Category: 2017

Vegetarian Cook Off @ Pizza Express Empire Centre – 6 June, 2017

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Pizza Express have opened a new outlet at Empire Centre in TST East. The ground floor restaurant is also one the five participating in Pizza Express Cook Off 2. A vegetarian palate buster between Wan Veggie Mom Christine Cheng and PE’s Product Development Manager Sophia Cheung using vegetarian ‘fake’ meat.
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Spain 41-18 Hong Kong

Spain beat Hong Kong 41-18 in the one-off Valladolid test as a disastrous start by the visitors saw the hosts establish a matching winning lead in the first quarter and lead 22-0 inside 30 minutes.

“That start was disappointing as we had talked a lot about how we needed to get at them early,” said coach Jo Hull. “We knew Spain would come out of the gate hard and we wanted to strangle them and prevent them from getting any momentum. We weren’t able to achieve that, unfortunately, but we did well to claw our way back into it.”

“Most importantly, we saw significant improvement from game one to two which was our main objective from the tour,” Hull added.

A gritty effort – led by the determined defence of flanker Cheng Ching-to and the inspired attack of winger Aggie Poon Pak-yan, saw Hong Kong claw its way back into the game in a more evenly contested second half.

Poon scored all of Hong Kong’s points, opening her account with a penalty in the 33rd minute to bring the half-time score to 22-3.

In the second half, the match opened up even further, with Spain starting the scoring in the 46th minute with a try to extend their lead to 29-3.

Hong Kong gained in confidence as the match wore on and were rewarded for their resiliency in the 51st minute when Poon, showing her skills, turned the corner on the Spanish defence to dash away for a forty-five metre try.

Poon’s try finished off a perfectly executed planned move that started from a scrum on the far side of the pitch. The ball passed cleanly though five pairs of hands in the back-line before Poon spotted the gap. Poon’s conversion of her own try edged Hong Kong back into the match at 29-10. Minutes later, another Hong Kong foray was rewarded, with a penalty, which Poon slotted to narrow the gap further 29-13.

Spain pushed right back with a barnstorming attack, throwing the ball around with abandon as they went 80 metres before creating a massive overlap on Hong Kong’s try-line to cross over for their sixth score and a 36-13 lead.

Moments later, Spain scored a final, fortuitous try to widen the margin to 41 points, leaving Hong Kong in danger of conceding a bigger loss than the 49-12 Madrid test defeat in 2015.

But Hong Kong re-grouped to marshal a final attack on the Spanish line and Poon stepped up once again, collecting a well-timed pass from fullback Colleen Tjosvold to dash 25 metres dragging three defenders across the line for a second try. Poon’s conversion was unsuccessful leaving the final score at 41-18.

Hull said before the tour that one of the goals of the trip was to expose the squad to more high-intensity matches and Hong Kong certainly experienced that as Spain were relentless in attack.

“Our tactical kicking still wasn’t good enough today,” said Hull. “We let them play too much rugby and we let their nine and ten get too involved. There were periods that we managed their pressure well, but our challenge now is to turn that 50 minutes into 80 minutes. But, overall, it was an improved performance against a much stronger side than the mid-week game.”

“We were more accurate in our attack and we had less handling and unforced errors, despite a big increase in the intensity of the game, so I’m pleased with that,” said Hull.

“This experience will absolutely hold us in good stead. Since we left this group has shown significant improvement and we have capped five new players on tour, which is vital for us in extending our squad ahead of the World Cup,” concluded Hull.

The squad returns to Hong Kong on Monday to prepare for the upcoming Asia Rugby Championship series with Japan in July.

Additional reporting and images: HK Rugby

Tiananmen Square Vigil @ Victoria Park – 4 June, 2017

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Tens of thousands of HongKongers gathered to remember those who died as China’s communist leaders turned their guns on their own unarmed people.

Tiananmen was 28 years ago, but the CCP continues to use violence to suppress freedom of speech, sexual equality and especially against those who speak out on corruption, incompetence, nepotism and party members self-enrichment.

