Q: Let’s talk about the name and the badge?
A: Yeah, thanks for the inspiration. The Hong Kong Irish Harps were started in 2018 by the chairman Shane Moore, a Finn Harps fan and Letterkenny man. You can’t improve on perfection, he thought, so he’s basically helped himself to the badge and the name. These were the days before AI, of course.
Q: Why start the team?
A: While there was a Gaelic football team, there was no soccer team for the Irish community, so Shane thought he’d fill that gap by doing good for the large number of Irish expats in Hong Kong and their friends.
Q: How did you get on?
We started in the mostly expat Legal League and won promotion from the second division to the top, where we nearly won the title in our first season. Sadly, a few differences in opinion on how things should be run led to a split between the first team and a social team.
The first team – as it was then – folded under the expectation, but the social team went from playing Sunday nights near the Shenzhen border in mad local leagues like Liga 8 and SS League – best not to ask – to signing up for the Yau Yee League, the premier amateur league in Hong Kong.
The Yau Yee League is affiliated with the Hong Kong FA, and once you get above that, you start to get into lads being paid to play, so we’re doing OK.
Q: Who plays for the Hong Kong Harps?
A: We’ve some absolutely brilliant lads from all over Ireland, some fellas with Irish heritage, some boys who are very enthusiastic when it’s St. Patrick’s Day, and the odd local fella here and there. Our very own Liam Grant is an ex-League of Ireland player, having played for Galway United and SD Galway. The league also has Fiachra McArdle at Albion in the first division, ex Dundalk, Sporting Fingal, Athlone. and others. Overall, the current squad is a good mix with some longer-term Hong Kong residents and others passing through, like students.
Q: How have you got on this season?
We’ve done well, thanks for asking. We won the Yau Yee League Division 2, having lost only one game all season, and we have since made it a double by winning the YYL Cup — we were the first Div 2 team to even make the final in the league’s 46-year history. It’s been some season for the boys, and we could not be prouder. It’s even more of an achievement, seeing as the chairman has been back in Donegal this season, watching the real Harps and welcoming a new addition to the squad in the form of his lovely second daughter.
Q: We hear they are calling you the Wrexham of the Yau Yee League?
Well, the similarities start and end with winning promotion three seasons on the bounce. We might have Opel on the front of the kits, but, much like the badge, that was purely design inspiration from the classic Ireland kits of the 1990s, and we don’t actually have a sponsor —hint, hint.
Joking aside, we are hoping to up our social media presence, and while we are not holding out for an Amazon documentary with A-list stars, there’s no reason the Hong Kong Harps can’t become internet famous. Give us a follow on YouTube and Instagram.
Q: What’s next for the HK Harps?
We’ve got through playing wearing masks in 30-odd degree heat during Covid, so who knows?
Playing Division 1 football will be a big step up for the lads, but they’ve taken the last few seasons in their stride. We’re already on Football Manager, although you can’t play as us, so maybe they can sort that out and we can get a few more fans.
One day, if we’re really dreaming, maybe a HK Harps v Finn Harps friendly? That would be some story for social media.
