On this website’s homepage, I write of how I often meet fellow-South Africans around Hong Kong and how easy it is to recognise our countrymen and women in this cosmopolitan city. Funny enough, I probably meet most Saffas in the party-district of Wan Chai. Regular readers of this Blog will know that I hang out at Delaney’s Irish Bar because we often meet there to watch rugby (they have a satellite dish that picks up Supersport). Whenever I cover a major Hong Kong sports event, Wan Chai is often where after-work drinks are to be had.
So it was, late one night during the 2009 UBS Hong Kong Golf Open. A friend and I literally bumped into a Saffa coming out of, shall I say, one of the popular ladies establishments in Lockhard Road. He recognised us because we were speaking Afrikaans and the connection was immediately made. The next day I followed that guy for the first couple of rounds at the Fanling golf course where he was playing.
James Kamte is a real stand-up bloke and a good golfer, though not in Hong Kong last year.
Here are some of the pics I took of “The Cobra” on the second hole at the Hong Kong Country Club:
Jason Dasey wrote this article about James Kamte in today’s Sunday Morning Post:
In a week when South Africans all over the world celebrated the 100-day countdown to the kick-off to our biggest sports tournament ever, local celebrations were caught up in a spat between the Hong Kong broadcast-rights holders iCable and the other two broadcasters, ATV and TVB.
In a nutshell, iCable made a successful bid for the broadcast rights to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, while ATV and TVB declined to bid. iCable then decided that, unlike during the two previous World Cups, they will make the TV broadcast available to TVB and ATV, provided they agree to broadcast the entire iCable programme schedule, including advertisements. TVB and ATB declined and instead wrote to FIFA to try and get clarity on the issue.
At the unveiling ceremony on Wednesday, South African Consul-General Ms Tembi Tambo, however played down the spat instead confirming that the local media tussle “will not mar the spectacle half a world away.” (See The Standard article below)
The countdown ceremony at Hong Kong’s Times Square on Wednesday, organised by iCable was not reported on by TVB’s English language Pearl TV during any on their news broadcasts on the evening of the unveiling. Howzit-HongKong.com however, was not able to monitor ATV’s coverage on the evening.
At Times Square on Wednesday, hoards of media with their cameras were to be seen, but like we’ve seen (and reported on) at the Invictus premiere, one cannot say whether they were there for the celebrations or for the opportunity to interview the iCable head honcho about the current 2010 media spat.
Thankfully, as we reported in several posts after the countdown ceremony, the local English print media and in particular the South China Morning Post (SCMP) did a great job on covering this momentous occasion. We noticed that SCMP’s sports reporter Alvin Sallay had another in-deep discussion with Mark Fish in this morning’s Sunday Morning Post (more about that tomorrow). Here’s how the local English-language daily, The Standard reported on Wednesday’s countdown-clock event:
Although only about a week old, SA 2010 Ambassador Mark Fish’s baby daughter is already making ripples on the other side of the world.
On the day that we were supposed to attend a media conference with South African 2010 Ambassador Mark Fish, the Hong Kong media was alerted that the press conference was cancelled due to the birth of Fish’s baby-daughter.
As I’ve mentioned before, there are two things dear to the Chinese heart: one is their food with the other being their kids; and not always in that order. The latter showed during the unveiling of the 2010 countdown clock. The MC started his questions (see video) to the former Bafana Bafana (SA soccer team) player with a question about his baby. I also heard two other reporters start their questions with the same issue.
The local English daily’s sports reporter Alvin Sallay, though of Sri Lankan descent, was not left out and he filed the following story in the South China Morning Post the following day:
If there’s one thing that Hong Kong people love it’s their seafood. This time around it was fish…
Mark Anthony Fish.
FIFA 2010 Ambassador Mark Fish this afternoon unveiled a special 2010 Countdown Clock at Causeway Bay’s Times Square.
The South African Consulate in Hong Kong, under the energetic leadership of Consul-General Ms. Tembi Tambo has been very busy promoting what will certainly be South Africa and indeed Africa’s biggest sporting event:
The 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.
The Consulate partnered with local broadcast rights-holder Hong Kong Cable TV, the Hong Kong Football Club and the Leisure & Cultural Services Department to organise what was a very enjoyable media event. The afternoon kicked off with a Diski Dance performance by a South African dance group who travelled to Times Square directly from the airport. There was no jet-lag to be seen as the energetic troupe entertained the assembled media and local shoppers on stage.
