“If you are stupid enough to be racist, then that is your problem,” James told the Post “From a purely football perspective, if you are having a go at fans in Asia, and questioning their support for a team in England, that criticism is completely misplaced.

“Thirty years ago, most fans went to the stadiums, but now it is a global game, it is consumed remotely by most people, and Asia has a tremendous number of fans who support teams with the same kind of passion as supporters in England.

“When you have their commitment and support for a team, it does not matter where in the world they are.”

England international James spent seven years with Liverpool, who boast an enormous South Asian support, and was a player and manager at Kerala Blasters in India.

James was alerted to the devotion England’s biggest clubs inspire across Asia when playing for Portsmouth against Liverpool in a 2007 preseason match at Hong Kong Stadium.

“It was packed with Liverpool fans, and that was when I thought, ‘OK, I get it’,” he said. “I didn’t think about it a huge amount over the next few years, because I was so focused on playing.

“When I went to India, though, I gained a new understanding of the values of supporting a football club. Liverpool’s Kerala Supporters Club had their inauguration in the hotel where I stayed, and their passion for the club was remarkable.”

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Real Madrid galacticos’ trip to Hong Kong recalled as Morientes returns to town

In April 2022, Kick It Out, the organisation dedicated to eradicating discrimination from football, joined forces with the English players’ union, the Professional Footballers’ Association, to establish the South Asian Action Plan.

The initiative is designed to tackle the underrepresentation of British South Asian players in the English academy system, with a long-term wish of normalising the presence of South Asian players in English football.

There are 22 players of South Asian heritage in England’s top four divisions this season, up from 17 in 2022-23.

James, meanwhile, was in Hong Kong for his first experience of the rugby sevens, as an ambassador for Carlsberg. The 53-year-old, whose partner hails from the city, called the event “wonderful craziness”, and was “buzzing” over the hosts’ men’s and women’s teams’ exhilarating string of matches.

“There was a question mark over whether they would be involved,” James said. “But look at the games, and the reaction of the crowd, and tell me how Hong Kong could not play in their own tournament?”

A veteran of more than 500 Premier League appearances, James trained with American football team Miami Dolphins in 2003. He is an intrigued observer, then, of the Welsh rugby union international Louis Rees-Zammit’s move to Kansas City Chiefs, winners of the past two Super Bowls.

Equally, James watched Michael Hooper, the former Australia Test captain, make his sevens debut in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Sevens: New Zealand teams do the double, again – day 3, as it happened

“I have spoken to [ex-England test player] James Haskell, and other former union players about this, and they say they would have struggled in sevens,” James said. “Transferring your skill set to another sport is so difficult, the requirements are fundamentally different.

“Today, though, everything is so professional, and there is so much data available, so it is possible to identify who can succeed in a different field.

“With sevens, specifically, I think more players are being attracted to it, because it is a professional circuit, with regular big events.”