‘We grew up on that field’ – Hong Kong players make passionate plea to save Tin Shui Wai rugby ground from developers
- Coach Peter Ng says he used to travel two hours to Kowloon for training
- Fong Kit-fung says the Tin Shui Wai ground changed his life via rugby
Peter Ng Chi-ho’s parents would complain about how late he would return home from rugby training. It was a four-hour round trip from Tin Shui Wai, in the New Territories, to King’s Park, in Kowloon.
So Ng was delighted when the Hong Kong Rugby Union took charge of the Tin Shui Wai Community Sports Ground several years ago.
The ground is close to his heart because of the role rugby continues to play in his life – first as a player with Pandas, and now as a coach for Kowloon and a full-time job with the HKRU.
Ng hopes a proposal to the government to rezone the ground so that it can be seized by developers who may want to build shopping malls, markets or car parks fails to see the light of day.
“I was 19 or 20 and it was quite difficult to get to training,” Ng said. “We trained every Tuesday and Thursday and played on Saturdays. I tried not to worry about the travelling and just focus on training.