Tung Sing Athletic Association () is a
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 ...
professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club currently playing in the
Hong Kong Second Division. Nicknamed the "Troops" (), the club was founded by former
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 ...
president
Henry Fok
Henry Fok Ying Tung (10 May 1923 – 28 October 2006) was a Hong Kong businessman. He has ancestral roots in Lianxi Village, Panyu, now part of Guangzhou, Guangdong. Fok was the vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's ...
in 1959 and wears orange as their primary colour. Fok's grandson, Fok Kai Shan, is the current president of the club.
History
Formation
Formerly known as the Yau Wing Football Club, the club was founded by
Henry Fok
Henry Fok Ying Tung (10 May 1923 – 28 October 2006) was a Hong Kong businessman. He has ancestral roots in Lianxi Village, Panyu, now part of Guangzhou, Guangdong. Fok was the vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's ...
in 1959. Due to the fact that Fok was the HKFA's president at the time, the team because known as the "Troops."
1960s
The club won its first trophy in 1961–62 season, capturing the
Hong Kong Second Division League
Hong Kong Second Division League () is the third level of football league in Hong Kong founded in 1909. The top two teams are promoted to the Hong Kong First Division.
Competition format
* Each team plays the other teams twice, one home and o ...
title. However, after a poor season, the club were relegated after just one year from the
Hong Kong First Division League
The Hong Kong First Division League () is the second-highest division in the Hong Kong football league system. Established in 1908, it is the third oldest in Asia. The league was formerly the highest division in Hong Kong until the formation o ...
.
In 1963–64, the club won the Second Division once again and were promoted back to the First Division. Despite finishing second to last place in
1964–65, the Second Division winners
Jardine declined promotion, thus allowing Tung Sing to remain the top flight.
Tung Sing reached the final of the
Golden Jubilee Cup for the first time in 1970, however they were defeated by Jardine.
1970s
The 1970s proved to be the golden age for Tung Sing as the club became an established force in the First Division. The club helped launching the career of
Wu Kwok Hung
Wu Kwok Hung (; 22 May 1949 – 15 June 2015), nicknamed "Big Head", was a former Hong Kong professional football player.
Club career
Wu played in the Hong Kong First Division League for teams including Tung Sing, South China and Seiko as a mi ...
who played for the club between 1968 and 1971 and later became a four-time winner of the
Hong Kong Footballer of the Year
The Hong Kong Top Footballers Awards (), established by the Hong Kong Football Association in 1978, recognizes the top performers for each season's Hong Kong Premier League. The prizes are decided according to the votes from mass media and the ge ...
award.
In
1971–72, Tung Sing finished runners up in the Golden Jubilee Cup and the following season,
1972–73, they achieved their highest league finish to date, placing third in the First Division.
In 1974, Henry Fok shocked Hong Kong football by signing Malaysian keeper
Chow Chee Keong
Chow Chee Keong (26 November 1948 – 21 February 2018) was a Malaysian people, Malaysian association football, football goalkeeper who played in British Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Career
His nickname in Hong Kong was ''Asian Steel Gate'' () and '' ...
on a then unheard of salary of $7,000
HKD
The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cents or 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong and ...
a month. Nicknamed "Asia's Steel Door" (), he led the team to a
Hong Kong FA Cup
Hong Kong FA Cup () is a knockout cup competition in Hong Kong football, run by and named after The Hong Kong Football Association. The first edition of the competition was held in 1975, before then the cup was known as the Golden Jubilee Cup. ...
runners up finish in 1977.
Although the club managed several runners up and second runners up finishes during this decade, championship success eluded them.
1980s
Fok relinquished control of the club during the 80's to his eldest son,
Timothy Fok
Timothy Fok Tsun-ting (born 14 February 1946), GBS, JP, the eldest son of Henry Fok, is the President of the Hong Kong Football Association. He formerly represented the Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publication functional constituenc ...
. The younger Fok signed a number of Brazilian players such as Jose da Silva who led the team to another runners up finish in the 1984
Viceroy Cup
Hong Kong Viceroy Cup () was a football competition in Hong Kong held by British American Tobacco. Started in 1969, it was the first football competition in Hong Kong which allowed commercial sponsorship. Together with First Division League, FA ...
final.
In 1985–86, Goldlion Holdings chairman Tsang Hin-chi assumed control of the club. Due to the HKFA's plan to prohibit foreign players from signing professional contracts by 1986, Tsang decided to move early by releasing the Brazilians. He replaced them with former
Chinese national team players Au Wai Ting and Lau Lei Fook in hopes of achieving the same success. Instead, the team finished last place in the First Division that season with a paltry 5 points, and were relegated to the Second Division for the first time in over twenty years.
2010s
With the formation of the
Hong Kong Premier League
The Hong Kong Premier League () is a Hong Kong professional football league organised by the Hong Kong Football Association. It is currently sponsored by BOC Life and officially known as BOC Life Hong Kong Premier League (). The inaugural seaso ...
in 2014–15, Tung Sing were placed in the
Hong Kong Third Division Hong may refer to:
Places
*Høng, a town in Denmark
*Hong Kong, a city and a special administrative region in China
*Hong, Nigeria
*Hong River in China and Vietnam
*Lake Hong in China
Surnames
*Hong (Chinese name)
*Hong (Korean name)
Organiz ...
to start the year. After collecting a total of 69 points, the club won the league title and attained their first trophy since 1964.
The following year, the club achieved their second successive promotion by capturing the
2015–16 Hong Kong Second Division title.
In the
2017–18 season, the club finished 14th and were relegated back to the Second Division.
Honours
League
*
Hong Kong Second Division
:Champions (4): 1961–62, 1963–64,
2015–16,
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 ...
*
Hong Kong Third Division Hong may refer to:
Places
*Høng, a town in Denmark
*Hong Kong, a city and a special administrative region in China
*Hong, Nigeria
*Hong River in China and Vietnam
*Lake Hong in China
Surnames
*Hong (Chinese name)
*Hong (Korean name)
Organiz ...
:Champions (1): 2014–15
Cup competitions
*
Hong Kong FA Cup
Hong Kong FA Cup () is a knockout cup competition in Hong Kong football, run by and named after The Hong Kong Football Association. The first edition of the competition was held in 1975, before then the cup was known as the Golden Jubilee Cup. ...
:Runners-up (1):
1976–77
*
Viceroy Cup
Hong Kong Viceroy Cup () was a football competition in Hong Kong held by British American Tobacco. Started in 1969, it was the first football competition in Hong Kong which allowed commercial sponsorship. Together with First Division League, FA ...
:Runners-up (1): 1983–84
*
Golden Jubilee Cup
:Runners-up (2):
1969–70,
1971–72
References
{{Hong Kong Second Division League teamlist
Football clubs in Hong Kong
Hong Kong Second Division League
Association football clubs established in 1959
1959 establishments in Hong Kong