Aiming High
– Together
I would like to start with an apology. It has been a while since I
wrote a blog, for which I am sorry. As I’m sure you know there have been many
time-consuming but important issues to deal with over the last few months.
It is difficult to overstate the importance of the next few months
as far as the future of football in Hong Kong is concerned. The current
three-year funding cycle linked to Project Phoenix comes to an end in October.
In a previous blog I set out what I believe has been achieved so far on our
long journey to transform football so I won’t go into detail again. Suffice to
say I believe we have dramatically enhanced the governance, management and
organization of the HKFA which has laid the foundation for positive benefits
for the sport itself. There are plenty of signs of improvement. However, no-one
would deny that progress has been slow in certain areas and that there is still
a long way to go.
So this is crunch time. In May the Government’s Football Task Force will
meet to consider whether it will recommend extending the funding given to
football beyond October. Obviously this is a pretty fundamental decision. I
personally do not want to consider what will happen if the answer is ‘no’. All
of the good work we have been doing and the foundations we have laid for future
improvements will have been in vain. I prefer to think positively and that the
funding will be extended. In fact as has been quoted in the press, I believe we
need even more funding if football is going to reach its potential.
The use of public money requires justification and accountability.
Not only must we demonstrate that the money spent so far has been effective but
more importantly we must set out very clearly what any future funding will be used
for and what outcomes we would expect to deliver. In other words, we need a
plan, a strategy, a document that states unambiguously where we are now, where
we should be and how we are going to get there. This is where Aiming High – Together comes in. I attach
to this blog the Executive Summary of our draft 5-year strategic plan. I will
be presenting this together with a funding proposal to the Football Task Force.
I hope to make the case for football and to persuade the powers that be that we
need more funding for at least the next five years.
The strategy is called Aiming
High – Together intentionally because it is a plan for football in Hong
Kong and not just for the HKFA. We need all stakeholders to ‘buy-into’ this
plan and to work together to deliver its objectives. It is not something that
the HKFA should or can embark on in isolation. We do not expect the Government
to pay for everything – that would be unrealistic. However we will be hoping to
justify an increase in public funding commensurate with the aims of the
strategy but we will also be seeking alternative additional funding from
charitable and commercial sectors.
I hope you enjoy reading the Summary of Aiming High – Together and I am sorry that right now it is only
available in English. It will be translated into Chinese now it has been agreed
in a final draft form. As ever, I would welcome any comments and feedback and
if anyone is interested, the full report can be made available on email but I
must warn you it is 150 pages long!
I would like to thank my colleagues who have helped me prepare this
strategy and I commend it to you. As I said at the start of this blog, the
future of football in Hong Kong will be determined in the next few months. I
would urge anyone who cares about football to read this strategy and to get
involved in its delivery. Please get behind what we are trying to do and let’s
all aim high, together.
Please click on the Summary of Aiming High – Together for more details.
Mark
Sutcliffe CEO April 2014
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力爭上游 – 萬眾一心
首先要向大家說聲抱歉，過了一段時間才再次在這裡撰文，實在不好意思。我希望大家明白，在過去的數月間，有不易繁雜的重要大事需要解決。
涉及香港未來足球的發展，實在不得不進一步強調未來數月的重要性。整個為期三年、由香港特區政府撥款的「鳳凰計劃」，將於今年十月屆滿。在過去數篇的拙文中，本人深信我們在改革本地足球的長途旅程上已取得一定成效，在此不再贅述。我只想說，我們已經針對足總的機構管治、行政管理以及組織架構上銳意加強並取得顯著成果，從而對本地球壇的發展大有裨益。不少標誌性的轉變已經擺在眼前；然而，無可否認在某些領域上所取得的成效較慢，仍有一大段路要走。
因此，現在正面臨著一個關鍵時刻！今年五月，香港特區政府所委任的足球專責小組將開會考慮就今年十月是否延續資助本地足球發展的需要，顯然這是一個關乎本地足球命運的決定！在個人的立場上，假如所給予的答覆是「否」的話，本人不敢想像本地足壇的未來發展將會如何，為了針對未來足球事業的發展，我們在過去日子所作出的一切轉變，將會因這個決定而付諸流水！因此，我個人寧願從正面的思路出發，深信有關撥款將會延續下去。事實上，早前部分傳媒已經引述本人言論，若想本地足球事業得以騰飛，個人認為需要更多的撥款支援。
在公帑的運用上，受惠者必須講求公正和負責任，不但我們必須明確交待財務支出的所有細節，同時亦需要清楚列出未來撥款的去向以及所預期的成效；換句話說，我們需要一個計劃、一套策略、一份文件，它能夠毫不含糊地列明我們目前所身處的環境、應該往哪裡走以及如何抵達目的地，因此《力爭上游 — 萬眾一心》（中文譯名）才會面世！在此，本人將足總向足球專責小組匯報的五年策略計劃書的精華摘要附錄在本文中，並將會聯同申請撥款計劃書作一併呈交。本人希望能夠為本地足壇提出合理訴求，說服有關決策部門以證明在未來五年內，我們需要尋求更多撥款支持。
該份計劃書有意名為《力爭上游 — 萬眾一心》（中文譯名），全因這是一個關於香港足球發展的計劃，而非單純足總本身，我們需要所有球圈相關人士「認同」該計劃並共同攜手發放其概念。不要誤以為足總應該或能夠孤單作戰，亦不能冀望政府能夠為我們支付一切—這是不切實際的，然而我們仍盼望政府能夠因應該計劃的目標而公正地增加相應的撥款，當然我們亦需要進一步尋求從其他商業機構和慈善團體中的額外財政援助。
本人希望諸位能夠享受閱讀《力爭上游 — 萬眾一心》的精華摘要，惟目前暫時只有英文版本，而中文譯本將會在英文正式版落實後正式面世。一如以往，本人對任何意見及回饋無任歡迎；假若閣下願意，亦可以透過電子郵件方式索閱該計劃書的完整版本，惟篇幅達一百五十頁之多！
本人由衷感謝幫我預備該計劃書的足總同事，特此加以表揚。在本文開首經已提及，香港足球的未來將會在不久的數月內決定，本人希望各位關心本地足壇的朋友們細心閱讀該計劃書，並共同將其信念傳達開去，大家務必與足總攜手並肩，能夠實踐「力爭上游
，
萬眾一心」的願景。
香港足球總會行政總裁薛基輔
二○一四年四月
