Tai Po hit silver screen with film starring keeper
With attendances through the floor, owners turn to movie to promote game
Tai Po have projected their poster boy, Hong Kong goalkeeper Tse Ka-wing, onto the big screen, after the enterprising district club turned to the world of film to try to breathe new life into the poorly supported local league.
Dreams of Glory is a short movie charting the story of an angry teenager’s complex relationships with family, friends and football.
The 39-minute film was hatched and funded by Tai Po owners Francis and Catherine Yip, as a device to “promote local football, and try to attract more people to matches,” with local hero Tse one of its stars.
Francis Yip said Tse’s role, as a goalkeeper for fictional team Dreams FC, was designed to showcase football as a viable career.
One aspiring footballer in the film references his parents’ preference that he become a “doctor, lawyer, or engineer”.
“I want to be this role model, because I want to encourage more people who love football to play the sport,” Tse said. “Most importantly, I want people to know football in Hong Kong is really not bad. I want to take care of it. If I play well, and my image is good, I can help.
“If more stakeholders in Hong Kong football have ideas like this, we can attract new fans. I cannot change it [by myself].”
In 2020, the Hong Kong Football Association produced its Vision 2025 initiative. Strategic goal three, of seven, targeted “an improving and independently operated” men’s professional league “with stable teams”.
One tactic for realising this ambition was to “increase attendances”.
Yet the average attendance for Premier League matches in 202223 was 749, with only Kitchee and Eastern regularly attracting more than 1,000 supporters. Figures for 2023-24 are not expected to improve.
The film was co-written by Bobby Sho and Ian Hui, who doubled as director. They said the plot both “shines a light on impoverished Hong Kong, and promotes
Hong Kong football ... by shining a light on the talent [in the city]”.
Lead character Hong returns to Hong Kong from the mainland, aged 17, after the death of his father, leaving behind older brother Tai and his mother.
The brothers stumble across Dreams FC, and grow integral to a disparate squad’s attempts to reach the top level of local football. “This was something completely different for me, but it was fun. It is embarrassing seeing myself [on screen]; my acting probably needs to improve. But I would do more things like this, if it is OK with my football schedule,” Tse said.
Tse, Hong Kong’s No 1 for last year’s Asian Games semi-final campaign and a regular in the senior squad, has kept seven clean sheets in 11 league games this season.
“I think I am at the golden age to fight for my career,” he said. “I want to play overseas, and go to a higher level. It is not easy, especially as a goalkeeper, because you cannot go to the mainland [where only homegrown goalkeepers are permitted].
“I cannot force it, I have to focus on Tai Po and Hong Kong, and be ready if I get my chance.”