The Rational Ref | Did Tang King-shing's leadership suffer from lack of refereeing experience?

With their officious uniforms, black notebooks and piercing whistles, police officers with a proclivity for discipline appear to share similarities with referees. So when former police commissioner and avid soccer fan Tang King-shing joined the Hong Kong Football Association last season the perception was he would add steel and zeal to disciplinary and refereeing matters.

There is no question of his zeal for the game. As one of three independents in a board of nine directors, Tang contributed more than his share of duties at the HKFA last season. He also watches as many First Division matches as he can. Of the eight major committees at the HKFA, Tang was convenor of two (disciplinary and appeals) and chairman of a third (referees). He also sat in two further committees (finance & strategy, and technical & playing), as well as in various sub-committees.

When it was revealed Tang had surprisingly resigned, the public perception of an ex-police chief beefing up the local soccer scene persisted. HKFA chairman Brian Leung Hung-tak sang Tang's praises, saying: "Tang has contributed a lot to the development of the sport since he joined the board, especially in the disciplinary and refereeing areas."

Unfortunately, the facts say otherwise. Whatever the politics within the HKFA that forced Tang to suddenly resign from his four-year term, there is some doubt whether he added steel in the areas he oversaw: disciplinary and refereeing matters.

One measure whether clubs and players are wary of disciplinary sanctions is the number of cautions and players sent off they accumulate over a season. If significant disciplinary sanctions are in place, clubs and players feel more pressure to behave themselves.

In Hong Kong's top flight during the past three seasons (from 2009 to 2012), there were 40, 37, 35 red cards - an average of 3.5 to 4 expulsions per team every season. Also in the same period there were 536, 491, 556 yellow cards - an average range of 49.1 to 55.6 cautions per team every season.

Although crude, these figures give an indication that over the past three years clubs in general have not significantly changed their attitude, behaviour, quality, or style of play to reduce their card counts. If there was a strong incentive to do so - such as establishing a strict disciplinary system based on accumulative fines and suspensions - then there would be a noticeable improvement in players' behaviour and a significant drop in card counts.