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Don’t forget us next year: women’s football’s plea after Hong Kong Lunar New Year Cup scrapped
- Showcase game between a representative team and youth side cancelled because of Wuhan coronavirus but HKFA’s Betty Wong wants it part of annual plan
- Head coach Ricardo Rambo wants to change thinking that women’s game is mere recreation as they aim for AFC finals in 2030
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Hong Kong women’s football manager Betty Wong hopes they will not be forgotten next year when the Lunar New Year Cup is staged after being denied a showcase match at the annual tournament on Sunday.
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The event was scrapped on Thursday night by the Hong Kong government over the increasing threat of the Wuhan coronavirus.
This year’s Lunar New Year Cup was to feature a game between Hong Kong’s women’s representative team and the “Stars of Future”, a mix of the under-23, under-18 and under-15s. It would have been a prelude to the main event at Mong Kok Stadium – a Hong Kong men’s team taking on a League Selection XI.
Wong would have preferred if the game did not come about because of a lack of interest from foreign men’s teams. “Now we have the men’s and we should have the women’s but not just because they can’t organise some overseas teams to come,” she said.
“It should be that we plan to have this game for women. We should have the same emphasis on promotion for men and women.”
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