While news of few of these violent put downs makes it past China’s draconian censors, we only need to see what has happened here in Hong Kong to know it’s far worse north of the border.

Here publishers disappear, kidnapped from our streets while the police do nothing. A police force that used to be respected and trusted by all. But now a force that cannot ‘see’ a pro-Beijing supporter beat someone up even when it happens infront of their eyes and is recorded on multiple cameras – yet thinks a woman’s breast is a weapon…

Sadly China is infesting Hong Kong with it’s corruption, bribery, censorship… anything that helps China’s leaders and their sycophants to make more money.

If China is so wonderful why do so many people there, especially the very rich CCP leaders, want to take their personal money out of the country and stash it in countries they claim to despise?

We cannot keep silent! We want to keep our city corruption free. Retain freedom of expression, the press, religion, sexuality, an impartial judiciary…as enshrined in the Basic Law.

If you prefer China’s vision of life, everyone working to enrich the chosen and connected few. Feel free to move North.

China gave us the Basic Law, article 25 of which states ‘HongKongers are all equal before the law’. Some though are more ‘equal’ than others and we’ve seen our government buy the tools and guns to suppress the views of those who disagree with China’s view of ‘equality’…

Who will hold a vigil for us?

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G.eyre Grand Opening – 3 June, 2017

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Organic fusion bar G.eyre in Wanchai celebrated it’s Grand Opening on the 3 June with a party, tasty organic food and some bubbly.
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Riesling Weeks 2017 Launch – 2 June, 2017

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Riesling Weeks celebrated the launch of it’s 2017 festival with a tasting session to celebrate and showcase the wide variety of wines made from a single type of grape.
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Hong Kong Ready for Spain Test

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Jo Hull, Hong Kong’s coach, has named a strong squad for the one-off test match against Spain, currently ranked seventh in the world.

Two years ago Spain beat Hong Kong 49-12, with the World Cup two months away the match is an important indicator of the squads recent development.

“We’re still experimenting to some degree with our combinations, but we’ve gone with our strongest team against what we’re anticipating will be a much more experienced Spanish side,” said Hull.

“They played a lot of new players mid-week and we’re expecting more of their experienced players to play on Saturday, particularly in the forwards,” Hull noted.

That could be problematic for Hong Kong, who struggled mightily in the scrum on Tuesday. “Spain bullied us a bit so we need to use our strengths to our advantage and manage games against those bigger teams. We have to stop their ball carriers and bring them to ground early and we have to be able to live with that pressure for a full 80 minutes,” said Hull.

“We panicked a bit under pressure on Tuesday. We aren’t going to score from our own half against world class teams so we need to play smarter and use territory much better,” Hull added.

Rose Hopewell-Fong at fly-half will look to impose more control in those areas. While Chloe Mak Ho-yee hopes to ask more questions of the Spanish defence. “We’re giving Chloe the start as she offers something a bit different. While Rosie has that experience in controlling a match, Chloe will help us speed things up a bit,” Hull said.

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Hull has also turned to an experienced backline with all of the outside backs coming from Hong Kong’s sevens squad, including Ivy Kwong and the hard-running Natasha Olson-Thorne in the centres.

Chong Ka-yan’s performance in Tuesday’s friendly has earned her a start on the wing with Aggie Poon Pak-yan, while Colleen Tjosvold, who scored all of Hong Kong’s points in the opener, retains her spot at fullback.

“It’s an experienced backline, but they need to perform and to step-up really. We’re disappointed that we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities on Tuesday. We had two or three scoring chances that we squandered and we’ve given them a chance to put that right on Saturday,” Hull added.

In the forwards, Lau Nga-wun, Lee Ka-shun and Karen So will start in the front row with captain Chow Mei-nam forming a locking partnership with Tsang Sin-yan, who impressed on her senior debut earlier in the week. Vice captain Amelie Seure anchors the pack at No.8 with ball-fetcher Cheng Ching-to and Winnie Siu, another senior debutant earlier this week, on the flanks.

