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Alvin Sallay

If there was any need for solid evidence that hard times are here, then one look at the empty stands at Hong Kong Stadium during this week's Lunar New Year Cup was proof of the  pudding.
Despite the Hong Kong Football Association cutting ticket prices by almost half from last year, to HK$200 and HK$100, the public stayed away in droves. On the first day of the four-team competition, only 7,591 fans paid to enter the 40,000-seater venue. On the final day, the number was marginally better at 7,850.
Taken together, gate receipts amounted to HK$1,550,350. An insignificant sum. The cost of hiring the stadium itself would have set the HKFA back by HK$300,000 for two days.
If you factored in the cost of bringing  the two overseas teams - Sparta Prague and Suwon Bluewings - I would be very surprised if the organisers were left with any loose change.
But Ken Ng Kin, a director with the HKFA  and boss of First Division team Kitchee, remained optimistic, despite the plodding start to the Year of the Ox.
'I don't see us [HKFA] making a big loss. The way this year's tournament was budgeted, I believe we might just break even,' said Ng, who was also the manager of the Hong Kong League XI, one of two local teams in the competition.
Ng revealed that last year the HKFA made 'substantial losses' in hosting the  competition. And this despite a total of 21,000 fans turning up and paying more for their tickets.
No wonder then that HKFA president Timothy Fok Tsun-ting was left wishing the annual tournament could somehow transform itself into a Hong Kong Sevens success story - a fairy tale which annually makes a profit for the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union of around HK$50 million.
Fok wants football to follow  its rugby cousins. He wants the tournament to be turned into a spectacle rivalling the March madness. He lamented: 'Just look at the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens. It's just not about rugby, but more about entertainment and being a spectacle.'
Fok has the right idea. But if the Lunar New Year Cup is to draw a packed house with a party atmosphere, then more needs to be done than just a vague idea of reducing prices.
'Maybe we should reduce ticket prices, or even give away tickets so the fans could come in and make it a spectacle,' says Fok. They did both this year - pensioners and people from the homes for the aged were brought in free of charge - but the party didn't even get underway.
Fok might not know it, but if he wants the revelry and fun to start, one of the first things he will have to achieve is to do some house-cleaning. The HKFA is as amateur a sporting body as they come. Officials who take pride in the fact they are all amateurs also act like confused part-timers when it comes to organising and running the event.
One of the cornerstones of the Hong Kong Sevens' success was that the HKRFU - which at the outset was run by volunteers with only a couple of paid staff - recognised the importance of the media.
They realised if the tournament was to turn into a money-making venture, they would need to raise its profile. So they courted the world's media offering air tickets and accommodation as they flew in journalists from all the major rugby-playing nations.
This was not a freebie and a jolly for the invited. In turn, they had to propagate the Hong Kong Sevens story, far and wide. Over the years, this approach paid huge dividends as the tournament became popular and was recognised as the premier event of its kind in the world - not only by the International Rugby Board, but by fans too.
They flew in from all over the world to watch. A thriving rugby community within Hong Kong also supported it. A golden goose was born. The rest is old hat.
Every time I talk to other sporting bodies in this city, they always moan about the fact they do not have an occasion rivalling the Hong Kong Sevens. What they don't realise is that this success, like Rome, wasn't built in a day.
A lot of hard work was laid into the 'See you at the Sevens' foundation by rugby officials who realised the importance of the media. This is hardly the case within the walls of the HKFA.
This week, they barred RTHK's English service from covering the final as the radio station had failed to secure the appropriate accreditation, mistakenly believing the annual press pass given to cover the local games would be enough to get them into the stadium.
A stubborn HKFA official told RTHK sports reporter Doug Chalmers to buy a ticket if he wanted to cover the final. A plea that would give the tournament more exposure and publicity fell on deaf ears.
If this were a World Cup featuring two top sides, the HKFA's stance would have been reasonable. At the last World Cup in Germany, even though I had accreditation, I still needed a ticket issued by the organisers to get into the press stands. Only a few of the thousands of media covering the showpiece could actually get into the stadiums. Those unlucky not to get a ticket had to follow it on television.
But here we had a stadium, three-quarters empty of fans, and an asinine official barring the media from doing its job, and local football a huge favour.
Fok might want a spectacle, but if no one turns up, and if there is no one to report on it and spread the word, how can he achieve his dream?
The HKFA will have its annual general meeting in July when elections will be held for office-bearers. According to Ken Ng, 'things might be different next year'.
What football needs is a professional outfit running the show - people who can make  sensible decisions, and not some bureaucrat trying to score points. If such people can be put in place, then perhaps one day we might see the Lunar New Year Cup reaching stellar heights.



New Year flop a much-needed wake-up call for bumbling HKFA