Betty Wong Hong Kong Women's National Team Manager

Hong Kong Girl Power! Interview with Ms. Betty Wong - Hong Kong Women's National Team Manager

Christopher KL Lau

Via the much heralded 'Project Phoenix', Hong Kong football is currently undergoing a revolution from the top to the bottom. Under the watchful eye of the Hong Kong women's national manager, Ms. Betty Wong, the women's national team and local league are also undergoing a radical change and opening up more opportunities to local girls / women to participate in the beautiful game at all levels; from playing to coaching and management.

Hong Kong is a seen as a fast paced and frenetic city where work is paramount yet attitudes are changing and more time and energy is being spent on sports and group participation. The women's game in the city has slowly evolved and since the inception of the Hong Kong Ladies' football association in 1986, more and more girls have been lacing up and taking to the playing fields of Hong Kong.

One of the most fundamental steps forward was the establishment of the Hong Kong women's league in 2012; this ensured a proper form of competition for keen women to play within a proper struture. Pioneers like Betty Wong are using their influence and knowledge to oversee the development of all areas of female competition in Hong Kong as well as encouraging more girls to pick up the game.

Under the watchful eye of Ms. Wong and Chan Suk Chi (Head Coach), the Hong Kong women's team have recently climbed three spots in the FIFA standings to co-rank 61st in the world with Croatia.

This is a remarkable achievement for such a small territory with limited space and training facilties! With more girls / women lacing up their boots, the future for the women's game in Hong Kong is definitely bright! Ms. Betty Wong took some time out from her busy schedule to give her views on her role and women's football in general.

Interview

How did you become involved in women's football?

In 1986, I participated in a women's football training scheme organized by the HK Ladies' Football Association. I joined the competition at the end of the scheme and then I was was invited to participate for the Caroline Hill Women's football Team in 1987 and played in the league.

At the same time, I was also selected to join the Hong Kong representative team. After that, I participated in different coaching course levels and also in an instructors' course. I  then became a coach and instructor. With Project Phoenix, I applied for the new post as the (Hong Kong) women's football manager so took this up as my new career.

Did you always enjoy football? Who was your greatest influence?

Not at the start! But after the first competition in my life, I started to enjoy it much more. My first two coaches, Robin Liu and Chan Shuk Chi have been the greatest influences on my path as a player and a coach.

Football is seen as a rough sport to some people. Is it easy to persuade Hong Kong parents to let their daughters play football? Are there many girls who like to play?

This may be a difficulty and challenge but for me as the time arrangement between football and academic study is the key difficulty in persuading parents. There is now a growing population of girls playing football.

Globally, do you think there are a lack of role models for young female footballers?

In Europe or other strong women football countries, some good role models make a great impact on young girl footballers but not that much in HK as there is a lack of TV broadcasting on women's football. Of course, if compared with the men's side, there are still a lack of female role models.

China used to be one of the strongest women's sides in the world but recently have regressed. Why do you think this has happened?

The change in China's economic and social status. There are now richer families and with only one child per family, has lead to less willingness to let their child (no matter boys or girls) to play football which is seen as tough. In China, the girls need to train every day, in addition to training camp so they cannot have a good education when they were young. Most of the girls will not want to lead such a kind of life. As there is a now a better quality of life in China, children are not as tough as before. The routine football life is not attractive to girls.

There is also the rising playing standard of other countries with better systems and support to girls' football. Better grassroots programs with other countries has led to a growing population in terms of women playing football. A successful continuous development of players with good coaching and scientific backup has led to stronger teams. As a result, China can no longer be seen as a superior team.

How many girls / women play football in Hong Kong? Do you have a large pool of players to select from?

We have registered, under the HKFA, 345 players. But there are around 650 playing in inter-schools at all levels (primary, secondary and university) who are not registered with the HKFA. The pool is not ideal for better selection of the players.

What are the short term plans for the Hong Kong women's national team?

Short term plans include securing regular training every week and to raise the competitiveness of the players in the international game.

Countries like the USA, Germany and Norway have very strong women's teams. What have these nations done in terms of coaching and technique to build such balanced squads?

- Good grassroots programs have enabled a large participation of girls and thus, this benefits, the selection pool. The players can play football at an early age and the benefit is the mastering of basic skills and development of their body attributes.

- Support from government, commercial enterprise, clubs and schools in addition to family support. This way, teams have specialists to work with during training or games. Scientific testing and injury prevention, doctors and physiologist. Players are better taken care of. Video capture and analysis etc. All this information is extremely useful to build up a strong team.

- Good training facilities and infrastructure so that the girls can have regular training.

The women's league in Hong Kong is quite small. What is one way to expose the Hong Kong female players to a higher level of play?

Actually we have 9-10 teams in the league. This is not small when compare with some neighboring countries. My thought is try to provide a better training environment and support to the league teams. Some teams don't have a training ground and can only attend the league games. How can they improve!

© Chris Lau & Soccerphile.com