WHEN LIVERPOOL'S millionaire footballers step on to the turf at Happy Valley on Sunday to play a Hong Kong XI they will be on familiar ground for British soccer players. Several teams have played there in the past few seasons. The bigger question is whether they will follow an equally well-trodden route into the city's bars and on to the pages of Britain's tabloids.
It could be the heat, the 24-hour temptation or the fact players view foreign jaunts as a holiday and fail to pack their brain cells, but a trip to Hong Kong has stars pressing the self-destruct button like nowhere else. The city has witnessed enough footballing fracas to compile a tacky TV show called When Good Players Turn Bad. Stars from Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United among others have all had their fair share of scrapes in the city.
Most notoriously, Paul Gascoigne and members of the English national team went on a drinking spree on the eve of the 1996 European Championships and were pictured having neat spirits poured down their throats in the infamous dentist's chair at the China Jump bar in Causeway Bay. Gazza later went berserk on the flight back to London while his team-mates smashed TV screens in an orgy of violence.
A year earlier, Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour punched an elderly taxi driver at 8am in Wan Chai after downing at least 12 pints in an all-night drinking session. He was fined $2,000 and ordered to pay $2,000 compensation. But the damage to the reputation of English footballers was beyond repair, despite his public apology.
'When it's off season players would rather relax and enjoy themselves,' says Dr Louie Lobo, an assistant professor at the Baptist University's department of physical education which studies sports psychology. 'They're here to demonstrate and practise so it's a kind of vacation for them. I think they will drink and go out while they can.'
The problem is not just restricted to football. Participants in the Rugby Sevens and Cricket Sixes have attracted headlines for the wrong reasons: ranging from vomiting on the pitch after a big night to molesting a woman in a club. Lobo says a drinking culture is commonly the preserve if team sports. 'Social drinking happens in sports such rugby, basketball and American football. They will hang out with their team-mates to become friends. Many players will get drunk, especially the English. It doesn't happen so much with individual sports such as cycling and tennis.'