When Bobby Singh steps onto the pitch on match days, he doesn’t just represent his club. He’s hoping to inspire more children from ethnic minority communities to play sports.
There has only been one time in Bobby Singh’s career where he has fallen out of love with football. It happened in Sham Shui Po’s second game of the 2023-24 season when they suffered a 9-0 thrashing at the hands of Rangers.
For days after the club’s humiliating defeat, Singh felt frustrated. Rangers were the club he trained with as a 19-year-old where, in his words, he “got to know Hong Kong football”, and a team he looks to forward to facing.
“[Rangers] are not a bad team but when we lose 9-0, it’s just something you cannot accept,” he said. “I’ve been working a lot to play this sport. How can you play a game and you lose 9-0?”
But without tough lessons learned against Rangers, there would not be the Sham Shui Po team that fans fell in love with by the end of the season. There would not be the magical FA Cup run which saw the club fall agonizingly short of winning the final.
And there would also not be the Bobby Singh of today, who is entering his fourth full professional season, and fifth overall this season. The full-back has established himself as a solid Premier League player since making his debut for Pegasus in 2020.
Singh grins from ear to ear when he thinks about his journey. There was a time when he blissfully unaware of the challenges facing the local league.
“I didn’t [know] that Hong Kong football is like this,” he said, whilst shaking his head in amazement. “The first day someone told me I can play football and I can get money; I didn’t know that there were so many difficulties to do it.
“I just thought I would work hard, I would play football and I would get money. I didn’t know there were so many other things too. There’s so many low, low, lows, and then you go high, and then you go low, low, low again.”
The road that Singh has taken to the Premier League has been unorthodox to say the least. Born Kiranbir Singh, he was given the name ‘Bobby’ – after Indian actor, Bobby Deol – by his elder brother who found his given name difficult to pronounce. The name stuck, and he gone by ‘Bobby’ since childhood.
Though Singh was born in Hong Kong, his football journey began in India where he was sent by parents to attend primary school.
“In India, the school me and brother were studying was a boarding school, so everybody needed to do sports over there. We were taught to do many different sports and football was one,” he recalled.
When Singh returned to Hong Kong near age 11, he became a regular at the local futsal court near his home in To Kwa Wan. It was there that he started to take football more seriously and befriended many seniors who taught him the basics of the game.
Unlike many local footballers, Singh never graduated from an academy programme. Though he played for his high school team, he says that he was unaware of the existence of academies. The closest Singh ever came to a formal football education came when he was invited to train with Rangers as a 19-year-old.
But even if he were able to train as a junior, Singh’s pathway would have been hindered by his lack of a Hong Kong passport at the time. It was at this stage that he was introduced to All Black FC, a non-HKFA affiliated club famous for using football to give ethnic minorities a sense of community within Hong Kong.
“I didn’t even know about All Black before I joined Rangers because, as I said, I didn’t know anything,” he recalled. “But after I had joined Rangers, there was a player at that time – his name was [Edson] Minga. He was one of the coaches of All Black so he was the one who introduced me, and I was like, ‘Maybe I should give it a try.’
“From there, I went to All Black. I started training with them and then I starting playing a few Yau Yee League games with them.”
Singh received his Hong Kong passport in 2019 and signed for Icanfield – a club which borrowed Metro Gallery’s license to compete in the 2019-20 First Division season. Six months later, he caught the eye of management at Pegasus and signed with the club just ahead of the pandemic.
The league would shut down briefly in January 2020, then resume for February and March, and shut down again until September. However, Pegasus made the decision not to participate for the remainder of the season after March.
In May 2020, the Horsemen hired Kenneth Kwok as head coach – a decision that would pair Singh with someone who would play a crucial role in his career. Kwok’s reputation was renowned in Hong Kong as a head coach who could maximize talent and get the most out of younger players.
At time, he was two years removed from guiding a young Yuen Long side to a respectable seventh place finish and only a year-and-a-half removed from leading Hong Kong to win the 2019 Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup. The latter of these achievements led to calls for the HKFA to hire Kwok for their senior men’s team vacancy, which ultimately went to Finnish coach Mixu Paatelainen.