Diski Dance… This is how we do it in Africa, La! Ke Nako / It’s out time!
Mark Fish was then invited to the stage to tell the audience about, amongst other questions, just what the 2010 World Cup means to him as well as to South Africans at large. Feeeeeesh (as the fans would shout when Fish touched the ball back in the days) did himself and the South African Local Organising Committee (LOC) proud by giving the assembled media a glimpse of what they can expect at the World Cup in just under 100 days. In typical Hong Kong style, questions from the MC opened about the recent addition to the Fish family! (The Consulate had alerted the local media that Mark’s girlfriend had given birth to a baby girl recently.)
SA Consul-General Ms Tembi Tambo joined Mark Fish at Times Square (Pic: Mike Jansen)
The event ended with Fish joining invited guests to unveil a special 2010 countdown clock.
As will be the case come the FIFA 2010 World Cup, the sound of the Vuvuzela was heard throughout the ceremony, courtesy of the Diski Dancers!
Ke Nako! It’s our time.
Bring on 2010!
(If you’re in SA, please click on theInsurance4Women.co.za ad to support Howzit-HongKong.com)
Van Zyl, who is the current coach of Gestetner Diamond Eagles, is a former National cricketer who represented his country in two One Day Internationals in 1992.
After the recent shock resignation of national cricket coach Mickey Arthur, CorrieVan Zyl was appointed acting coach for the Proteas National Cricket side for their tour to India.
The team recently drew the 2-test-match series against the number-one ranked Indians.
Corrie Van Zyl in Hong Kong (Pic: Mike Jansen)
Everyone who were in attendance at the Kowloon Cricket Club on Sunday November 1, 2009 will remember the nail-biting Final between South Africa and hosts Hong Kong. Set a modest target of 98 runs to win the US$55,000 first prize, the South Africans left it late with Farhaan Behardien smashing a massive six off the final delivery from Hong Kong’s Mark Wright to clinch the title.
The advertising boards are flattened by the SA players after Behardien’s six. (Pic: Mike Jansen)
The win was a cruel blow for the hosts Hong Kong who impressed with the their performance throughout the tournament and was set for their first-ever win.
Scroll to around 7:28 of the following clip to refresh your memory. Colleen Thane and her loyal gang of Saffas are featured at the beginning, while yours truly also feature in there happily snapping away with my camera. Papparazzi!
After the final ball, CEO of Cricket South Africa Gerald Majola suddenly appeared from a VIP Box to congratulate the team:
“You’re the man! Fancy going to India, Corrie?” Did they know something we didn’t? (Pic: Mike Jansen)
However, there was no fairytale finish for the Proteas in their first One Day International on the sub-continent. India beat South Africa in the first one-day-er under the tutelage of Corrie Van Zyl in another tense finish.
This time there was no Farhaan Behardien when Wayne Parnell was run out off the final delivery, attempting a second run that would have tied the match, to leave the Proteas on 297 all out in reply to India’s 298-9.
The second match in the series of One Day Internationals will be played in Gwalior on Wednesday and the third in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
A few years ago, while living in Taiwan, I watched a program on KuduClub’s Kwela that dealt with the many Taiwanese families whose children grew up (some were born) in South Africa. What made the insert so much more interesting was that Kwela, being an Afrikaans-language program, conducted the interviews with the Taiwanese kids in Afrikaans! The children who were interviewed were fluent Afrikaans-speakers.
When I told my Taiwanese students about this, their responses varied from “Wow!” to “But how can they, black people live in Africa.” The latter response requires a blog-post on it’s own so I won’t dwell on it here. However, I gave them the example of my own two children; my son came to Taiwan when he was only a few months old and basically grew up in China. Furthermore, they were foreigners who lived in Taiwan and could speak Mandarin Chinese, while the Taiwanese kids who lived in SA were also foreigners who could speak that local language.
The PostMagazine insert in today’s Sunday Morning Post (SCMP) carried a story about one such Taiwanese. In his regular “Long-distance call” feature, Mark Footer tells the story of Taiwan-born lawyer and politician Michael Sun’s own “Groot-Trek” from Taiwan’s Taichung (pronounced Tai-jong) to the northern South African province of Polokwane.
