“An illustrious playing career. An excellent read.” – Craig Brown CBE, former manager, Scotland national football team
When 'Jesus' Came to Hong Kong
The remarkable story of the first European football star in Asia
Description
When Scottish footballer Derek Currie was made an offer to travel to Hong Kong to play against the one sportsman he had dreamed of meeting on the field, he couldn’t say no. From apprentice printer in Glasgow to playing football against Pele in the Far East, singing with Stevie Wonder and shadow-boxing with Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Currie enjoyed a magical life as one of the first three European professional footballers in Asia. He was quickly nicknamed ‘Jesus’ by Hong Kong football fans. Here he traces the early development of professional football in the then-British colony through his own career: the games, the places and the characters he met along the way. Given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he didn’t think twice – traveling 6,000 miles across the world to pursue his dream of professional football. In the years that followed, he met international stars from music, showbusiness, boxing and horse racing. Here in words and pictures is his amazing story – if not for the photographic proof you could be forgiven for thinking it might be a fairy tale! It isn’t.
Reviews
“I took the Swedish team Malmo to Hong Kong in the late ’80s for a tournament Derek had organised. Walking down the street after a game everybody seemed to say hello to ‘Jesus’. I took the Switzerland national team there in the mid ’90s and it was the same again. I never saw him play, but he has some story to tell!” – Roy Hodgson CBE, former manager, England national football team
“I was privileged to both watch Derek play football and to witness him work his magic at sporting events, press launches, race meets… all of which you will read about here. This is both a captivating story of one man’s journey from Glasgow to the Far East and a nostalgic throwback to a magical lost age in a truly unique setting.” – John Dykes, sports television anchor
