HKFA stands firm on board members despite Legco demands but willing to welcome ideas from stakeholders

The Hong Kong Football Association says it has no plans to change its board composition despite requests that it should do so by the Legislative Council on Monday.

At the Council’s Home Affairs Panel meeting, member Pierre Chan moved a motion, askingthe government and the association to study a proposal from the public in expanding the latter’s board composition by including key stakeholders such as players, coaches, team managers plus fans within the next 12 months.

The meeting was held to solicit views from Legco members after the Home Affairs Bureau’s Sports Commission approved the new five-year plan submitted by the Football Association.

The Football Association has been under tight scrutiny since the government’s Audit Commission revealed a value-for-money report on the association in April. In the report, the association has been accused of poor corporate governance and administrative malpractices.

The association has been requested to submit an action plan to address these problems by September 15 or the Home Affairs Bureau would terminate funding.

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Chairman of the association, Pui Kwan-kay, said they would need to amend the association’s articles and rules for any change of board composition. He said any changes would require a 75 per majority from their member clubs. Pui said board members must be elected as stated in the association’s articles.

“Our board has now a retired player/coach and others who are not football-linked persons but successful people from the community,” said Pui. “Anybody who wants to become our board member should go through the proper election [process] first. We welcome them.

“At this stage we have no plan to change the composition of the board as it has been laid down by the government’s consultancy before the Project Phoenix was introduced.”

Former Sun Pegasus coach Chan Chi-hong, a retired Hong Kong international, was elected a board member last year while there are five other non-club linked directors, including some retired government officials.

“We definitely need to improve our communications with all major stakeholders so that their views can be heard and sought and be fully reflected at the board,” said Pui.

The FA chief, meanwhile, said they would reduce the salaries of the top management in response to the Sports Commission’s requests since their financial backing has been approved in their new strategic plan, Vision 2025.

Under the new plan for 2020-25, the Football Association will have to reduce the total salaries of their subvented staff from HK$18 million to HK$15 million annually, although there will a separate capped HK$3 million to cover part of the staff costs for the Football Training Centre in Tseung Kwan O to ease the financial burden on its operations.

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“We do not think it would be too difficult to follow [the salary adjustment],” said Pui. “If we are going to find a local replacement for the chief executive’s job, we can save a large sum of money, while there is also room for adjustment for other posts as we streamline the organisation structure.”

The association also sought an additional funding of HK$12.75 million for six initiatives under Vision 2025, including youth training, referee development and the set-up of a new Premier Youth League. However, the final amount for these initiatives will be subject to review on HKFA’s further submission of programme details.