Hong Kong government’s straitjacket on sport and recreation is suffocating entire industries

The Hong Kong Rugby Union, once with coffers overflowing, axes elite programme in a bellwether of things to come
Sport and fitness across the city have been choked out and now sit lifeless as Hong Kong government fiddles

Patrick Blennerhassett

Published: 10:32am, 20 Jan 2021

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The decision by the Hong Kong Rugby Union to axe its Elite Rugby Programme – the full-time men’s 15-a-side national team set-up – comes as no surprise.

The HKRU is in a financial bind as its monstrous cash cow, the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, was cancelled in 2020 and the 2021 edition has been postponed until November. There is no guarantee that it will be staged then, even with a vaccine now starting to be administered around the world.

The HKRU has long relied on the Sevens to fill its coffers and had stockpiled cash for a rainy day. But no one could have predicted this perfect storm.

Last week, about 50 tennis instructors and players staged a peaceful protest at Tamar Park over courts being shut down and their livelihoods damaged. The Hong Kong Police Department showed up en masse, with more than 100 officers and a loudspeaker to quickly disperse the participants, who took the opportunity to vent their frustrations.

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Hong Kong government suffocating sport and fitness industry to death

Gym owners, most of whom are still waiting for a second, or even first round of relief from the government, have endured more than 130 days of closure since the pandemic hit, and now can expect at least another few weeks as the government is unlikely to consider relaxing any restrictions until well after the Lunar New Year (February 12-14). The prerequisite is a drop in the number of local cases to single digits, which must be maintained for a “period of time”. But time is in short supply.

Fitness instructors and personal trainers, left to their own devices, have been pushed outdoors in a bid to stay afloat, forced to break social-distancing rules, risking fines and jail time in a bid to make a living and help Hongkongers stay fit and healthy in such trying times.

Hong Kong’s gyms plead with government to reopen to save them

Hong Kong’s Premier League footballers have seen play suspended three times. Snooker clubs under the government’s Places of Amusement License Holders have also closed three times. Coaches from various industries, including badminton, table tennis, squash and basketball, and contractors who only get paid if they work have been shut out from earning a living.

Tennis players and coaches saw their protest quickly shut down by a massive police presence last week at Tamar Park. Photo: Felix Wong

Of those coaches, 11,252 applied for the government’s relief subsidy under the second round of the Anti-Epidemic Fund, and only 8,496 received it. The payout, HK$7,500, doesn’t even cover one month’s rent for many in the city.

Hong Kong’s public swimming pools have been shut even longer than gyms, meaning an even more dire situation for that industry. Swimmers, eager to stay in shape, found themselves venturing outside safety nets and putting their lives in danger this summer when beaches were closed. Golf courses shut, an outdoor sport no one in their right mind could ever argue is a threat to social-distancing regulations.

Even smaller sports need to be included on this morbid list, such as lacrosse, fencing and cycling. Hong Kong’s elite athletes, hoping to at least stay fit while they wait out the pandemic, have been unable to train with any regularity or stability.

Rugby is the latest casualty in an ever growing list. Photo: HKRU

Outdoor workout equipment, littered throughout the city’s public parks, has been taped off and notices state those who use them could face fines. In response, Hongkongers have headed to the city’s many hiking trails, cramming routes with people and resulting in more mountain rescues.

This, on top of other hard-hit industries – restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, salons – means tens of thousands have seen work, play or both suffocated.

Meanwhile, the government continues to make head-scratching moves. A U-turn after banning the Lunar New Year flower markets has even left local florists perplexed.

It’s not the first time. In the hottest days of the summer last year, the brains trust forced constructions workers out into the heat to eat their lunch, and a subsequent rise in heatstroke quickly followed before the government ate humble pie.

‘We’re dead in the water’: Hong Kong gyms bleed out as they reopen

Those looking for relief from the government might as well give up.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has made it abundantly clear she is willing to let certain industries – sport chief among them – bleed out. But her lieutenants threw a tourniquet to flower-growing farmers and Lunar New Year stallholders because of the public’s demand for flowers and preparations made by farmers.

The fact that Hong Kong’s embattled Ocean Park is seeking HK$2.8 billion in government funding to stay afloat and launch new initiatives must sound like nails on a chalkboard for business owners.

One could only imagine how many financial lives could be saved if that money went directly to citizens’ pockets who have been unable to make ends meet due to government restrictions, not an outdated attraction trying to revamp itself.

Ocean Park will likely survive because billions have already been thrown into the bottomless pit, but Hong Kong sport might not be so lucky.

From the grass roots to the elite, the government’s choices are making it hard to see how Hong Kong sport comes through the Covid-19 crisis.