In football, Hong Kong is the big brother, not China ... and here’s why
The city is among the pioneers of the modern game in the region and paved the way for many of the top Asian countries
The echoes of national anthem booing have subsided, cross-border soccer-cum-political tensions have eased and China have sacked their national coach, Alain Perrin, because he was unable to beat, let alone score a goal against, “little brother” Hong Kong.
There’s something wrong with that opening sentence. Yes … “little brother”. Throughout the Fifa World Cup qualifiers, Hong Kong has been referred to as China’s “little brother”. Politically and historically, there’s no denying Hong Kong is subservient to the motherland. However, from a football point of view, we have been getting it wrong.
In football, the Hong Kong v China sibling relationship is more like Venus Williams and Serena Williams
Little brother implies a John McEnroe-Patrick McEnroe-type scenario, in which older brother John wins Wimbledon three times and reaches number one in the world while younger sibling Patrick tries to follow in his footsteps, makes a good fist of it, but is never quite able to come close to matching big brother’s success.
In football, the Hong Kong v China sibling relationship is more like Venus Williams and Serena Williams. At the start it was Venus who everyone was talking about. Though Serena was the first to win a grand slam, Venus took a 4-1 major lead over her sister in the early years as pros before the younger Williams forged ahead.
Venus paved the way for Serena. That’s what big sisters do. And Hong Kong, as we will see, paved the way for China in football. That’s what true big brothers do. In terms of modern football, Hong Kong is, indeed, the big brother. Notice the word “modern”, in case ancient historians try to bring up the game of cuju that was played in Zibo more than 2,300 years ago.
Hong Kong was the first territory in East Asia to to form an official football governing body, with the Hong Kong Football Association created in 1914. The Chinese Football Association was formed in 1924, 10 years later. In any case, this body was transferred to Taipei after the civil war and the People’s Republic of China’s official football association didn’t come into existence until 1949.