When Liverpool FC came, saw and conquered Hong Kong side Bulova
- Despite missing a trio of star players – Dalglish, Rush, Whelan – the English side dominated in 1983
- The local, capacity crowd stayed loyal to their team, cheering when they charged ‘energetically’ forward
“Mark down June 5 in your diaries,” asserted the South China Morning Poston May 6, 1983, “it looks like being quite a day in Hongkong soccer.” English football champions Liverpool, then considered “without doubt, the most successful team in Europe”, would be taking on local side Bulova at Hong Kong Stadium for a winner-takes-all cash prize of HK$150,000, sponsored by drinks company Vitasoy.
On May 19, the Post reported that Bulova would be flying in two top players from Britain to bolster their chances of success against Liverpool. “We’re out to win,” the team’s president, C.P. Wong, told the paper.
“Liverpool arrived to a heroic welcome yesterday – but minus key figures such as Scottish sharpshooter Kenny Dalglish, his Welsh striking partner Ian Rush and Irish international Ronnie Whelan,” reported the Post on June 4. “The trio have remained in England – on the treatment table – and are definite non-starters for tomorrow’s eagerly anticipated clash with Bulova.”
But even without some of their star players, Liverpool managed to dominate. “English league champions Liverpool, functional and efficient, beat Bulova 2-0 at a sun-drenched Hongkong Stadium yesterday in a game which never truly hit the heights,” the Post reported on June 6.
“Bulova must surely have some satisfaction at the fact that they provided certainly as much entertainment value as their gifted visitors. As Liverpool played possession football during the second half, slow handclaps were easily heard from the crowd and it was when Bulova charged energetically forward […] that the cheers resounded.”
The Hong Kong team profited from the match in other ways, too. “The game […] drew a capacity crowd of 27,856 and a gate of $1,450,110,” reported the Post on June 7.