Hong Kong Football Club should take lead on diversity

Hong Kong is set to stage the squash World Team Championships in December, the first time the men’s and women’s events will be held concurrently.

The World Squash Federation, which awarded the Hong Kong Football Club the rights to host this tournament, should be commended for this important step towards gender parity in the sports arena. The same cannot be said for the Hong Kong Football Club, which is stuck in the dark ages as far as gender equality is concerned – governed by a general committee made up at present of 17 men and only one woman.

The January 2024 rewrite of the club’s by-laws failed to introduce any measures to increase gender diversity in the committee.

At the club’s annual general meeting in November 2023, in response to a question on diversity and the club’s policy thereon, the club’s chairman, Neil Jensen, assured the meeting that a policy statement was not required because club members can be trusted to do the right thing. He then doubled down on this in the December edition of the club magazine, confirming that the directors do not see any need for a formal policy statement on diversity.

The Hong Kong Football Club can hardly claim to be “one of the finest sporting clubs in Asia” if it does not take the lead on diversity.