“Winnie was dynamic on Tuesday and we need a similar performance from her. Sin-yan earned her first cap by putting in a lot of work in the warm-up match. She hit a huge amount of rucks and was very effective around the pitch. Shedid the work we need our tight five to do – those unsung hero roles.”

Already conceding significant size to their opponents, the pack will have its work cut out for it as Spain are likely to field more of its veteran forwards, battle hardened from numerous matches against Women’s Six nations sides.

“We need to keep hold of the ball. We had too many turnovers on Tuesday, both forced and unforced. We also need to get our kicking game right and ensure we’re playing in the right areas,” said Hull.

Saturday’s test is an important step in Hong Kong’s build-up to its first ever Rugby World Cup appearance and the squad understands what is on the line.

“The girls are actually hugely disappointed with Tuesday’s performance. We’ve received a lot of messages from home, a lot of congratulations on the score, but the girls are setting a higher goal.”

“Our message this week has been about earning the right to play. This is our first international step towards the World Cup. We aren’t treating this like a normal tour, our only objective and ambition is to get better. No matter how well we do, we can’t be satisfied until we know our performance is where it needs to be, at World Cup level,” Hull added.

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Hong Kong squad v Spain (3 June 2017)

1. LAU Nga-wun, 2. Karen SO, 3. LEE Ka-shun, 4. TSANG Sin-yan, 5. CHOW Mei-nam (captain) 6. CHENG Ching-to, 7. Winnie SIU, 8. Amelie SEURE (vice capt), 9. MAK Ho-yee, 10. Rose HOPEWELL-FONG, 11. CHONG Ka-yan, 12. KWONG Sau-yan 13. Natasha OLSON-THORNE, 14. Aggie POON Pak-yan, 15. Colleen TJOSVOLD (vice capt). 16. Royce CHAN Leong-sze, 17. HO Hoi-lam, 18. PUN Wai-yan, 19. CHEUNG Shuk-hang, 20. Eunice LAI Ming-yan, 21. Lindsay VARTY, 22. LEE Tsz-ting, 23. Laurel CHOR

Photos : JFS Rugby Photography
Additional reporting: HK Rugby

Dagger Release Debut EP

Earlier this month on their facebook page, Riz Farooqi officially announced the break-up of iconic local hardcore band King Ly Chee after 17 years of gigs, tours and albums. You might not be into hardcore music, but the band not only entertained it’s fans it inspired many across all music genres about what a Hong Kong band could achieve.

It wasn’t an end though, rather the beginning of something new. Dagger – a new more metallic hardcore band formed by Riz and former King Ly Chee bandmate Ivan with James and To – who released their debut EP Dagger on Bandcamp this week. bc spoke to Riz about Dagger.

Best start with the obvious one from many fans will King Ly Chee return, the band has after all undergone many lineup changes over the years?
No – I can’t imagine the band will ever play shows again. Originally in January we decided to take a break. Right around that time I was already getting the itch to play guitar in a band again which was the whole catalyst for Dagger. So King Ly Chee was most definitely put on the back burner to be revisited again maybe at the end of the year or even next year.

I started Dagger with the current King Ly Chee drummer Ivan so it kinda left the other three guys in this weird kinda place where they didn’t know what was going to happen. Eventually those guys decided they didn’t want to be left in limbo and made the announcement that they were leaving.

Once they did that there was NO way I was going to put myself through searching for THREE people! That’s just insane…plus these three guys aren’t replaceable. These are all guys who’ve put in a LOT of time, effort and heart into the band. How do I just ignore that and “replace” them? It just doesn’t work that way… So when they made that announcement I was at peace to just end it.

We’ve done everything that we possibly could do with the band over the 17 years we’ve been around. We’ve released albums that have impacted Hong Kong and our scene of heavy bands here. We’ve toured Asia countless times. We’ve played in the States opening for our heroes Sick of it All on their 30 year anniversary!

