The football dream that never dies

Ng Chi-on, also known as Uncle On, is a secondary school football coach with an impressive past that not many may know. A top tier footballer in the 1970s, he started playing in the First Division at 18 and represented Hong Kong at the youth level. After retiring in his 20s, he had different jobs. In 2010, he became a janitor in Fanling Rhenish Church Secondary School (FRCSS) and coach of its football team.

As a school football coach, Uncle On never imagined he would get the opportunity to hone his craft with Manchester United. After FRCSS joined ‘The JC School Football Development Scheme’ in 2015, Uncle On and Wong Cho-kee, the school teacher and fellow coach, received an eight-month training. Their coach was Christopher O’Brien, Manchester United Soccer Schools Hong Kong Head Coach, who goes by the nickname “OB”.

“Our previous training was very boring but OB’s approach is different. Now even the warm-ups are fun. It’s been truly eye-opening,” Uncle On says. “We do different warm-up exercises with the ball and work on small-group drills. Football is about teamwork more than individual skills.” What impressed him the most about OB was his detailed planning and emphasis on motivating students. OB always gives out “star players” and “best team player” honours after each training session.

The training scheme that Uncle On took part in is one of the partnership programmes between the Club and Manchester United. Since 2012, the Club has been the official community partner of Manchester United in Hong Kong, bringing an advanced youth training system and ideas to players and coaches in the city.

Most grateful for the opportunity, Uncle On attended every training session despite finding the English instructions a challenge. During the eight-month-long arduous training, he not only applied what he had learned to the coaching of the FRCSS boys’ team but he also founded the school’s first-ever girls’ team together with Wong Cho-kee to compete in HKJC N-League.