My Take | In mega fund's eyes, public takes a back seat

The Mega Events Fund should be renamed the "mega fun fund for the rich and well-connected".

The latest furore involves an HK$8 million subsidy for Kitchee Sports Club to organise an exhibition match with Manchester United in late July. A perennial favourite of the city's soccer fans, the event should pay for itself without a cent from taxpayers.

But since organisers and sponsors are making all of us pay, it should at least have the decency to let the public get their fair share of tickets for reasonably good seats.

But no, even the most expensive tickets will only get you a seat in the corners of the stadium. Only 18,000 tickets were sold to the general public in an event that is budgeted for 40,000 spectators. A whopping 11,000 tickets went to Man U, including some for title sponsor Aon.

I just love this: we pay them to play in town, and they take all the best seats to entertain their clients, friends and cousins - and travel agent. Even the Tourism Commission, the fund's overlord, gets 4,000 tickets. This is promoting Hong Kong all right … as the world's premier sucker.

Kitchee and the fund are now blaming each other. The club claims the government and Man U decided who gets what tickets. The fund chief, Jeffrey Lam kin-fung, has now threatened to take back some funding that has not been disbursed to the club.