Hong Kong Rugby League

[DlEHARD]

Hi everyone.

 

Many of you may know me. Ive been posting here for over a decade and I love Rugby League particularly International Rugby League. Like many of you I want to see our game played around the globe.

 

I live in Hong Kong (I'm an Aussie from Brisbane) and work in the education system. I have an educational and professional background in Business, Sport Management and Marketing.

 

I have been reflecting on getting Rugby League up in Hong Kong for a while. And recent discussion in the forum on the Mexico thread has encouraged me to post this topic.

 

Obviously what ever is done needs to be balanced and sustainable. Not based on any one person. It also can't be just an expats league, there needs to be proper and determined efforts to get Hong Kongers playing. 

 

Things could begin as an interest group, gathering and recruiting the people we need to make a go of it.

 

There is an expat Australian population of 90,000 and then you have your people from the UK and NZ. Hk is a well known place to many and it is close to travel from Australia.

 

I also believe there are many of us out there with links to Hong Kong, or who have visited or work there.

 

One thing I do know, starting a Rugby League is one of the hardest things you can do and I wouldn't want to be taking any backward steps.

[Bob8]

I was rather shocked to see the Facebook estimate that 66,000 people have an interest in rugby league in Hong Kong.  That is a large number (slightly unfeasilble in fact).

 

Do not rush, you would like to watch rugby league with likeminded souls I imagine, so form a Facebook group for that purpose.  That is ideal for getting rugby league fans together and finding out who turns up when they say they will.  

[brooza]

Jake (one of the people involved in Madrid RL) is from HK, he may have some contacts over there (it's a long shot though as he only started with the sport at Uni in the UK and I'm not sure he's been back).

 

Phone number is +34635349701, but you can get him by email through madridrugbyleague@madridrugbyleague.com

[EdinburghExile]

Best of luck. It'll be tough for a while, but get those foundations in place, and things can grow surprisingly quickly.

[The Partisan]

Mmmm.. so this is where you have got to !  

 

Good luck with the HK adventure. Know your passion for the international game and with some of the mentoring youi have received from promineny RL administrators I'm sure you'll work your way through the many obstacles that are sure to occur.

[IM2]

pete choy is an ex skolars players and is from and lives in HK. give him a shout

 

https://www.facebook.com/choywp?fref=ts

[DlEHARD]

Thanks to everyone for their comments. They are encouraging and important in shaping the concept.

 

pete choy is an ex skolars players and is from and lives in HK. give him a shout

 

https://www.facebook.com/choywp?fref=ts

 

Thank you I will try and get in touch.

[Bob8]

Is this anything to do with you:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hong-Kong-Rugby-League/333481506792423?fref=ts

[DlEHARD]

Is this anything to do with you:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hong-Kong-Rugby-League/333481506792423?fref=ts

 

Yea that's me. Was playing around. Keen to form a RL interest group and cast a wide net for interested parties when the time comes.

[londonrlfan]

Good luck in your endeavors Die Hard. I guess a good place to start would be Facebook/Twitter to try and engage with an audience and find any interested parties. As you work in the education system, perhaps trying to get a University or school competition up and running would be a good way to try and get locals engaged too? 

[Bob8]

It is a good start to have the social Facebook group.  More people will be joining now globally, to increase the numbers, which will increase visibility in Hong Kong.

 

To give you a time line, In 2007 I bumped into another rugby league fan and former player.  A year later, we started to organise in ernest.  We had a nine-a-side team by 2009, that played a visiting from Norway.  We played in a kit that had just been worn by a rugby union team.

 

I then left the country and things cooled down, bit were revived by 2011 when we had a full 13-a-side team.  The first clubs were formed in 2013.

 

My point is, it takes time.  When you hear about huge fast growth, it tends to be in less economically developed countries with lots of free land,  Hong Kong falls into that bracket even less than Denmark.  If this year, you can match what we achieved in 2007, you are doing great.

[Bob8]

From 3 Likes to 50 Likes in 30 minutes, not too shabby.

[Bob8]

And 100.

[DlEHARD]

We are now on twitter. https://twitter.com/HKRugbyLeague

[Bob8]

You have been retweeeted!

I suggest trying to arrange a bar to show a game and getting it out there.  This will take time and if you can just have an informal group of rugby league fans by the end of the year, it is progress.

[DlEHARD]

You have been retweeeted!

I suggest trying to arrange a bar to show a game and getting it out there.  This will take time and if you can just have an informal group of rugby league fans by the end of the year, it is progress.

 

I agree. I have one in mind which I have been frequenting for NRL and baseball games. They already play all the NRL games. I head back to HK on Wednesday. 

[Bob8]

Ace.  Good luck.

[DlEHARD]

On Saturday night I had the pleasure of meeting Andrew Charles from the Thailand Stars. He was visiting Hong Kong (One of the luxuries of being a gateway city) and we managed to organise a catch up.