(In a previous post, Howzit-HongKong also brought you Mark Footer’s story about Taipei-born South African politician Chris Wang Yi-Ju)
I have brought up this issue on several occasions in other forums, but still it continue (at least in the Hong Kong press that uses AFP in their sports sections). This time we will send this post out to the powers-that-be in SA Rugby and see what they can to remedy this injustice.
A quick search around WikiPedia for AFP produces the following:
Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency.
Well, they may be the oldest news agency, but somebody has yet to tell them that the names of the South African franchises in the Super 14 rugby tournament have indeed changed… a long time ago. Truth be told, the name “Western Stormers” was canned together with those aweful jersey they had then.
Messieurs AFP,
TheNorthern Bulls are now called The Bulls, the Central Cheetahs are called The Cheetahs these days, while the Western Stormers are simply known as (yes you guessed it) The Stormers. If you don’t believe me, click on their names and your computer will show you.
Actually Sirs, if you want to be “commercially correct” then we actually call them the Vodacom Bulls, Vodacom Cheetahs, and say it with me… the Vodacom Stormers.
1995 Rugby World Cup winner and Springbok rugby player Marius Hurter (the most aptly-named tight-head rugby player in the world) spoke at the Gala Charity Premiere of the movie Invictus.
(Picture insert: Ms. Tembi Tambo, Consul-General: SA Consulate in Hong Kong/Macau)
This is Part 2 of his chat with Robbie McRobbie of the Hong Kong Rugby Union:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, the most aptly-named tighthead prop in world rugby… Marius Hurter!”
This is how (HKRFU Head of Rugby Services) Robbie McRobbie introduced the 1995 Rugby World Cup winner and Springbok Marius Hurter. The occasion was the Gala Charity Premiere of the movie Invictus at the Grand Cinema, Elements Mall in Kowloon West (Hong Kong).
The looong evening started with a meet-and-greet at the downstairs bar/restaurant WildFire, part of Hong Kong’s Igor’s Hospitality Group. Hong Kong RFU’s Robbie McRobbie kick-started events by asking the big man a number of questions relating to his experiences around Rugby World Cup 1995. Marius aka. Shrek (watch the video for an explanation) responded by recounting his memories and some insights into his fellow-players, which were lapped up by the guests, especially those about Os Du Randt and (obviously the skollie/riff-raff in the 1995 Springbok squad) James Small, allegedly a minor-celebrity amongst the Robben Island prisoner population at the time!
Later, in the cinema lobby, he faced the local Hong Kong media, enticed by some strategically invited (and well-labelled with Invictus stickers) schlebs, also called pseudo-models in Hong Kong parlance. The big man was clearly enamoured by the attention as the MC-lady translated his answers into Cantonese. Then again, maybe he just loved her shoes!
Thanks to Elite Step Asia Limited, Howzit-HongKong.com was fortunate to be seated in Cinema 6 (some 600 folks attended the event spread between different cinema’s) with the VIP’s including, of course, Marius Hurter, HKRFU officials, sponsors’ representatives as well as the Consul-General of the South African Consulate in Hong Kong, the charming Ms. Tembi Tambo.
The extended movie, that lasted until midnight, was clearly a hit with the South Africans in attendance who enjoyed the Souf Effrican eksent (South African accent) during the movie. My personal favourite was Chester Williams’ (played by McNeil Hendricks) “I don’t think, because it influences my game.”
Another hit with the guests was the seats that vibrated with heavy bass, especially when the SAA Boeing roared over the Ellis Park Stadium during the movie!
Howzit-HongKong.com was lucky to capture Marius’ chat on the evening, albeit with a dinky point-and-click. The evening was set in a busy, dark-ish bar, but enjoy Part 1 (Part 2 to follow):
In response to my previous post about the South African wine industry in Hong Kong, Helena wrote to inform us that Nederburg is the official wine for the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup and that the limited edition Twenty Ten range includes a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Sauvignon Blanc and a Dry Rose.
So far Howzit-HongKong.com has seen TwentyTen in Park ‘n Shop stores.
If consumers are not well-versed with Nederburg wines, they can use their internet-enabled cell phones to log onto the mobi-website printed on the bottle’s label to go directly to the mobi.nederburg.co.za website to learn more about the different varieties, right there in the store. For obvious reasons, you have to enter your date-of-birth but once you’re in there, click on the FIFA-tab to learn more about the TwentyTen varietals. Howzit-HongKong.com did it and voila:
Recent Comments