Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC; ), established in 1886, is a private members' club in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. The name reflects the origin as a club for playing

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

. The club is situated in Happy Valley, with the sports pitches being inside the

Happy Valley Racecourse The Happy Valley Racecourse is one of the two racecourses for horse racing and is a tourist attraction in Hong Kong. It is located in Happy Valley, Hong Kong, Happy Valley on Hong Kong Island, surrounded by Wong Nai Chung Road and Morrison H ...

. The 2,750-capacity

Hong Kong Football Club Stadium Hong Kong Football Club Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium located in Happy Valley, Hong Kong inside the oval of Happy Valley Racecourse. The main pitch is used for football and rugby (union) matches, and there is an adjoining hockey pitch. ...

is where all the club's rugby and soccer matches are played and it is also the home pitch for most of the Hong Kong Rugby Union's international matches. It is also the venue for the HKFC International Rugby Tens and HKFC International Soccer Sevens tournaments. The club is committed to facilitating the development and participation of numerous sports in Hong Kong through close collaboration with National Sports Associations and organising sports activities for members and non-members.

History

Hong Kong Football Club was founded in 1886 by Sir

James Haldane Lockhart Sir James Haldane Stewart Lockhart, (25 May 1858 – 26 February 1937) was a British colonial official in Hong Kong and China for more than 40 years. He also served as Commissioner of British Weihaiwei from 1902 to 1921. Additionally, he was ...

, following a meeting that was held at the Victoria Recreation Gymnasium on 12 February 1886. The names derives from its establishment as a club for playing Association and Rugby Football (now known as rugby union) – not just as an association football (soccer) club as many think today. The first sport the club played was in fact

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

, on 16 February 1886, four days after the club formed. The first soccer match of the club was played on 16 March 1886, against the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. The now famous Hong Kong International Rugby Sevens was founded by and first played at the Club in 1976. Sports Road continued to be the venue until it outgrew its home and was moved to the Hong Kong Government Stadium (now the

Hong Kong Stadium Hong Kong Stadium is the main sports venue of Hong Kong. Redeveloped from the old Government Stadium, it reopened as Hong Kong Stadium in March 1994. It has a maximum seating capacity of 40,000, including 18,260 at the main level, 3,173 at exec ...

) in 1982. The clubhouse and pitches were situated adjacent to the racecourse. But in 1995, as part of a redevelopment of the racecourse, the club moved into a brand new, 64,000 square metre, purpose-built home, with the main building being outside the race track, and the main pitch, all weather hockey pitch, bowling green and sports bar being inside the racetrack. In 2011, HKFC celebrated their 125th anniversary as a club.

Present day

HKFC and other private sports clubs have always worked to enable the development of numerous sports in Hong Kong and have, in many circumstances, helped take the sports to the international sporting stage. Sports including rugby, soccer, squash, tennis, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, golf, sailing and rowing are supported by an array of dedicated private sports clubs. HKFC promotes a total of 11 sports, including rugby, soccer, squash, tennis, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, crickets, golf, sailing and rowing. It works closely with the

Hong Kong Rugby Union Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) is the governing body for rugby union in Hong Kong. It was founded in 1952 and became affiliated to World Rugby (then known as the International Rugby Board) in 1988.Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' ...

Hong Kong Football Association The Hong Kong Football Association Limited (), often abbreviated to the HKFA, is the governing body of association football in Hong Kong. Its current chairman is Pui Kwan Kay and its Chief Executive Officer is Joaquin Tam. History The HKFA was ...

, Hong Kong Squash Association, Hong Kong Hockey Association, Hong Kong Lawn Bowls Association, Hong Kong Netball Association and Hong Kong Tennis Association.

Sports

Football

Honours

* Hong Kong First Division **Champions (3): 1919–20, 2017–18,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

**Runners-up (3): 2014–15, 2015–16, 2018–19 * Hong Kong Second Division **Champions (13): 1972–73, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1992–93, 1994–95, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09 **Runners-up (2): 1988–89, 2007–08 *

Hong Kong Senior Shield The Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield (), known commonly as the Senior Shield, is the football knockout inter-club competition held in Hong Kong and the fourth oldest football tournament in Asia. Traditionally, only the teams in the Hong Kong ...

**Champions (5): 1898–99, 1907–08, 1915–16, 1918–19, 1921–22 *

Hong Kong Junior Challenge Shield Hong Kong Junior Shield () was a football competition in Hong Kong established in 1922. All teams in the Second Division and the Third Division were included in the competition. South China was the most successful club, winning 9 titles. Hist ...

**Champions (6): 1976–77, 1978–79, 1992–93, 1994–95, 1996–97, 2004–05

Rugby

Rugby was the first sport to be played by the Club, with a game held on 16th February 1886 between civilians and the British Army garrison, then stationed in Hong Kong. That game was played on a pitch within the Happy Valley racetrack on Hong Kong Island where the Club is still located today. Since these simple beginnings, Hong Kong Football Club has always played a role in the playing and organisation of rugby in Hong Kong, with many of Hong Kong's leading professionals and business people having played for the Club.

References

External links

HKFC Official Website
{{Rugby union in Hong Kong Football clubs in Hong Kong Sports clubs established in 1886 Hong Kong rugby union teams Happy Valley, Hong Kong 1886 establishments in Hong Kong Multisports