Hong Kong FA chief Eric Fok refuses to commit to league overhaul, rejects clubs’ criticism over poor promotion of sport
- Fok says the media can help Hong Kong football by providing more positive coverage of the domestic game
- Chairman fudges when asked if clubs should assume control of local league, while CEO refuses to answer any questions
Hong Kong football chief Eric Fok Kai-shan believes the city’s poor domestic competitions can be improved, but has not said how the standard could be raised and instead challenged the media to cover the game more positively.
His comments at the Hong Kong Football Association’s annual general meeting followed a withering attack on the state of the game locally from head coach Jorn Andersen.
The Norwegian, who guided the city’s team to the Asian Cup finals for the first time since 1968, has repeatedly said the standard is too far below that required in international football. He added that he constantly asked himself while attending Premier League or cup matches: “Why have I come today?”
There have also been moves made by top-flight clubs to push the FA to share control of the domestic game, with Lee Man president Norman Lee Man-yen and Eastern vice-chairman Frankie Yau both telling the Post the FA did not have the knowledge or ability to promote local football.
Elected unopposed as association chairman last June, Fok is the third generation of his family to hold an influential FA position over 54 consecutive years, following late grandfather Henry, and father Timothy.
It was not possible to get the thoughts of Joaquin Tam Chau-long, the FA CEO, on anything discussed at Thursday’s meeting. Tam avoided media when it came time to answer questions, but returned to eat dinner with colleagues.
The CEO was criticised last week by an FA employee for allowing only one member of the organisation’s marketing and media team to travel to Uzbekistan for Hong Kong’s crucial World Cup qualifier.
Asked after the AGM about the criticism from the clubs, and the FA’s plans to increase the attractiveness of the league for fans and sponsors, Fok opted to answer in platitudes and jargon.
“I think there are many ways of doing it,” he said. “First of all, I think the standard has to be higher. How do we improve the standard?
“Secondly, we are already getting lots of commercial partners … like Nissin Foods [who became the Hong Kong team’s official food partner in December]. We hope to work closer together, and develop a blueprint, so people can join this initiative and work together, and have better improvement.
“Right now, we are working closely with the clubs and different members, then, hopefully … we can review this whole situation and see how we move forward together as a whole.”
Fok added: “The media can project more of what we are doing, so people understand more, then we can truly make the HKFA better, and have more commercial partners.”
One of the primary goals of the HKFA’s Vision 2025 plan, established in 2020, was for “an improving and independently-operated top professional league with stable teams”.
Asked about Lee’s idea, Fok, who revealed a decision on the future of Premier League team HKU23 would be made before the end of the season, said: “The most important thing is, that whatever decision we make, it contributes towards the better development of Hong Kong football.
“If the goal is aligned, then we can actually see how we can do it, and we can achieve this together.
“We are reviewing all sorts of proposals, and we welcome all sorts of proposals. Ultimately, we have to protect our stakeholders, and how to develop Hong Kong football is our main goal. I believe we can work closely together to achieve that … with that, the clubs, the players, the coaches, the fans, everyone, would be happy.”
