Football for Life Ltd
- 香港總商會會員編號 :
- HKF0379
The Beautiful Game
Hundreds of millions of people around the world put their lives on hold every Saturday afternoon to watch and cheer on their football team. In many countries, football -- or soccer, as our American friends call it -- is a way of life.
But not in Hong Kong. Philippe Bru hopes to change that. The director of Football for Life Limited brought AC Milan’s famed soccer school to Hong Kong in May. He hopes by giving youngsters the chance to train properly that the sport will take off in Hong Kong in the way it has blossomed in Japan when it established a professional J League in 1993.
Hong Konghas had fits and starts at nurturing football. Most recently, Legislative Councilors in 2008 called for more to be done to support the sport at all levels, which resulted in a consultation being carried out. Released last year, the report said there was a general lack of facilities, talent identification, and coordination across the sport. Interestingly, it said interest in football in Hong Kong was still strong. It cited the sell-out game at the Hong Kong Stadium for the South China vs SC Kuwait AFC Cup semi-final and the East Asian Games final, in which Hong Kong defeated Japan to take the gold medal in the first major competition that a Hong Kong football team had won.
Among the report’s recommendations is to restructure the Hong Kong Football Association to “best serve the sport and improve the level of professional expertise and experience in its secretariat.”
It also recommends establishing a professional football league in Hong Kong within three to five years and that the criteria for clubs to enter the league be linked to the AFC criteria.
But as with most professional sports around the world, it all comes down to money. Bru feels sponsors are understandably tired of investing in football when you only have a few thousand people watching the classic teams in Hong Kong.
But that is starting to change. NowTV is starting to broadcast local games live, the Premier League is attracting more and more viewers, more marketing programs are being developed, and the government is giving money to various districts in Hong Kong to develop the sport.
“So it finally appears that once again Hong Kong football is on the right track, and we are hoping with the AC Milan soccer schoolthat we can train up players to be good enough for a first division team,”he said. “I think part of the difficulty that we had before was that there was no structured training in Hong Kong, so it was impossible to train up players into first division material.”
More than football
The Charity Football for Life, which Bru set up five years ago, is dedicated to bettering the lives of underprivileged children through football. Part of the agreement in bringing AC Milan to Hong Kong, was that underprivileged children in Hong Kong would be able to attend training sessions, which he said the club was delighted to be a part of the worthwhile cause.
To ensure the club’s strict training standards are upheld, Bru said AC Milan’s professional coach Elio Garavaglia will regularly visit Hong Kong to fine tune training sessions, which are held every Saturday. He also established an AC Milan training school in Macau in October, and is working towards opening a school in Shenzhen after Chinese New Year.
“Eventually, we are targeting between 300-500 kids to be in each of the schools, with our goal being to cover the entire Pearl River Delta,”Bru explained. “If one kid from Hong Kong, Macau or Shenzhen turns out to be a fantastic player, then the next step is to send him to Milan.”
Bru said the football school costs $10,000 for 50 training sessions. That also includes an AC Milan shirt signed by legend Franco Baresi and a case of the club’s own wine for the parents.But if either the kids or parents are unsure they will enjoy the course , they can join in a Saturday training session for free, or simply sign up for one term .
“Every football team coaches players in their own unique way. AC Milan’s style is different from Manchester United, which is also different from Arsenal. So each club has its own way of doing things,”he said. He is also looking at doing football summer camps, where half the day is spent training, and half visiting places of interest in Hong Kong, Macau or in Guangdong.