“Kenneth, for me, is a very good coach,” he said of his old boss. “Some people don’t get along with Kenneth because he demands a lot from players. He will not let you go easy, he will want you to work. My own mind is like this too – I just want to work.
“He was a good coach for myself because this is the coach I needed to push on. That’s why our relationship is very good.”
One of Kwok’s innovations was finding an optimal position for Singh. For the early part of his career, Singh played either centrally as a striker or out wide as a winger. But when the pair were reunited again at Sham Shui Po years later, Kwok determined that Singh’s industry to get up and down the pitch would make him an ideal wingback.
It should be no surprise then Singh picks the 3-5-2 formation that Kwok used at Sham Shui Po as the one where he felt most comfortable in his career. He says that the formation suited him as a wingback because of the freedom it allows him to join the attack or to drop back and defend.
Of his most memorable moments under Kwok, Singh selected his first and second matches for Sham Shui Po.
“The game after I joined, we played against Lee Man in the Sapling Cup and we drew 0-0,” he said. “Everybody was happy, even Kenneth was happy with my performance.
“And then, second game we played against HK U23 and I scored. It was my first professional goal under Kenneth and I was very happy about this. I ran to him and gave him a hug to say thanks!”
The past season ended in an unfortunate way for Singh and his teammates. Despite reaching the FA Cup Final, Sham Shui Po were forced to self-relegate due to financial problems.
It was the second time in his career where he found himself out of a job due to such circumstances. He was previously left without a club after Pegasus relegated after the 2020-21 season.
Although Singh says that Sham Shui Po’s relegation was more sudden, he still feels that he was more prepared this time around.
“This is something we cannot expect, but these things – it happens,” he said of clubs self-relegating. “At that moment [in 2021] I felt like, I have a local passport, how come no one is willing to take me?
“But then I also told myself: Maybe I didn’t show myself much in Pegasus, so that’s why people don’t know me. I still wanted to play professionally, but sometimes it’s connections. You don’t know people and people haven’t watched you play.”
At 22 years old, he went back down to the First Division, playing a season with Yuen Long before moving to Shatin for a half season. In the 17 months between his two professional stints, he had no other means of income besides coaching for All Black. Singh also participated in morning training sessions with the club in hopes of finding his way back to the professional ranks.
Finally, his persistence was rewarded when he was granted an opportunity by Kwok to train with Sham Shui Po. A month later, he was given contract by the club in January 2023.
Around 2018, a popular video began circulating where a construction worker who was working during a typhoon was asked whether he was at work out of love or responsibility. The worker responded snarkily that he was working because he was poor.
Singh will turn 26 in September, and is about to enter the prime years of his career. Though he has seen many of his contemporaries retire early out of financial considerations, he believes that it is his duty to continue to play.
“For me, I don’t do it for money. I hate it,” he said. “I [play] because if I do it today, more ethnic minorities will join me to go on this journey. I want to see more of my people – Indian, Pakistani, and Nepali – all of these people, I want to see them all playing.
“Because in Hong Kong, our community does not support everyone to play football. Actually, it’s not only about football, it’s about all the sports. A lot of hard work they are willing to do if they get into sports. They can bring a lot of good players into Hong Kong teams, not only football but other [sports] too.
“But they will only start when they see someone has actually archived good things. [Jahangir] Khan is a really good example because he has done it – he has reached the Hong Kong team. I hope he keeps on going with them because that’s what people want to see and that’s the only reason [parents] will ask their kids to also go and achieve the same path.
“I want to see more ethnic minorities in the Premier League.”
As someone who also serves as a coach with the Hong Kong Kabaddi Association, Singh is trying to get more people involved in sport as possible. Within the South Asian community, he finds that resistance usually comes in two forms.
“The first thing is that in our community, people are not aware about sports. They don’t know how the kids are supposed to go for training,” he said, explaining the lack of awareness about recreational programmes.
