Difficulties

There are more than 1900 hockey players form 136 teams in Hong Kong, according to the Hong Kong Hockey Association (HKHA). Yet, there are only five pitches available, with three multi-purpose ground to be shared with football, and only two specifically for hockey.

Comparing to the 45 natural and 33 artificial football turf, the limited hockey playing turf does not provide players enough venue to train and play.

The Venue Shortage

Four public pitches are under the ruling of LCSD, and the other 4 are owned by private sports club.

Public pitches:

1. King's Park Hockey Ground

2. Happy Valley Sports Ground

3. Boardary Street Recreation Ground

4. Lok Fu Recreational Ground

5. Po Tsui Park

Pivately owned pitches:

6. Hong Kong Football Club hockey pitch

7. Club De Recrio pitch

8. Kowloon Cricket Club pitch

9. HKU Stanley Ho Sports Hall pitch 2 (P2)

Approximately 135 teams, more than 1800 players are sharing five public pitches."

While some teams occasionally practise on football fields, that is not ideal because the markings and size of a standard hockey pitch is different from that for football.

Few teams own their private pitches, such as Hong Kong Football Club, and Kowloon Cricket Club. They practice weekly and could host annual tournament to boost the popularity of hockey within their club. But as for other teams and general public, they could only rely on the public sportsground.

Local hockey team Shaheen Sports Club does not own their own sportsground, and can not guarantee to book one every week. Ahmed Khan, the club’s committee member has therefore put a lot of effort to deal with the venue shortage problem.

After two years of dealing with the government, Shaheen has now built a clubhouse in the middle of Temple Street in Jordan for their weekly practice. “We piled up two big containers as a ‘sports academy’ centre in the middle of a busy street. This is really a pioneering work.” he said.

Khan said it seems weird to build it in the middle of a food street, but it serves as a promotion purpose. “People stop by and watch after their dinner, and they asked me what is that, how to join, etc.”

He learnt about this available land from Lands Department in their Short-Term Tenancy scheme offered to NGOs and registered society for specified use, such as sports, recreations or community related matters.

He learnt about this available land from the Short-Term Tenancy scheme offered by the Lands Department to NGO or registered society to apply for specified use, such as sports, recreations or related for community contribution use.

But Khan has faced many obstacles for this proposal. Apart from seeking support from Home Affairs Bureau and endorsement from HKHA, he has to work out the construction plan and future maintenance with limited budget.

Also, this is the first time in Hong Kong someone tried to build with piled containers, therefore safety and fire regulations are greatly concerned. “I had been communicating with the government back and forth for many times because they had to make sure everything is safe before approving the proposal.”

Although the teams can only practice on concrete ground for now, Khan plans to cover it with artificial turf layer soon.

“We are just out of practicing venue. King’s Park and Happy Valley are always fully booked for regular league games and Hong Kong Team’s trainings. Teams without private ground will have to sort their own way out, and this is what we do,” he said.

The Jordon site is only under short-term contract, Khan is still looking for more possible venues.

To know more about the Shaheen site project:

Although the teams can only practice on concrete ground for now, Khan plans to cover it with artificial turf layer soon.

The Jordon site is only under short-term contract, Khan is still looking for more possible venues.

Mr Ahmed Khan is the founder of Action Sports Foundation Limited and committee member of Shaheen Sports Club.

As in hockey, most cricket players in Hong Kong are Pakistanis and Indians. The two sports are often developed and promoted side-by-side.

Recently, 15 Hong Kong Cricket team players receiving scholarships from the HKSI Individual Athletes Support Scheme. Some hockey players hope that sets a milestone and for similar sports.

The four-year scholarships are estimated to be worth more than HK$2.6 million per year. Apart from the monthly grant to the team members, they can also access to HKSI facilities in Fo Tan and join different athlete development programmes

READ MORE: Hong Kong cricketers receive full-time contracts with Sports Institute, by South China Morning Post

According to the LCSD, Hong Kong Hockey Associaation (HKHA) was provided an annual subvention of $2.76 million in 2014-15 under the Sports Subvention Scheme. The money covers personnel, office, and programme expences, which includes participating in oversea competitions, and hosting tournaments and competitions in Hong Kong.

While HKHA said the money is not enough for them to fully develop the sport, the Hong Kong Cricket Association (HKCA) also received a similar budget too, with around $2.9 million each year since 2011-12. READ: Government Press Release in Hong Kong Cricket Development

But the government's support to Hong Kong Cricket Sixes, an international event held each year, marks the different in resources between the two sports. LCSD provides $6 million under the "M" Mark Support System in additional to the usual subvention scheme. The event was also promoted by the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

The Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) received more than $15.6 million of subvention in 2014-15.

SIDE STORY

HONG KONG CRICKET

Sponsorship? Commerical Opportunities?

Many well-known athletes are sponsored by sports brands or contracted as spokesperson with commercial parties, but there is no hockey players ever in Hong Kong shaped into a star athletes.

Sport marketing and commercial sponsorship are important parts of sports, as the campaign will bring significant investment and resources for their development. Some examples would be: the Federation of International supported by Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer based in Indian; the Netherlands teams supported a Dutch local bank Rebobank; the Japan national team supported by the local bank SMBC Consumer Finance, etc.

Sponsorship partners will usually invest in youth programme and commercialize the international events to maximize their advertising opportunities, as well as fulfilling their community responsibility and establishing a positive image. Hence, this highly benefit the sponsored sports reputation.

And apart from government sponsorships and rewards for elite performance, athletes treat these advertising job as an income source. The lacking of such opportunities could hinder local hockey players’ determination in fully committing into the sport.

The "Money Problem"

Arif Ali, coach of the Hong Kong women’s team says there is a lack of government funding and no supportive policies, long term development of sport in the territory is stifled.

Sports in which local athletes achieve outstanding performance in international competitions come under the Elite Vote Support Scheme (EVSS). The athletes can then train at the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) facilities in Fotan. They may get subsidies to travel abroad for events. Some are granted up to four years’ of scholarship.

But hockey is not covered by the scheme.

Ali says it’s a vicious cycle. “You need to get results in order to get funding, but in the other countries, it’s the other way round. So you have to work extra hard to make sure our future is there.”

The HKSI is mainly subvented by the government plus some private donations and commercial sponsorship. Of the approximately 60 hockey players who represent for Hong Kong in international matches, only two are sponsored by the Sports Aids Grant (SAG) in 2015-16 as an appreciation of their devotion to hockey development in Hong Kong.

The grant provides financial support for athletes of non-elite sports. But when asked for the screening criteria, HKSI could only say that the two sponsored players were nominated by the Hong Kong Hockey Association.

Both sponsored players, Silas Poon Chun-yan and Yip Ting-wai, have full-time jobs. So the grant is more of an encouragement than full financial help. They train three times a week after work and use their annual leave from to play in overseas competitions.

Only two Hong Kong Hockey Team members were sponsored in 2015-16

Ali, who has been a Hong Kong team player for many than a decade, had also struggled financially. Dispute happened between him and HKHA in 2006, when he tried to ask for funding to compensate athletes' loss of earning due to oversea competitions.

He decided to leave the team and seeked for professional hockey opportunity oversea in 2008, and only settle back in Hong Kong in 2014 as a coach.

“Things may have improved, but it is still not enough,” he said. “I had no choice but to put myself as priority and left at that time. How can I earn a living when I could not work full-time due to the frequent international matches?”

READ MORE: National squad blow as Arif Ali takes lucrative position with top Paris club, by South China Morning Post

Arif Ali when attending the level one coaching couse held by Federation of International Hockey at Netherlands in 2015.