HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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are there so many youngsters wandering around? Instead of forcing them to become deviants, why don't we organize more healthy sports activities for them so that they can divert their energies to useful channels? These are the things that I want to point out here. Talking about the provision of sports grounds in particular, I think it tends to be more and more middle-class oriented. In fact, what I want to point out is that for Kwun Tong's recreational and sports development programme, there is a proposal to build 30 tennis courts within 5 years. But nothing is mentioned about the provision of soccer pitches. Besides, I would also like to say something about the management of sports grounds. Apart from the problem of soccer pitches mentioned above, many sports grounds in fact have similar problems in management. As we all know, the District Offices (Recreation, Amenities and Sports) recently computerized the venue management system, and here I want to criticize the fallacy of worshipping information technology as advocated by Mr. CHUNG Shu-kun. Actually, the aim of extending the computerized booking system is to ensure fairness. However, do not forget, the biggest weakness of this system is that the more applications you submit, the greater the chance of acquiring venues you will have, just like the Mark Six. At the same time, a large number of people enrol in recreational and sports programmes which they actually are not going to participate in. They enrol just because the entry fee is low. As a result, a lot of the Council's resources are wasted.
Lastly, I would like to point out that the topic of sports should be handled with great care, since sports and politics are somehow related. We might perhaps recall a scene on which Hong Kong people gathered jubiliantly at the Hong Kong International Airport several years ago to greet our national soccer squad, which beat the national soccer squad of China in the World Cup qualifying match. This shows that as far as sports is concerned, Hong Kong people identify themselves not only as 'Chinese', but also as ‘Hong Kongese'. Then in 1992, Hong Kong people were greatly encouraged by the good results achieved by the Chinese delegation in the Olympic Games held in Spain. I would like to tell you, however, that I was in China at that time. I was aware that the operations of state institutions and the coverage of the Olympic Games by the mass media were in fact manoeuvred in such a way that sports and the mass media were used as tools for achieving domination. Therefore, we have to examine this problem carefully. Now, perhaps I should return to the topic of the above-mentioned World Cup qualifying match between the national soccer squads of Hong Kong and China. It is only natural that we were rejoiced when Hong Kong won the match. However, we should also think about the reason for the commotion which broke out in Beijing at that time. Just like the situation in Hong Kong before the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, commotion also broke out after South China was beaten in similar football matches. We should therefore deal with the relation between politics and sports carefully.
These are my remarks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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