Politics
Written by: Lin Jian
2019-12-18 07:00
Last updated: 2019-12-18 07:00The East Asian Football Championship will usher in the China-Hong Kong war today (18th). Before the match, the national football team recorded a two-game losing streak like the Hong Kong team.
Speaking of Hong Kong football, the most classic of the past ten years can be regarded as the Hong Kong Football Team ’s two national football matches in the World Cup qualifiers, which caused a enthusiasm in the city. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Hong Kong Football Association ’s East Asian Games gold win. The government took the initiative to launch the "Phoenix Project" to fund the reform of Hong Kong football. However, the past decade has not been effective. Many people have lamented why the local wave has always "fought Up? "
Local football faces a lot of restrictions, and lack of funding is an important factor. The Legislative Council's Home Affairs Committee discussed football development earlier this month. Many people in the local circle, including former Hong Kong Super League player Huang Yaofu, FA Director Chen Zhikang and others, have personally supported the legalization of local football betting, hoping to stimulate the football market. Is the way to revitalize local waves?
The problem of local football betting has been discussed as early as the early 2000s when the legalization of gambling on football was promoted, and it has also been a goal that many people in the football industry have been fighting for for many years. As long as football betting is adequate, it can attract more eyeballs for the event, which will lead to commercial sponsorship, increase revenue, and attract talent. Opponents worry that it will cause false waves. The final issue has not been addressed to this day. The Government has also avoided this rather important issue on the grounds that "gambling is not encouraged".
Vicious cycle of underfunding
Local football development is limited. I believe Hong Kong people will not be unfamiliar. In terms of hardware, the "Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines" mentioned that there should be an 11-a-side football field for every 100,000 population. However, there are only 62 football stadiums under the LCSD's current population, with a population of over 7 million in Hong Kong. The word does not meet the standard. It is difficult to say that ordinary citizens cannot have enough opportunities to play football. Even professional players may have insufficient training grounds, or they need to patronize the "fighting party."
But in addition to the land issue, there is a structural limitation that may not be resolved even with the stadium, and that is funding. There are not many attendees at the Hong Kong Super League (only 771 players per game this season so far), the broadcast rights cannot be turned into revenue, and the league and the entire FA's commercial sponsorship are lacking. According to the annual report of the Football Association, the number of "sponsorship, advertising and event broadcast revenue" has been floating in recent years, only 4.77 million in 2017/18, accounting for only 5% of total revenue. The current revenue of the FA mainly comes from the Government and the Jockey Club. The Government Football Task Force also acknowledges that this situation needs to be improved.
Commercial sponsorship is inadequate and even the livelihood of clubs and players is affected. Some big-name teams have higher incomes due to the investment of their class owners, but these are only a few. In addition, the "old football" funded by the class leader alone is actually a business with no guarantee of return. Once the team member is overwhelmed or other reasons no longer "pump", the team will be difficult to maintain. For example, this year the Hong Kong Super League was promoted to roaming horses. The class fee is only about 4 million, and 25 players need to be raised. Therefore, many young players need to be kicked to play with low pay.
Difficulties in maintaining a player's livelihood
It is difficult to guarantee the livelihood of football players, and it is even more difficult to attract potential players to football or support their continuous training. A trendy article titled "If Metz was born in Hong Kong" was circulated 6 years ago on the Internet, mentioning that even with the football talent of Argentine star Metz, it is difficult to protect the livelihood of Hong Kong football players. You can't be buried if you are forced to read by your family. The content may be exaggerated, but I believe it explains the problem to a certain extent.
Under the constraints of the overall environment, whether it is a local league team or a local football team, it is difficult to achieve breakthroughs. The Hong Kong team currently ranks 139th in the world, only 4 places higher than in 2009. It is even more distant to reach the World Cup finals week. The local football ca n’t make any achievements, the fans ’desire to watch local matches will decline again, and the commercial value of matches will decrease, forming a vicious circle.
The Argentine star Messi has won almost all personal honors in football, but Hong Kong people may think that if he was born in Hong Kong, it is possible to achieve today. (Reuters)
People in the circle advocate the legalization of local betting
In this regard, the introduction of local football betting is a fairly common aspiration of the circle. The "innate advantage" of local football is good time, which usually starts on the weekend afternoon or evening. Opening cash betting can increase the attention of local football, attract more commercial sponsorship for local football in the long run, increase the income of teams and players, instead of playing only the "master" wave; the government can also standardize the management of local football markets, The regulations use a certain percentage of the betting pool's proceeds for local football development.
Of course, open betting must have adequate policy support, such as cracking down on false waves and preventing conflicts of interest. For example, since 2014, the Hong Kong Football Association has cooperated with Sportradar, a data company that specializes in monitoring gambling markets, to monitor suspicious markets to prevent false waves. In the English football world that Hong Kong people are familiar with, the local FA has also banned football professionals from betting on any football. Relevant matters to prevent potential conflicts of interest.
Discussing the legalization of gambling on football more than a decade ago
In the early 2000s, the Hong Kong Government studied the issue of legalization of gambling on football matches to combat illegal gambling on the periphery. The players in the circle, including then-Chairman Kang Baoju, openly supported the inclusion of local waves in the norms in their personal name. They believed that this could increase the attractiveness of local waves to the citizens, increase the number of people watching the game, and broadcast income, and return to the 1980s. The scene of ten thousand empty lanes. However, in that era, monopolistic gambling alone was highly controversial. Opponents generally believe that the legalization of gambling on football will encourage gambling, and the opening of local wave betting will even generate the problem of false waves. Therefore, the political community still generally believes that it is not time to discuss local wave betting.
