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Unus Alladin

The Yiu Hok-man saga took a new twist last night when the Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) announced an independent commission would be set up to decide the fate of the teenaged star.

 Yiu, who signed contracts with both Happy Valley and Instant-Dict, has been out of competitive action for almost four months because of a long-standing dispute over which club he belongs to.

 HKFA chairman Victor Hui Chun-fui said a special commission was needed to 'make it fair for both clubs', adding it would decide once and for all whether the 19-year-old midfielder belonged to the Dickies or Valley.

 'This commission will involve people outside the Hong Kong Football Association.

 'We are hoping to appoint three members from the legal community to oversee and decide on this matter,' said Hui.

 He said the Association already had suitable people under consideration to sit on the commission, and that the HKFA would make an announcement 'in due course'.

 'We have a few candidates in mind but we have to wait and see whether they are willing to take up the case,' said HKFA secretary general Vincent Yuen.

 The idea of an independent commission was brought up following complaints by Instant-Dict officials, who thought the HKFA had not followed proper procedures in handling the case.

 Instant-Dict believe the HKFA should be held responsible for any legal consequences which might result from the case. Had the case been decided finally last night, Instant-Dict would not have had the right to appeal, which, the club said, was against HKFA regulations.

 The HKFA's decision to form the special committee drew severe criticism from Happy Valley officials, who were hoping the matter would be resolved last night.

 Happy Valley chairman Lam Tai-fai fumed: 'Victor Hui made a promise during the last extraordinary council meeting that the matter would be resolved [last night], but the issue now looks like it's going to drag on indefinitely.

 'It makes no sense to delay a decision any further.

 'We don't know whether the special committee is qualified to handle the case.

 Even if the case is settled, there will be an appeal by one of the parties, which means there will still be no final resolution of the matter.'  Yiu, selected as one of six top junior players from the First Division at last season's HKFA Footballer of the Year Awards, said he hoped the commission would reach a decision on his future soon.

 'All I want to do is play football, and I haven't been able to for the past few months. I hope the matter can be resolved soon,' he said.

 The midfielder, who last season played for Rangers, has been on the Happy Valley payroll since the start of the season last month.

 He is also under personal contract to Ken Ng, now the executive director of Instant-Dict.

 Recently, he said he wanted to join Happy Valley, leaders of the Ericsson League.

 Champions South China are looking for new foreign players in a bid to rescue their flagging title hopes.

 The Caroliners have had a poor start to the season, gaining just one point from three games, which has them languishing second from last in the eight-team standings.

 Team chairman Albert Hung Cho-hong said they were looking for a Brazilian player to strengthen their midfield.

 'We will confirm whether we will go ahead with the signing of new foreign players after our match against Five-One-Seven on Friday,' said team manager Peter Leung Shou-chi. 'We have only three expats [defender Aurelio da Silva, left-back Ignjic Radislav and forward Lee Bullen]. So there's still room for one or two players.'  Leung emphasised that no players would be sacked - for the moment.

 In other news, the Hong Kong Under-20 side beat First Division Sing Tao 2-1 in a friendly yesterday at Mongkok Stadium - their final tune-up for the China National Games in Shanghai.



Yiu stranded as tug-of-war continues