team.... Guo Guangming later went to play in Germany. He might be the first Chinese player in Germany. "Townshed" Qin won a A-League title with San Francisco Black Hawks. He was one of their better players. The team inlcuded Eric Wynalda.
News about South China and Kit Chee match can be found here : http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/alvin-football/article?mid=73&new=1
Gu Guangming is a legend. Would be nice if he can coach the NT. I think he even came to the US and played indoor soccer for a few years. Do you have any video clip of him playing? I couldn't find any on Youtube.
I was < 10 yr old at that time. I remember watching TV and TVB keep advertising the game with the phrase "must win, must not draw". That phrase still sticks in my mind even till these days. IIRC, HK then got knock out by Japan after that, is that correct?
People forgot about him. His teammate was known as "China's Pele", but I do not know how to write his name in English.
That's sad. I recall all the big foreign teams that I got to watch in HK when I was a young man/boy. The best was between Santos (with Pele) and Newcastle (with Malcolm McDonald) in a torrential rain. Both Pele and McDonald were at the peak of their game. In that game, Pele scored the best goal that I have seen by any player (or so it seems in my memory). He received a ball in the penalty area, juggled the ball with his head, chest, knee and foot, while beating 2 or 3 Newcastle defenders. In this scoring sequence, the ball never touched the ground.
Rangers was the first Hong Kong team to import players (in any significant number). Most of their earlier players came from Scotland. As a South China fan, I still have fond memories of South China battling Rangers, which had a player nicknamed "Jesus" (for his slight stature and long hair, sort of a faster version of Heydude) and one nicknamed "Big Water Buffalo" (for his size). After Rangers started importing players, other teams also began doing so, mostly from Australia and S. Korea (IIRC). Eventually, it led to the more famous imports that EG described. Another interesting thing watching soccer in HK in the late 60s and early 70s was that HK players made up two "national" teams at that time, one representing HK and one representing Taiwan. I left HK in the mid 70s and thus don't know when did this practice stop.
yes HK used to be very strong and has probably the longest history in terms of club football in asia. but now we suck so bad.
Alan Ball passed away. He played for Bulova in the 1980's for a few games. He was the youngest member of the 1966 WC team. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=525415
Rangers actually was named about Glasglow Rangers. Their logo looked the same. It was started by a Scot. "Jesus" = Derek Currie. He remained in HK after retiring from football. He went onward to become a successful businessman. He is still very active in sport. I sometimes see him in the HK stadium.
Do you remember the name of the Scottish owner of Rangers? I remember Currie's name as translated in Chinese, but wasn't sure about it in English. IIRC, "Big Water Buffalo"'s English name is ?? Walter. Is he still around HK? It was quite funny seeing Currie and Walter together since they were so different in size and look. IIRC, a good friend of mine's younger brother actually played for Rangers (as a winger?) in the mid to late 70s. I haven't seen him play (since I already left HK by then), but he is supposed to be quite fast. His last name is Yuen. Do you know of him?
The owner of Rangers were before my time. I learned about it in the 1980's. "Big Water Buffalo" moved back home. Derek Currie played until the 1980's when I started following soccer. He was a PR for Carlsberg.... he was always around during the Carlsberg Cup. He was tipster for horse racing in South China Morning Post too, but I do not follow horse raing anymore so I don't know about now. I have no idea about Yuan.
South China boss sets his sights on winning the AFC Cup next season. Hope this will come true and HK teams will be able to play the AFC Champion League in the future! That'll be great....
It will be tough for South China even in AFC Cup becos of the 3 foreign rule. They wll have to make unwanted changes to the side when playing in Asia
I just check the regulations... u r absolutely right! That would be difficult! But then again, this doesn't make the competition attractive although i know where they r coming from. Surely, the same doesn't apply to AFC Champions League, right?
It s the same but changes may be make for the 2009 version for bth AFC Cup & AFC CL AFC is considering whether to allow up to 5 foreign but 2 must be Asian orgin to promote more Asian player to move
Don't really know much about the HK football league, but was just wondering after reading some of the posts. Seeing as crowd attendences at games seems to be very low because of the european leagues, would it not be a sensible solution to switch the league so that it starts in Febuary or March and runs through out the summer??? Surely when most of the european teams finish for the season the the attendances at local league games will improve??? I know it'd be asking a lot of the player to play during that period due to thr weather, but it seems to work of the league of ireland attendances. Although I will say the league of ireland is more to do with the weather and not european games shown on tv. lol Another thing I was wondering is how do chinese teams in Hong kong and China develop young players??? Is there like a junior league were younger players are scouted by the bigger teams??? Or is it a case of only the rich sending there kids??? You forgot to mention Jim Haggin when mentioning old players that had a spell in HK... Former Northern Irish International that had spells with Coventry City and Celta Vigo...lol
South CHina as Treble Champions (League, FA Cup & League Cup) along with Happy Valley as FA Cup runner-up have qualified for 2008 AFC Cup
King of difficult for HK and many SE Asian countries due to the extreme hot and humid weather. Not just for the players, but also for the fans as well. It's really no fun sitting under the sun for a good 2 hours except in beaches.... Even evenings will be difficult. It the humidity that kills...
What are the FA Cup and League Cup? Are they what used to be called the Gold Shield and Silver Shield (both knockout competitions)?
SEA will have to divided up as well as S'pore, Indonesia, Malaysia & Brunei played our season from March - November as December - February can be unplayable with all the rain FA Cup and League Cup r knockout competitions