English soccer giants Liverpool are investigating whether a Hong Kong kindergarten is breaching their trademark by naming itself after the football club's ground and using a crest similar to the club's.
The Premier League club says it has no link to the Anfield International Kindergarten in Kowloon Tong and is seeking advice on whether the school is entitled to use its famous crest featuring the city of Liverpool's symbol - the 'liver bird'.
School supervisor Angela Lee Nga-kam said the four-year-old school in Somerset Road was called Anfield because her husband, who had studied in Britain, was a keen Liverpool fan and it was easy for children to remember. The kindergarten has more than 200 pupils.
The kindergarten was a serious educational establishment and did not offer any special soccer training to toddlers or any other programmes related to soccer, she stressed. 'We tried some different names first - including Eton - but they had all been registered by our competitors,' Mrs Lee said. 'My husband suggested the name Anfield. He has been a big fan of Liverpool since he was a boy.
'For me, I liked the slogan 'You'll never walk alone'. We are a Catholic school and it is appropriate to our belief in children's education. We believe God always walks with us.'
Mrs Lee said the crest - which has a Christian cross on the top - had been registered in Hong Kong as the kindergarten's trademark, along with the Anfield name.
Ian Cotton, press officer for Liverpool Football Club, said the club was concerned that the kindergarten's use of the name Anfield and its logo might lead people to believe it was connected to the club.