As the authority responsible for sports development, the Home Affairs Bureau should explore more fresh ideas on how the administration can support the development of local soccer. We are being left behind badly in the region while the Chinese mainland has been taking proactive measures to quickly modernize its soccer development. Rapid progress is also being made by the national soccer teams of India, the Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar and Vietnam. There was a time when the Hong Kong team performed well internationally too. So it is long overdue for the government to devise ways of financially supporting local soccer development apart from providing the necessary infrastructure.

Eastern Football Team, the reigning champion of the Hong Kong Premier League, is trimming its expenditure in the coming season due to the withdrawal of its sponsor - a painful blow after the smooth and successful implementation of Project Phoenix - the three-year push to improve the local soccer scene on many levels - that ended in 2014. There is another, more positive news, which is about Hong Kong Football Club, an amateur body that welcomes outside players. Critics complain that allowing the amateur football club into the premier league was a retrograde step. The third event affecting the development of Hong Kong soccer concerns the Hong Kong Football Association's (HKFA) invitation to a Guangzhou club to join the premier league, arousing opposition from local stakeholders, including players and managers. But the association quickly responded by floating the idea that the mainland club would have to allow four local players to play in all of its premier league matches.

These three events raise this question: Is the premier league facing serious problems in its attempts to modernize local soccer? Arguably, fans should be supportive of the association's persistent attempts to upgrade local soccer. But financial support for the premier league still remains insufficient, especially from the business sector. In this situation, allowing the amateur Hong Kong Football Club to play in the premier league and requiring the Guangzhou soccer club to include a few local players, appear to be necessary adaptive measures.

Arguably, the government should consider the idea of giving attractive tax incentives to all business organizations that donate and sponsor the development of local teams in the premier league. This would help soccer clubs in securing sponsorships while stimulating business interest in soccer development. Business groups and even private sector organizations should also be encouraged to form their own teams to participate in the local soccer leagues, especially the premier league.

However, the sudden withdrawal of Eastern's former sponsor has highlighted the fragile nature of financial support for our soccer clubs, especially their vulnerability to the personal whims of their bosses, who actually have no financial incentives to sustain their interest and invest in soccer development.

Despite some bold initiatives, the HKFA's five-year strategic plan for 2015-20 appears to neglect the importance of how soccer club management can be further modernized and stabilized. Clubs that perform well need to sustain their own development through constant fund raising, but the five-year plan says little about it. This gap can and should be filled by the government.

Financial support also entails the possibility of setting up a fund for the welfare of soccer players, especially those seriously injured in matches. If nothing is done to protect players, parents will remain reluctant to allow their children to become full-time professional players.

Additionally, to reach their peak, talented young local players must be educated in soccer schools and given appropriate training. Some young local players take a lackadaisical attitude to training, seeing their involvement as transient, and lack self-discipline to train hard for success. They must be taught that consistent training will bring about success, and that professionalism requires diligence, intelligence and hard work - exactly the same qualities that one needs to succeed in the workplace.

Finally, business conglomerates and private sector firms should consider how they can contribute to the development of soccer, which is one of Hong Kong's most popular sporting activities. Arguably, they should start by not treating their employees as purely money-making machines. By encouraging them to take up the sport, their health will improve and their morale will grow. They will bring new zest to their work and their productivity will improve.

In short, the government, the business sector and the local players as well as the HKFA should work as partners to make the local premier league a great success. Only through such collaborative effort can we bring about a real breakthrough in the much-needed modernization of local soccer.

(HK Edition 07/25/2016 page10)