 

Andrew and the TRLA have been very successful with their staged development and work through the Asia Cup. He went into depth about how they started, the challenges and the future.

 

Andrew can be certainly described as an Internationalist with the game at heart. He gave me valuable advice and someone experienced to bounce ideas off. He was very encouraging and I agree that it should be similar to get Rugby League up in Hong Kong than any other Asian country.

 

He told me about the upcoming Phuket 9s and offering Thailand as a future opponent if we can form a side for a friendly.

 

I can really see how a group of nations in Asia, in close proximity could really help each other.

 

A photo to commemorate the occasion. Here is to international solidarity. I value his support and new friendship. A guy us internationalists can be proud of.

 

[Shadow]

Jake (one of the people involved in Madrid RL) is from HK, he may have some contacts over there (it's a long shot though as he only started with the sport at Uni in the UK and I'm not sure he's been back).

 

Phone number is +xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, but you can get him by email through madridrugbyleague@madridrugbyleague.com

Should you be posting that on an open forum?

[Bob8]

To be fair, not many people read here.

 

There are also these people, but I am sure you have your hands full with leads at the moment:

https://www.facebook.com/hktouch

[brooza]

Should you be posting that on an open forum?

Taken from the Madrid RL contact page,

http://www.madridrugbyleague.com/contacto/

[Shadow]

Taken from the Madrid RL contact page,

http://www.madridrugbyleague.com/contacto/

Fair enough

[DlEHARD]

From the very first post I flagged that I was conscious of doing things appropriately and having a dual approach of ex pats and Hong Kong locals. 

 

If you think it is beneficial for our sport to be non existent in one of the world's financial hubs you are wrong. To gain prestige and influence we need to be representative in places such as Hong Kong. 

 

Being so close to other Asian nations puts us in a position to be able to help these developing RL nations as well. You should not think simply in national sides (Although an authentic national side is the goal), but there are other ways to tour. 9s competitions and clubs. Japan is struggling and is also very close. Not to mention the benefits of attracting multi national sponsors.

 

There are alot of rugby league lovers here and former players. A lot of them really want a social outlet and have money. It makes perfect sense to harness these people to help with what would be a massive task ahead. To power a true development operation, we need passion and experience in the game. There could also be some amazing connections and links out there just waiting to be discovered in the expat community. It is a dual approach. Proper development is not out of the question, it's on the radar. I haven't even begun to scratch the surface and I have had a school suggest that I teach kids rugby league.

 

At the end of the day the quest to grow Rugby League is about participation, it isn't about racing for dots on a map. Developing a sport is not easy and first you need to rally the troops.

 

Please if you are going on people who are having a go, do it elsewhere. Rugby League has had enough of that in its history and we have suffered for it.

[John Drake]

From the very first post I flagged that I was conscious of doing things appropriately and having a dual approach of ex pats and Hong Kong locals. 

 

If you think it is beneficial for our sport to be non existent in one of the world's financial hubs you are wrong. To gain prestige and influence we need to be representative in places such as Hong Kong. 

 

Being so close to other Asian nations puts us in a position to be able to help these developing RL nations as well. You should not think simply in national sides (Although an authentic national side is the goal), but there are other ways to tour. 9s competitions and clubs. Japan is struggling and is also very close. Not to mention the benefits of attracting multi national sponsors.

 

There are alot of rugby league lovers here and former players. A lot of them really want a social outlet and have money. It makes perfect sense to harness these people to help with what would be a massive task ahead. To power a true development operation, we need passion and experience in the game. There could also be some amazing connections and links out there just waiting to be discovered in the expat community. It is a dual approach. Proper development is not out of the question, it's on the radar. I haven't even begun to scratch the surface and I have had a school suggest that I teach kids rugby league.

 

At the end of the day the quest to grow Rugby League is about participation, it isn't about racing for dots on a map. Developing a sport is not easy and first you need to rally the troops.

 

Please if you are going ###### on people who are having a go, do it elsewhere. Rugby League has had enough of that in its history and we have suffered for it.

 

The trolling post(s) that prompted this response from Diehard have been removed, but I'm leaving this response as it is, as it makes many valid points on the subject under discussion, even though the tone of it feels a bit odd now it is somewhat out of context. Just thought it worth adding this comment to clarify that, rather than remove this whole post as well.

 

Back to the discussion...

[Yakstorm]

HK Touch appears to be part of the HKRFU, so I'm not sure how co-operative they are going to be about helping out League, still always an opportunity to reach out I guess...they technically are part of the Federation of International Touch, which means they would be playing under League rules, so if nothing else, they will have players who may associate with League.

 

Anyway keep up the good work Diehard! Remember they said places like Lebanon, Canada and Jamaica would never take up the code, yet look at them now...