Valley regulars licensed to thrill
Asahi Valley chairman Ian Fleming says his side's licence to thrill will be borne solely by players who have been around all season, and not by 'imports' brought in for the crucial clash against Macau at King's Park today.
Fleming brushed aside suggestions that two or three of his players were 'imports', brought especially for the play-off match against Macau where the winners join league champions Shaheen, runners-up Hong Kong Football Club and Guangdong in the Super League later this month.
'We are not bringing in people to play hockey. We just don't have that sort of money. We have two coaches from Perth who play for our first team and one other player who is a penalty corner specialist who came to Hong Kong on his own steam. We didn't bring him down,' Fleming said.
There has been speculation among other clubs that Michael Fraser, a drag-flick specialist, was brought in by Valley at the tail end of the season to boost the club's hopes of playing in the Super League. Fraser arrived in town a couple of months ago.
'Every year we bring down two players as coaches. This year the two are Warrick Price and Sam Lemmon who have been with us all season. Michael Fraser arrived three months ago,' Fleming said.
Valley are expected to be at full strength today although a question hangs over the appearance of newly-wed captain James Parsons.
Macau, meanwhile, will struggle once again to field their best team. Work commitments will prevent a number of their leading players from travelling according to Macau Hockey Association president Frederico Nolasco.
'This is a key game for us but unfortunately we will not be able o field our strongest side. A lot of our players cannot take a whole day off. If we were playing in Macau, it would be a different story as it would have been easier for the guys to get time off work,' Nolasco said.
With the Macau Stadium in Taipa under renovation for the East Asian Games, Macau have been forced to play all their matches in the South China Premier League in Hong Kong. And to make matters worse, they were caught un-prepared by the extra play-off round before the Super League.
'We are not happy about it. We thought after the first two rounds, the top three teams would qualify for the Super League. But that is not the case now and this extra games has caused problems for us,' added Nolasco.
The Hong Kong Hockey Association said the decision to have this play-off round was always on the cards and the clubs knew about it at the beginning of the season. Fleming backed the HKHA viewpoint.
'All the clubs agreed to this last August. The Macau representative was there although Football Club did not bother to turn up,' Fleming said.
Despite that lack of information, Football Club have booked their berth in the Super League. Macau will know their fate today.
