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Jonathan White

Some 25 years ago this April, Crystal Palace made one of the weirdest midseason trips to Hong Kong.
They made a 72-hour round trip to play a game in the international break – despite a fixture pile-up after reaching the semi-finals of the League and FA Cup and being involved in a relegation dogfight.
The trip had been celebrated as a coup, at least initially.
“In the opening weeks of 1995, the Eagles were invited to participate in a prestigious friendly game against Happy Valley, traditionally one of Hong Kong’s most successful sides, after chairman Ron Noades had beaten off competition from a host of Premier League teams including Aston Villa, Manchester City, Coventry City and Southampton to land the all-expenses paid trip in April.”

#CPFCinHK pic.twitter.com/luzoAMF3pF
— Crystal Palace F.C. (H) (@CPFC) July 19, 2017

That was how the Crystal Palace website looked back on the trip as they were about to return to Hong Kong to play in the 2017 Premier League Asia Trophy.
“However, after the ink had dried on the contract, things conspired against Palace. Progress to the semi-finals of both the League Cup and FA Cup had rearranged their fixture list beyond recognition, causing serious congestion towards the end of a campaign that saw Palace clinging onto safety by their fingertips, with four teams due to be relegated that term to reduce the league down to 20 clubs,” the Palace website continued.

⚽️ The boys were putting in the work at Happy Valley this morning! #CPFCinHK pic.twitter.com/7PyAVW31Uq
— Crystal Palace F.C. (H) (@CPFC) July 18, 2017

“Sensing that the last thing his squad needed was a 72-hour round trip to the other side of the world sandwiched between crunch games against league leaders Blackburn Rovers and high-flying Nottingham Forest, manager Alan Smith had tried to pull his squad out of the commitment.”
Happy Valley were not happy.
“The organisers were adamant that Palace had to attend, despite Villa’s offer to fill in, and so following a Thursday night 2-1 defeat to Blackburn, the Eagles jetted off.”

At least a version of the Eagles did. Chris Coleman was away with Wales, Iain Dowie with Northern Ireland, Ray Houghton with Ireland and Dean Gordon with England under-21s, while Nigel Martyn and John Salako were injured, the club recounted.
On top of that, Smith decided to leave out anyone who had made the trip to Ewood Park.
“Smith further weakened his side by not selecting anyone who featured against Rovers, meaning the likes of Gareth Southgate, Chris Armstrong and Eric Young also didn’t require plane tickets,” the Palace website recalled.

"You're too clever to do this job, I think you should become a travel agent" ️
Ex-#CPFC coach Alan Smith explains how Gareth Southgate went from almost failing to make the grade as a player to leading the #ThreeLions at the #WorldCup. pic.twitter.com/IHI3TQW9bI
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) June 12, 2018

So it was “a mixture of reserve players and juniors who travelled to the Far East” with eight youth teamers among the 16-man playing squad despite being “on the brink of claiming the South-East Counties League Division Two title, and the reserves needing to play the following Wednesday”.
Smith was not happy about it. “I’m knackered and I could have done with a weekend in the garden,” he said.
“The players are dead tired. They’ve had two cup semi-finals, two Easter games and the Blackburn match. The players badly want a rest. We have an absolutely vital match against Forest and that has to come first.”
Man City’s Sun embodies China’s relationship with English football
He could have done without the extra game and not least when Happy Valley’s line-up on Sunday April 23 included former Liverpool players Jan Molby, Nigel Clough and Kevin Sheedy.
Still, Palace took the lead through Bruce Dyer but the scores were level after 90 minutes – “thanks to a superb solo effort that saw one of their players turn on the halfway line and burst forward, wriggle past three defenders and then round Jimmy Glass in the Palace goal before tucking home into the empty net”.
Extra-time remained tied with the game going to penalties. Happy Valley won the shoot-out 6-5 and “Palace were rapidly on their way back to England with £30,000 in prize money”.


While that seems a small fee for today for an English Premier League team to traipse halfway around the world for, the trip was soon forgotten.
It was a mere footnote in the Forest programme at the next game – “stating that a number of the younger players had travelled to Hong Kong for a game” – but the trip lives long in the memory of Irish youth player Rory Ginter.
“On the way over, the physio came down to us and said: ‘Princess Diana is on the plane’. We obviously thought he was making it up until we landed. We were waiting an hour to get off the plane because she had to get off first to meet the dignitaries and all that,” he told Irish sports website The42.ie.

