Ahead of the Hong Kong football team’s first match at the newly minted 50,000-seat main stadium in Kai Tak Sports Park against India in an AFC Asian Cup qualifier on June 10, some fans are gearing up to support the home squad with rapturous cheering.
One such fan is loudspeaker-wielding Chester Cheung, who for years led the chanting of supporters whenever the Hong Kong team played. He is part of a dedicated fan group, Hong Kong Chi Sin Lo, a Cantonese expression that translates to “crazy guys”.
Cheung said his dream was to see a sea of fans filling Kai Tak Stadium, cheering feverishly for the home team.
Founded a decade ago, the group was an alternative to a generally more mature demographic of football fans, or “uncles” as Cheung called them, to attract younger supporters for the Hong Kong football team.
“The fan culture of chanting was not commonplace back then,” said Cheung, one of the co-founders of the group. “People who joined were in their twenties; I was a teenager. We’d make banners overnight together – we were all very passionate.
“The trigger was the Hong Kong versus China game, an event that generated a huge buzz in the city. We set out to cheer in a more intense, fiery way,” the 28-year-old who works in human resources said, recalling the match in 2015 that was held amid intense debate around Hong Kong identity.
