By Vivian Leong
Starting from June 17, 52 matches will kick off in various cities of the United States. The playoffs will last for a month. There will be two to three matches every day starting at midnight, Hong Kong time. The exact schedule of the matches is still under negotiation.
This year, both TVB and ATV both purchased rights to broadcast the World Cup, leaving Wharf Cable out in the cold. Instead, newcomer Wharf is showing the Japanese J-League matches, which will continue until October. A representative of Wharf Cable's Sports Department declined to reveal the cable company's strategy to counter ATV's and TVB's broadcasts of the World Cup games.
For TVB and ATV, promotional campaigns and some preliminary programmes have already been aired. The latter are usually game shows featuring local stars and prizes such as airline tickets to cities in the U.S. featuring important matches.
Mr. Henry Mok of the Sports Department at TVB said the preliminary programmes are designed for entertainment purposes more than anything else."The preliminary programmes, for the time being, are entertaining. We have guests like Eric Tsang who will tempt audience members who are not soccer fans to watch the World Cup.
"This year, we have added more entertaining elements to the design of programmes for the World Cup. This is because the audience wants more now," he said.
With regard to the importance of the television commentators themselves, Mr. Mok claimed that TVB has got the "top commentators".In addition, TVB intends to send its own crews to the United States for live commentary during the games, one thing that ATV does not plan to do.
Mr. Chan Yiu Mo, a World Cup commentator since 1978, welcomes the on-the-spot, live commentary."Broadcasting through satellites limits the picture to a plain two-dimensional surface. If you can comment right there from the stadium, you can see even if there is fighting at the corner of the arena, just for instance. It is interesting to tell the audience about these tiny things going on outside the field of view of the television cameras," he said.
Football fans put great emphasis on the quality of the commentary, so this becomes a yardstick for them to choose the television stations they will watch."Actually, what I care is who the commentators are, but not which television station is. I usually watch TVB as the commentators are more objective and professional, like Lam Sheung Yee," said Mr. Chow Chi Kwan, a local university student.
Another fan, Miss Natalie Yan, who is studying hotel management at Cheung Sha Wan Technical Institute, become irritated when talking about the World Cup commentators.
"Commentators at ATV?" she sighed. "The only thing they do is to tell pointless jokes and talk about things irrelevant to the matches. They also make their `correct predictions' only after the matches are over."
History student at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Miss Elizabeth But said she will most probably watch TVB, but only out of habit."If the commentators at ATV are better this year, I will watch them also," she said.
In response to the students' criticism of the commentators, World Cup commentator Chan explained that there are many ways of covering a football match."The common practice here in Hong Kong is a `radio format'. That is to say, there should be no dead-air during the commentary, with the hope of bringing listeners to the matches.
"Yet, the present commentators do not use the method well. In fact, the commentary has to be concise, and it has to correspond with the picture. To tell who has saved a goal, or who has scored a goal, is a must. That's what the audience wants to know," he said.
"The most important thing in commenting a football match is that one should attract the audience by turning the match into an exciting one. There are sometimes bad matches which are extremely boring. Still, the commentators have to pull themselves into the matches and make good remarks," he added.
In recent years, the World Cup has been a hit in Hong Kong. This is not just because of promotions by the media outlets themselves, but also because of the publicity in the consumer market. For example, promotions of the "official drinks" and audiovisual equipment are about to start.
"We plan exhibitions and trips for our dealers to watch the World Cup. We have also produced some souvenirs likeT-shirts, and watches to publicize the event," said a spokesperson from the advertising department of Shun Hing JVC.
A variety of souvenirs are ready for the pockets of football fans. There is even a World Cup credit card on the market. To fans, the souvenirs are less important than the football matches themselves.
However, the history student will undoubtedly feel increasingly uneasy as June approaches."I feel very sad, because I can't watch the World Cup matches I have been waiting for so long!" she exclaimed. "I'm leaving for Europe just as the matches kick off. The only thing I can do is to videotape the matches."
Mr. Chow Chi Kwan, whose favourite team is also Brazil, said he will watch the matches with friends in his house, not in his hostel."When I watch the tournaments together with my friends, we support our favourite teams and probably argue with one another," said Mr. Chow. "That is more exciting than watching alone."
The World Cup has become part of the lives of the football fans. For example, Mr. Chow has stayed up at night to watch the football matches.
"I remember that during the last World Cup I was on summer vacation. As most of the matches were held at midnight, I deliberately found a summer job in a restaurant with working hours stretching from noon until late at night. This way, I could watch the matches after work and get enough sleep in the morning.And my last day at work in the restaurant was the last day of the 1990 World Cup.
Not every World Cup zealot so lucky as to watch all the matches live on television without worrying about being late in the morning. It is quite impossible for those who have normal working ours.
Miss Natalie Yan, a student of hotel management, told a story about her father."My dad and I once watched a World Cup match overnight. The next morning he slept on the bus on his way to work. He overslept and did not get off until he reached the bus terminus," she said.
When most tertiary students watched the Italy World Cup four years ago, they were still in secondary school. It was a particularly hard time for them, as they were then having examinations. However, most fans admit that they kept watching the matches despite the academic burdens.
This year they will have more time to watch the matches, since their examinations will be finished before the World Cup begins in mid-June.As for viewing strategies, tertiary students report that they do not have any special methods or tactics to choose which World Cup matches to watch.
Miss Alice Fong, a university student in fine arts at The Chinese University, said she would watch games recommended by her brother. Nevertheless, she is a bit reserved about staying awake to watch matches overnight."I will stay awake to watch sometimes, but not always. After all, we girls cannot, or should not, sleep late. You know," she said, patting her face, "that won't be good for our skin."