As a result, the government announced a standardized gambling plan, which involved Hong Kong teams and local football matches. At the time, a spokesman for the Home Affairs Bureau also responded to media enquiries that the purpose of the standardization of football betting was to combat illegal gambling. At that time, the amount of illegal bets on the Earth Tournament was small, so it was temporarily not intended to include local games in the regulations.
Hong Kong won the East Asian Games in 2009. (Photo of Hong Kong Football Association)
"Phoenix Project" is nothing but Luo Jiecheng: Investment can only be truly professional if there is a return on investment
With the Hong Kong team's football boom following the 2009 East Asian Games victory, the government launched the "Phoenix Plan" in 2011, proposing a series of measures including establishing the Hong Kong Super League, strengthening youth training development, referee training, etc. The government injected about 6,000 over three years. Ten thousand yuan to promote the FA. The original intention was to improve the level of the tournament through the professionalization of the top leagues, but the plan was accused of being ineffective and did not address the current problems of player livelihoods and insufficient venues. When the nature of the "old and fine football" in the ball circle remained unchanged, the reorganization of the original Hong Kong A to the Hong Kong Super League was just futile.
During the brewing of the "Phoenix Project", another commentator suggested that local football betting should be legalized. The former team leader who assisted South China in reaching the semi-finals of the Asian Cup in 2009, Luo Luocheng pointed out: "Only football investment has a real return. Hong Kong football can be truly professional. "He believes that with the experience and ability of the Jockey Club, he believes that he can manage the management problems brought about by the legalization of local football betting. In the final proposal of the Phoenix Project consultants report, it was also mentioned that “if you are allowed to gamble local football under the implementation of strict regulations,” former FA Chief Executive Officer Kyiv Kyiv and former Hong Kong team coach Jin Jukun have all used personal Nominal support for local wave betting.
Luo Jiecheng helped Nanhua to reach the semi-finals of the Asian Cup for ten years ago, igniting Hong Kong people's enthusiasm for local football, setting a history of non-foreign team performance matches filling the Hong Kong stadium, and was called "Luo Shen" by netizens. (Profile picture)
The official pointed out that Nuoxuan, a gambling area, was discouraged: Japan ’s Group B all gambled. Why is n’t it local?
At that time, the FA official believed that the hastily launched policy may lead to problems such as counterfeiting, so it decided to discuss it after the professional football (Hong Kong Super League) was promoted to the fifth season. However, this issue was later put on the shelf, and the government did not study it further. In July 2018, the government released the "Hong Kong Football Association's Five-Year Strategic Plan-Mid-term Review", which made no mention of opening up local football betting.
In the Legislative Council Home Affairs Committee on July 20 of that year, then member of the District Council, Nuo Xuan, asked why the Football Club ’s Football Club said, “Even Japan ’s Group B and Swedish League markets are available. Why is n’t it available locally? Many middle-aged uncles are often watching the live broadcast of the Japanese Group B League. Why aren't they watching the Earth game? "However, the acting director of the Home Affairs Bureau, Chen Jizhi, responded that the policy of the SAR government is to discourage gambling, and also to point out that the above recommendations cannot promote The help of football.
This explanation is specious. First of all, as mentioned above, the opening of local football betting is directly related to the commercial value of the game. The more central issue is that if the government believes that opening a bet is equivalent to encouraging gambling, then even the legalization of gambling on football 16 years ago should not have occurred.
Moreover, the problems that gambling on football may extend, such as pathological gambling and false waves, cannot be completely banned in reality, because there must be gambling when there is a wave. This is human nature. No gambling on the ground or local gambling is allowed. Therefore, the local wave has not accepted bets in Hong Kong, but in recent years, there have been sporadic false wave scandals in Hong Kong. On the contrary, by stimulating the ball market to increase the income of clubs and players, it can have the effect of "high salaries and support for integrity", reducing the chances of players being "tempted" due to their meager salary.
Ou Nuoxuan once asked why even Japan Group B and Swedish League can bet, but local football is not. (Profile picture)
The commercial value of solidarity in football is worth digging
Football is the most popular and popular sport in Hong Kong. Tens of thousands of people yelled "Hong Kong King" at the Hong Kong Stadium together. Watching the Hong Kong team win the game is more united. But football requires funds, and it is impossible to wait forever for the big bosses to inject capital. Increasing the commercial value of the league and letting it develop on its own is the long-term way. If the government really believes that the introduction of betting is not feasible, it should explain in detail what specific technical difficulties there are and what conditions it currently owes, such as whether the government does not have the confidence to properly monitor it, but the "encouraging gambling and false wave problem" itself is certainly not convincing. Objection.
It has been ten years since the East Asian Games won the championship. On that day, Chen Qiqi, "Chen Qi", who scored a match for the Hong Kong team, has also entered his later career. Recalling that when he interviewed many years ago, he once claimed that Spanish star Weiner "played like me" and was hailed by netizens as an international star. But in fact, this should not be a joke. Hong Kong can produce its own stars. Like Japan ’s Honda Keisuke and South Korea ’s Sun Xingxuan, they are more established than Asians in the international arena, depending on whether the government is determined to provide an ideal for young players. Growing environment.
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