“Where I live, someone people tell me, ‘I want my kid to also play.’ Then I tell them, this is this club, this is that club, you can ask your kids to join this club. So, people are asking me now, which is a good thing because I can finally tell them. But this is just one or two percent of 100 percent.
“Secondly, in Hong Kong, not many families have [former athletes]. They don’t think [sport] is a 100 percent job. So, they will ask their kids to find a job, rather than do sports. If someone really loves sports, they should do sports first, job later or job on the side.”
There is also the passport issue which delayed his entry into football. While Singh’s parents were supportive of their son’s decision to renounce his Indian passport in favour of a Hong Kong one, not all parents would approve of this decision.
According to the Home Affairs Department’s statistics, Filipinos and Indonesians make up the largest ethnic minority groups in Hong Kong, numbering 200,000 and 142,000 people respectively. The next largest groups are Indian (43,000), Nepali (30,000), and Pakistani (24,000), most of whom never choose to become naturalized Chinese citizens, thus preventing them from obtaining a Hong Kong passports.
These numbers represent an untapped pool of sporting talent to Singh, who finds that there is still a lot of resistance to changing passports.
“If you talk to an Indian parent in Hong Kong and you ask them, ‘Would you like to see your son playing for Hong Kong team one day?’ I think they will hesitate when they answer this,” he continued. “If you ask them, ‘Would you like to see your son playing for India team one day?’ maybe they will say, ‘Oh yes.’
“I think it is, firstly, because they are that nationality – but not only this. I think because the India team is, in whatever sports, they have reached a level where everybody recognizes [them]. They say ‘India team is a great team, a big team.’
“But for Hong Kong teams – I think if all the [representative] teams in all sports are improving a lot, then people will see it. That’s when people will start to chase it. I hope all of the Hong Kong teams can go to a higher level – and soon, like in a few years so people can see it.
“It’s very hard when people don’t see something. It’s very hard for people to chase it because they don’t see if the future is bright for them or not. There’s going to be struggles, but if they see [the representative teams performing well], they know, ‘Okay, I need to reach that level’ so then, they can start their journey.”
Next season, Singh will play for North District, who play their home matches 44 kilometres away from his residence in Tung Chung. He is embracing this challenge, believing firmly that adversity builds character.
Singh admitted that he had rejected approaches from multiple clubs whilst Sham Shui Po were in search for sponsors. After his former club confirmed their relegation, he felt a tinge of fear that he would again find himself on the outside looking again as he did three years ago. Fortunately for the full-back, a new approach came from North District and a contract was agreed in late June.
Singh labelled the team as “underdogs”, but says that this the type of team he desires to play for. He said that he hoped to help the team finish in the top four next season whilst playing more games than he did in the previous season.
North District have also signed Singh’s friend, Jahangir Khan, making the club a rarity in world football with both an Indian and a Pakistani player. The pair have played together in the past for All Black, but this will be the first time they will be teammates in an official competition.
Singh promised fans that he and Khan would work hard next season. He hopes that in return, fans will continue to support the pair.
As a person who has spent the majority of his life in Hong Kong, Singh can understand the things that fans say to him in Cantonese. He can speak the language as well, using it on the pitch to speak with teammates, though he cautioned that he was not fluent enough to conduct a full interview in Cantonese.
“I never imagined that Hong Kong fans are going to like me so much,” he said, with gratitude. “I just go to the pitch to play football…but whenever I play, I don’t know why, I hear a lot of people calling my name. I like it a lot and it gives me more energy to run, more energy to do things.
“Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s too much, but I like it. The louder they are, the more people will get into it. I’m very grateful for it.”
Hong Kong football is in desperate need of supporters. With what looks to be a more competitive league next season, Singh hopes that more fans, particularly South Asians, will come and sample the experience of the local league.
“I want to see more people wearing jerseys. I want to see more families coming to watch our games,” he said. “I’m very happy when my whole family goes to the stadium. When my mom hears my name but with fans, she feels very happy, and she tells this to all of her friends.
“In Hong Kong, [South Asians] have a very big community, but they need to support football, too. I need their kids to play football – that will [really] help Hong Kong football.”
