The August sun blazed fiercely, a heatwave swept through Hong Kong, and the city was abuzz with excitement. Top international football teams visited Hong Kong one after another, tickets selling out in the blink of an eye, the cheers of fans seemingly fueled by the economic boom of these events. Meanwhile, the authorities extended "National Fitness Day" to two days for the first time, drawing huge crowds eager to experience a moment of free exercise. In conjunction with the national "Fitness Day" in August, the Hong Kong government seemed to be painting a picture of a vibrant sporting era. However, dazzling fireworks are not everyday occurrences. The deafening cheers inside the stadiums could not mask the harsh reality of a lack of regular exercise among the population. Is this city-wide sports fervor truly rooted in the community, or merely a mirage with public relations value? While foreign stars were showered with fanfare on the pitch, ordinary citizens were battling scalpers to reserve a run-down badminton court. This bizarre and disjointed situation is a dilemma we urgently need to confront.
Revitalizing peripheral spaces to regain their vitality
Looking back at the 1970s and 80s, children could be seen everywhere playing "watermelon balls" in the courtyards of public housing estates, narrow side streets, and sandy or stone sports fields, showcasing a bottom-up, unconventional street vitality. Sports are an everyday right of citizens, but excessively emphasizing the spectacle of sporting events only alienates them into lofty "spectacles." Citizens are unknowingly reduced to spectators who pay for tickets and applaud from the stands, losing their space as participants in daily life. Today, sports venues are tightly controlled by red tape and outsourced security, completely losing their former community fabric. We absolutely do not want to see a future Hong Kong where sports are reduced to mere glitz and glamour on camera, while everyday street scenes remain desolate.
Last month, the State Council released the "National Fitness Program (2026-2030)," which adheres to the principles of being fundamental, inclusive, and public-interest-oriented, and practices the goal of "building a strong sports nation" from the perspective of public services. The program advocates utilizing urban "golden corners and silver edges," making full use of existing spaces such as industrial plants, under elevated highways, and even building rooftops to create age-friendly zones tailored to local conditions. This philosophy of making the most of every available space is precisely what Hong Kong, where land is extremely valuable, urgently needs. Instead of endlessly waiting for large-scale industrial parks to be completed, it would be better to focus on those scattered areas under the Kwun Tong Bypass and on the rooftops of industrial buildings in San Po Kong.
Looking overseas, the experiences of Norway and the Netherlands are equally thought-provoking. Norway explicitly prohibits children under 13 from participating in point-based competitions, abandoning trophies and rankings, allowing sports to completely shed utilitarianism and return to its pure essence of play. The Netherlands promotes mass participation in sports not solely through luxurious gyms or giant stadiums, but through tens of thousands of kilometers of cycling paths across the country, seamlessly integrating exercise into urban life, allowing citizens to exercise continuously during their daily commutes. Whether it's de-utilitarianizing the system or integrating it into daily life, both demonstrate that changing landscapes and social atmospheres is not something that can be accomplished overnight. However, if administrators can keep the people at the center of their grand narratives and make subtle adjustments to spatial layouts during community redevelopment, even if it's just adding a corner basketball hoop, the long-term benefits will far outweigh those of a few spectacular fireworks displays.
Calculate the economics of preventive medicine
When discussing the lack of facilities, officials often cite limited land, a large population, and a severe financial deficit as reasons. However, a closer look at the economics of preventative medicine reveals that this penny-pinching mentality is short-sighted and ultimately detrimental. The OECD has clearly stated that a lack of physical activity and obesity significantly increase the incidence of chronic diseases, thereby eroding enormous public healthcare expenditures. Research clearly indicates that for every dollar the government invests in preventative measures, it generates a six-fold overall economic return for society. Today's stinginess in building sports fields in communities will tomorrow incur exponentially higher costs for diabetes and cardiovascular patients in public hospitals.
Even those citizens who intend to exercise regularly often feel lost, unsure where to begin, and worried about injury, with beginners frequently finding themselves without support. In Europe, the UK's National Health Service implemented "social prescriptions for exercise" years ago, where resident doctors directly prescribe personalized exercise plans for patients with chronic diseases, viewing sports as a core line of defense in preventive medicine. The national "Fitness for All" program is a long-term strategy to address aging and improve the physical fitness of the population. Given this, could Hong Kong learn from the national "Social Sports Instructor" system to establish a regular community-based scientific fitness support network? Deploying professional coaches and retired athletes to various districts would not only provide personalized advice for beginners but also truly root sports resources at the grassroots level, making regular exercise a routine part of community life once again.
Make good use of technology to solve resource misallocation
High-ranking officials poured public funds into the event, hoping to revitalize the market through the event—their good intentions are self-evident. However, the saying "watching football is easy, but playing football is difficult" is a painful reality for the general public. Despite available space and support, people wanting to exercise after work find the official "SmartPLAY" system already occupied by scalpers, even experiencing frequent crashes. Although the authorities have publicly suspended over 4,000 accounts suspected of violations and introduced digital identity early login, the computer program can still siphon off community resources in milliseconds, making it extremely difficult for ordinary people to book a football match. If the bureaucracy's technological response is limited to passive defense, public resentment will naturally boil over, and they will never be able to keep up with the scalpers' increasingly sophisticated methods.
Singapore previously faced a similar predicament, subsequently undertaking a radical overhaul of its public reservation system. In addition to rigorously verifying digital identities, it launched a national walking challenge, directly linking citizens' daily step counts to economic rewards such as supermarket vouchers, fundamentally reshaping citizens' incentives for exercise. Mainland China is also actively promoting the "National Fitness Code." Hong Kong should learn from this experience, integrating fragmented fitness data to enhance the system's functionality. Imagine a truly intelligent platform that can display real-time availability across Hong Kong to prevent hoarding, and use algorithms to recommend suitable solutions for citizens with different physical conditions—that would be the most effective approach.
What kind of sports culture do we truly need? It shouldn't be a spectacle for economic consumption during major events, nor merely an arithmetic tool to offset healthcare deficits. Sports, in essence, are a collective resonance that transcends class and generation; they are the fertile ground for nurturing a spirit of self-transcendence in competition. The elderly men and young people leaning against the railings at the public housing sports field don't yearn for unattainable superstar auras, nor crave priceless autographs from legends. Their humble wish is simply to run freely in the breeze on an ordinary weekend. Let sports reshape community memories, and let health return to the everyday lives of ordinary people—this is the indispensable vitality of this city.
[Hong Kong 01]: https://www.hk01.com/article/60380982?utm_source=01articlecopy&utm_medium=referral