How do we top any of this? If anything – I might record the demos that I had written for what was going to be the next King Ly Chee album and put it up for free download or something. But for now the band’s done. We had a good run. It wasn’t easy ever that entire time. But we were able to accomplish some great shit…

Why a new band, rather than a side project / collaboration?
Well it was supposed to just be a side project. Then when King Ly Chee ended it became my main band.

What do you want/need to say with Dagger that you felt you couldn’t do with King Ly Chee?
Lyrically it’s all on the same wave length. With Dagger the focus is certainly more on riffs and musicality. I wouldn’t say lyrics are a second thought – but it’s certainly the music that is the driving force in this band.

Long time fans are going to see ghosts of the past, how are you going to get people to see Dagger for what it is something different?
People already see it as a different beast because our EP is up and they can hear that the music is completely different, not to mention that I’m not the main vocalist. The music is just much heavier.

The response for the EP has been beyond our expectations because to be a new band in 2017 it’s pretty much impossible to get people’s attentions cause there are millions of bands in existence. But people have been giving it their attention and it’s unbelievable that it actually resonates with people! That’s insane to me…

Where did the name Dagger come from?
No real back story…just searching for a one word name that was short. I was considering how the name would look on merch. 17 years of trying to lay out “King Ly Chee” across a variety of merch has taught me to never use a long name again Hahahaha

The new EP Dagger, tell us about it?
The band started in January and I already had a couple demos just to get the ball rolling. But once the four of us got together it was easy to get more ideas out and change parts, rewrite parts, start new songs, move parts around etc. It all came together super quick.

The actual idea was to release a demo of these tracks. But as we started talking about recording and how high our standards were for even the quality of the demos…we realized that with the amount of money we’re throwing into this, the demos really are more like an EP. The tracks were all mixed and mastered in the US so this isn’t really a “demo” by any means. That’s it…things have moved at a quick pace. Now we’re ready to play a bunch of shows and start working on brand new tracks for our debut full length.

689’s disdain for the arts reached absurd levels recently with riot police deployed to prevent a gig taking place and international bands detained at the border. What would you like incoming Chief Executive Carrie Lam to do to support local music and especially live music in Hong Kong?
I don’t know what expectations I have for her or any CE coming in. The CCP continues to force the idea that we are not autonomous – they will always be the masters. So what can any CE really do when they’ve been hand selected by the masters? All they can do is follow their orders.

My only wish is for the CCP to one day see Hong Kong for what it is, a city with a strong set of values for right and wrong. A city that doesn’t accept nor follow blind worship of any specific political system nor party. A city that doesn’t need nationalism shoved down our throats to keep people in line.

Hong Kong has always been an international city. All this stupid talk about putting more ethnic Chinese people in places of power such as the judiciary, the government and police force (as if that already isn’t the case!!!) sets this city down a very dangerous path where we will lose all its international character.

We’re only years away from seeing all our signs with traditional Chinese characters being replaced with simplified characters, you’ll hear more Mandarin on the streets, there’ll be more of those stupid red propaganda banners along the roads…

So all of this is deeper then just the woes of us musicians. The character and beauty of the real Hong Kong is at stake.

The SAR turns 20 at the end of the month, what are your personal musical highlights of those twenty years?
20 years is a long time to talk about…off the top of my head seeing Metallica, Megadeth and Sick of it All on our shores was simply unbelievable…

The bands that I grew up listening to while walking the streets with big ass headphones and my Walkman trying to make sense of my place as a Pakistani kid in a Chinese society…for the bands who provided the soundtrack for that part of my life to finally play here in Hong Kong was unbelievable.

In the words of Taylor Young at California’s The Pit who remixed Dagger’s debut EP “RIP King Ly Chee, long live Dagger!”

Dagger’s debut 6 track EP is out now on Bandcamp and will be released on cassette at Dagger’s debut gig – the Unite Asia Showcase on the 1 July at Focal Fair

Photo: Mike Sakas