Rory Ginty became the first Galway man to play in the Premier League when he faced a Liverpool team containing a 17-year-old wonderkid named Michael Owen.
He's had quite an interesting journey (@the42_ie)https://t.co/YImWMSh0zo
— Paul Dollery (@PaulDollery) April 17, 2020

“I had just turned 18, I had only left Galway a few months earlier and here I was in Hong Kong on the same plane as Princess Diana. It was all a bit surreal,” Ginty said. Princess Diana missed the match as she was watching Michael Chang win the Salem Hong Kong Open.
It could have been even more surreal for all involved and not if she had chosen football over tennis. Happy Valley had invited Manchester United’s Eric Cantona and Andrei Kanchelskis to play for them against Palace, news that was published in the Post on January 20, 1995.
Five days later Cantona jumped into the crowd to kick a supporter after being sent off against Smith’s Palace at Selhurst Park. The Frenchman was banned for eight months.

Ginty had watched that incident unfold from the Palace bench, he told The42.ie.
“For every home match, some of the youth team lads would have to do jobs behind the scenes and I was there for that game,” Ginty said. “One of our jobs was to clean up the dressing rooms afterwards, but while the game was on we were sitting behind the bench. I remember vividly seeing Cantona jumping into the crowd.”
Ginty said he was “brought back down to earth fairly fast by playing against Oxford United reserves the day after we got back” and Palace were also brought back down to earth.

Plenty of Irishmen have played in the Premier League, but not many quite as obscure as Rory Ginty, who made five appearances for Crystal Palace during the 1997/98 season. #cpfc pic.twitter.com/JYEtNQpwf0
— ForgottenFootballers (@ForgotAboutThem) January 15, 2019

They would finish fourth bottom and be relegated from the Premier League, losing both cup semis – the FA Cup to a Cantona-less Manchester United – and Smith being let go for Steve Coppell.
They finished three points below Aston Villa and four below Manchester City and must have wondered if things had been different if the Birmingham side were allowed to make the trip to Hong Kong instead of them, or either had outbid Noades in the first place.


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English Premier League

On this day: Premier League Crystal Palace play Hong Kong friendly in 1995 – but Princess Di went to the tennis

Princess Diana shakes hands with Michael Chang after he won the Salem Hong Kong Open tennis tournament in April 1995. Photo: SCMP

South China striker Au Wai-lun (right) fighting the ball with Chau Chiu-hung (left) of Happy Valley during their match at Mong Kok Stadium. 14 APRIL 1995

(FILES) This file photo taken on January 25, 1995 shows Manchester United star Eric Cantona fighting with a spectator during Manchester United 's 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace, 25 January 1995. Football players have lost their calm against supporters a few times, the kung-fu moove of Eric Cantona in 1995 is an example. While Cantona is going back to the lockers, the supporter Matthew Simmons, insults him. The French football player kicks the supporter with his right foot and his crampons in the face, and punches him. For this reaction Cantona will pay a high fee and will be expelled until the end of the season. / AFP PHOTO / STR

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Cristiano Ronaldo (C) sits on the team bench prior to a friendly against the K-League All-Stars in Seoul. Photo: AFP

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Kitchee captain Huang Yang in action against Manchester City. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Picture shows empty seats during a football match between Kitchee and Manchester City at the Hong Kong Stadium in Happy Valley. 24JUL19 SCMP / K. Y. Cheng

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Kitchee v R&F. Photo: Jonathan White

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Manchester City's Sun Jihai (L) argues with officials after being sent off during their FA Cup quarter-final soccer match against West Ham United in Manchester, northern England, March 20, 2006. REUTERS/Phil Noble

Manchester City's Chinese player Sun Jihai (C) celebrates with team mates (L-R:) Li Xiaopeng, Li Weifeng and Shao Jiayi after a penalty shootout victory in their Asian Cup semi-final soccer match with Iran in Beijing August 3, 2004. China beat Iran 4-3 in a penalty shootout after the teams drew 1-1 in regular time. REUTERS/Wilson Chu

(FILES) This file photo taken on October 12, 2005 shows China's Sun Jihai controlling the ball during China's friendly football match against Germany in Hamburg. Former Manchester City defender Sun Jihai, one of the first Chinese footballers to play in the English Premier League, has announced his retirement from the sport, it was reported on December 12, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / JOHN MACDOUGALL

