Hong Kong's sole mainland-based professional Ng Wai-chu says he has found himself something of an outcast at his new club. The 22-year-old, who switched Division One teams over the winter when he left Guangzhou Hongying (Eagles) to join Nanjing Yoyo, says his performances are 20 to 30 per cent down on last season because of the frosty reception he's been given by his new teammates.
'Nanjing used to be Liaoning's second team. All the players are from Liaoning. I think they just think I'm from Guangdong and they don't like that. It's the same at most teams in China. The reason Dalian and Beijing are two of the best teams in the Super League is they both have mostly local players,' Ng said. 'The players don't always trust me. I'm a bit of an outsider. I think some of them think I have come in as a star player to take one of their positions away. It can affect your confidence.'
The Hong Kong youngster, whose parents crossed the border from Guangdong shortly before he was born, says he's found himself in the same boat as Nanjing's eclectic mix of 'legionnaires' who hail from Costa Rica, Portugal and Hungary. 'It's difficult for them, too. In Division One it's always the foreign players who score the goals. If your foreign players play well, you win. All three of Nanjing's foreigners are in their first year in China and I think the other players and newspapers have criticised them a lot.'
The poor reception in Nanjing contrasts with the reception Ng got from the Guangzhou supporters and players at the start of the season. 'When I went back with Nanjing the Guangzhou fans had a banner saying 'Ng Wai-chu we still love you'. The feeling was very good. The people were so nice. Even when I left the club the coaches and the players were all saying 'good luck and take care'.'
However, while Ng might be regretting making the move, which he readily admits was for financial reasons, he has no intention of quitting. 'If I have a good year with Nanjing and Guangzhou are in a better financial position then maybe if I can I'll go back. This year is difficult but if I give up I'll lose so much,' he said. The biggest influence on his career, his father Ng Chi-ying, was one of the first sweepers in China, but walked out of his first year with the national team in Beijing after just one week. 'He always tells me, 'Don't be like me. Don't give up'. China is very hard for me, and sometimes I do want to come back, but my father has taught me many things. He taught me that if you choose football you have to do your best, that you can't have any regrets.'
A late bloomer, Ng scraped into the Hong Kong Under-16 squad, but admits he was the 18th player out of 18, the slowest runner and a dreadful shooter. However, the faith shown in him during his two years at the Sports Institute by coach Tsang Wai-chung, who predicted he would be the first of his generation of players to reach the national team, proved a turning point. He was voted the Hong Kong league's best young player when he broke into Instant-Dict's first team, but then took the unusual step of turning his back on Hong Kong football when the club folded in 2001. 'I thought the future in Hong Kong wasn't so good. There was no money and no one was watching. If I went to China I thought I could improve. My first year in China everything was so different. One week in pre-season we trained 14 times. In Hong Kong I'd have only trained five or six times. The weights they were lifting in the gym were so heavy. If the Guangzhou players were lifting 60kg, I could only lift 30kg. It took me three months to catch up!'
