Sporting passion of Hongkongers is an inspiration

The recent flurry of sporting events has thrown up a number of aspects which I found particularly inspiring. With much of the media focus on China’s 15th National Games naturally on the sporting contests, less attention was paid to the fact that the event could only have been successfully organised with the support of local volunteers.\nThe Agency for Volunteer Service appealed for help in marshalling competitors and spectators, and tens of thousands of ordinary Hongkongers applied. The target was to engage 10,000. The applicants were vetted and 16,000 were taken on.\nThey were trained, given uniforms and carried out important duties such as handling injuries, crowd management, guest reception, spectator services and logistical support. Without their unpaid efforts, Hong Kong’s first time as co-host could not have gone as smoothly.\nThe second area worth mentioning is the passionate spectator support for Hong Kong representatives. My first experience of this was not at the Games but at the football match between Hong Kong and Bangladesh weeks earlier.\nThe packed Kai Tak Stadium of nearly 50,000 was a cauldron of sound, the north stand in particular loud and proud. They ignored the rather insipid official slogans on display (“Cheer for us” and “This is our home”) and roared out their own anthem: “We are the Hong Kong boys, we’re gonna make some noise.”\nI found this message very attractive. It made no attempt at political correctness – men and women of all ages and races were expected to, and did, sing it lustily – and it was in English. What could be more fitting for a multiethnic team in an international city.\n\nThe same enthusiasm and energy carried over to the rugby sevens matches in the National Games as the Hong Kong team stormed their way to victory over Shandong, the defending champions, in the final.\nThe final aspect of the sports scene here worth highlighting is the contribution of hundreds of volunteer coaches at our local sporting clubs working hard every weekend to develop the next generation of players in rugby, football and other sports.\nIn addition to the health and fitness benefits for the children, they also learn important lessons about working together for a common aim. As the coaches never tire of saying, “there is no ‘i’ in team”.\nWith this backdrop in mind, we can turn our attention to the Games themselves. The first thing to catch the eye was the wide variety of sports on display. Apart from those we are familiar with – rugby, swimming, fencing, cycling and golf – there were also some less familiar.\n\n\nBe honest, who knew we had a handball team. And beach volleyball? We even won a gold medal in sailing, although most Hongkongers probably didn’t even know we were represented until the medal presentation ceremony. So we all had our sporting horizons expanded.\nAlso pleasing to note was the standard of local athletes. We knew about fencing because of Cheung Ka-long’s heroics at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics. But in these National Games, we also won gold in swimming and cycling. These results are a tribute to the community’s efforts over many years.\nWith regard to facilities, the Kai Tak Sports Park is a game changer which means we can now host major events with a stadium attendance of around 50,000. But the pitch does cut up rather badly after intensive use and we need to explore ways to minimise this. The Tseung Kwan O Velodrome meets the standards of the International Cycling Union, so we have that subject covered, but where do we sit on tennis and swimming/diving?\n\nGiven that we hosted the East Asian Games in 2009 and co-hosted the National Games this year, the next logical step is the Olympics. Whether that is in 2036 or later, we must make sure our facilities are up to standard and we can play a full part with Macau and Guangdong.\nI would not want to pretend everything in the sporting garden is perfect. We know from the fiasco over the football match with Singapore that we have not yet found a way to keep out ticket touts. And from the chaos over the return of bags after the Streetathon, that some of our administration needs work.\nFor the National Games, it was disappointing that it was not possible to buy tickets in English on the official website for events in a city where it is one of the official languages. In these aspects, we can do better.\n