I'm not really into sports. I enjoy watching tennis, rugby and winter sports; I had tennis lessons, I played rugby at school, and I went on a school ski-ing trip, but I'm no sportsman nowadays - the closest I get is bowling every now and again, and I'm not even really that good. I am, however, a proud Loiner and Englishman.
I don't make an effort to see Leeds United playing - but I did for their Championship play-off against Watford, for the chance of going back up to the Premiership and regaining some of their former glory. I similarly don't make an effort to watch international matches, but I've seen two of England's three matches, and at least part of a few others in this World Cup.
So far, I've seen England beat Paraguay (by sheer luck) at an American diner/bar, with a group containing at least one German, one American, one Malaysian and one Hong Konger, England beat Trinidad & Tobago (by a little less luck, but not cup-winning skill) in an English/Aussie/Kiwi bar with a mixed English/American group, watched the first few minutes of Portugal/Ghana in the lobby of my building, then listened to the second half on the beach in Shek O, watched the first half of the USA/Italy match in the same beach bar in Shek O (the barman having locked up the bar and left the TV on for us), had the Spain/Ukraine match on in the background while I was in in Irish pub with an Indian/Hong Kong/Israeli/German random group of people, and watched the first half of Australia/Brazil on my sofa before going to bed. Phew! This is for someone who doesn't really watch football...
I didn't bother getting up at 3am to watch the third England match, because I knew we're already gone through, so the match was just to decide if we came top or second in our group, which would partially decide if we played Ecuador or Germany in the next round. In other words, not a world-shattering result either way. I'll watch their next match, and as many more as they can hold on for - at the moment, I don't really rate their chances to win, from the way they've been playing so far.
Now, Hong Kong has an international football team. They don't really rank on the world stage - currently placed 116 in the world - but they have won the odd qualifier over the years, and they're not an entirely irrelevant team. They, realistically, have almost no chance of playing in the World Cup (finals) in the foreseeable future. That does not mean, however, that people here aren't interested - quite the opposite. Football is pretty popular here, amongst expats as far as following their home team, and amongst locals mainly - apparently - following UK Premiership teams. I would say that I've seen at least as many football shirts, almost all English teams, worn on the streets here as I did in the UK, and of course there isn't the problem here of wearing a non-local shirt - wearing a Man U. shirt in Leeds might not be the most sensible thing to do, but here that sort of thing doesn't really matter.
The other big deal is gambling. It's fair to say that Hong Kong people - and Chinese people in general - like to gamble. The Hong Kong Jockey Club is one of the biggest gambling organisations on the planet, and Macau, as the Las Vegas of Asia, has reportedly overtaken Vegas in terms of gaming revenue - with an enormous amount of capacity expected to come online in the next couple of years. Gambling is big in this part of the world. From the linked story:
- Soccer gambling was legalized [in 2003] to curb illegal soccer betting, which totaled at least $20 billion in 2001, the government estimates. Taxation of legal soccer gambling meanwhile raised $2 billion in the 2004-05 fiscal year, helping push government finances into the black for the first time since the Asian financial crisis.
There are approximately 7 million people living in Hong Kong. That's an average of about $3000 being bet for every man, woman and child in the territory. That's one hell of a lot of money.
The World Cup is the greatest sporting event on the planet, in terms of spectacle and global viewers. Playing, and doing well, in the World Cup is the absolute pinnacle for any footballer on the planet. It's a huge business, with hundreds of millions of US$ being paid by sponsors to get their names plastered across marketing material worldwide, and for the right to use the logo. It's a major international event, being watched by people across the planet, but also with people coming together to enjoy sport in a competitive but - apart from a few idiots who should be locked up and forced to watch cricket and golf for the entire month of the World Cup - largely friendly environment. It's a great party all over the planet. It's also, in this unique little corner of the world, an enormous gambling revenue generator.