Arsenal's Fredrik Ljunberg (C) beats Manchester City's keeper David Seaman (R) and Jihai Sun (L) to score during their English premier league match at the City of Manchester Stadium, August 31, 2003. NO INTERNET/ONLINE USAGE WITHOUT FAPL LICENCE, FOR DETAILS SEE FAPLWEB.COM REUTERS/Darren Staples

Liverpool's Spanish forward Fernando Torres (L) is beaten to the ball by Manchester City's Chinese defender Sun Jihai during the Premier league football match at Anfield, Liverpool, north-west, England, on May 4, 2008. AFP PHOTO/ANDREW YATES Mobile and website use of domestic English football pictures are subject to obtaining a Photographic End User Licence from Football DataCo Ltd Tel : +44 (0) 207 864 9121 or e-mail accreditations@football-dataco.com - applies to Premier and Football League matches.

Chinese international players Sun Jihai (L) and Li Tie (R) share a joke during training in Shenyang October 5, 2001, ahead of Sunday's crucial World Cup Soccer qualifier against Oman. China needs only one point from the match to make history to qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time. The two players have shined in recent qualifiers and have attracted interest from Italian club AC Milan and Dutch club Ajax, according to Xinhua News Agency. REUTERS/China Photo

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero took a selfie with President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister David Cameron at the Manchester City football academy.

Manchester City's Jihai Sun (C) is brought down by Aston Villa's Peter Wittingham during their FA Barclaycard Premiership soccer match at The City of Manchester Stadium, Sunday 14 September 2003. Man City won 4 -1. EPA PHOTO/PA/GARETH COPLEY/UK OUT FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY NO INTERNET/

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Hull City's Dean Marney (R) vies with Sheffield United's Chinese defender Sun Jihai (L) during an English FA Cup, fifth round replay, football match at the KC Stadium, Kingston upon Hull, England, on February 26, 2009. AFP PHOTO/GRAHAM STUART - FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY Additional licence required for any commercial/promotional use or use on TV or internet (except identical online version of newspaper) of Premier League/Football League photos. Tel DataCo +44 207 2981656. Do not alter/modify photo.

Manchester City's Sun Jihai (L) disconsulate after his first half own goal during their FA Barclaycard Premiership soccer match against Middlesbrough at the City of Manchester Stadium Sunday 30 November 2003. EPA/JON SUPER NO WEBSITE/INTERNET USE - UK & IRELAND OUT

Chinese football stars in Britain...Fans of Everton of the English Premier League display a newspaper introducing two newly arrived Chinese football stars Li Tie (left in the paper) and Li Weifeng (right in the paper) outside of the stadium in Liverpool on August 17, 2002. 18 August 2002

Crystal Palace Football Club New players from China FAN ZHIYI (26)(R) and SUN JIHAI (22) (L) and manager Terry Venables in new team shirts. For sport. Pic by Stephen Hird

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, left, stands with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak talks, with head of the Elite Development Patrick Vieira, second right and striker Sergio Kun Aguero, right, during a visit to the City Football Academy, on the fourth day of his state visit, in Manchester, England, Friday Oct. 23, 2015. Chinese President Xi Jinping has been greeted by hundreds of enthusiastic and well-organized well-wishers in the northwest England city of Manchester. Crowds waving Chinese flags have greeted Xi throughout his four-day state visit to Britain, outnumbering pro-Tibet and human rights protesters concerned about the British government's lavish welcome for the Chinese leader. (Joe Giddens/Pool Photo via AP)

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Fans watch Manchester City against Kitchee. at Hong Kong Stadium – where there were plenty of seats. Photo: K.Y.Cheng

Protesters appear during a football match between Kitchee and Manchester City at the Hong Kong Stadium in Happy Valley. 24JUL19 SCMP / K. Y. Cheng

Kevin De Bruyne takes a free-kick for Manchester City against Kitchee.

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Liverpool FC's Fans in cheers during Premier League Asia Trophy in Hong Kong Stadium. 22JUL17 SCMP / Edward Wong

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Premier League side were battling relegation when mixture of youth players and reserves made a 72-hour round trip to face Happy Valley. The Eagles could have encountered Manchester United’s Eric Cantona but faced Liverpool legends Jan Molby, Nigel Clough and Kevin Sheedy.



English Premier League side were battling relegation when mixture of youth players and reserves made a 72-hour round trip to face Happy Valley.
