The SF&OC and its member NSAs have been repeatedly cautioned throughout the years by the
Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and
Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) against corruption and to implement better governance.
2000s In December 2003, Legislative Council member
Albert Chan asked the Secretary of Home Affairs,
Patrick Ho, about NSAs and a perceived waste of taxpayer money, stating "Many national sports associations (NSAs) rely on public funding for operation and hosting sports events. However, some members of the public query some NSAs for their failure to make effective use of the funding to promote and develop sports events, resulting in a waste of public money." In June 2006, the LCSD and ICAC held a seminar, named "Striving for Good Corporate Governance" to brief more than 100 members of NSAs on ways prevent corruption. The deputy director of the LCSD said that "As users of public funds, sports bodies must not only discharge their obligations under the Subvention Agreement but also conduct their business in a transparent, fair and open manner." The issue stemmed from a March 2006 complaint that the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association (HKAAA) had awarded a contract to a company owned by the HKAAA's chairman. In October 2009, the Audit Commission submitted a report to the Legislative Council, with recommendations to tighten up supervision of taxpayer funds to NSAs. The government responded that only the SF&OC and NSAs were responsible for selecting athletes, and that "While the Government respects the autonomy and independence of the SF&OC and NSAs, we nonetheless closely monitor the use of public money by these organisations to ensure that it is deployed effectively in promoting sports development." ICAC's goal was to enhance governance and transparency from NSAs. Additionally, ICAC further mentioned that the report was for "Addressing public concern on the governance of national sports associations (NSAs)". In 2020, the Audit Commission found that the SF&OC had yet to implement some of the best practices. In February 2015, the Legislative Council released an 85-page research report on the SF&OC, which pointed out deficiencies, such as "NOCs in Hong Kong and Singapore have hitherto released limited publicly available information regarding their operations. While they have uploaded their respective constitution onto their websites, other relevant documents such as annual reports, balance sheets and statements of accounts are not available in the public domain. In comparison, NOCs in Australia, Japan and the US show a high degree of openness and transparency with proactive disclosure of relevant information for the public understanding and scrutiny of their operations." In 2015, a seminar was co-hosted between the SF&OC and the
Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), on eliminating sexual harassment in the sports sector. However, three years later in 2018, it was revealed that only 10 of 79 NSAs had created guidelines against sexual harassment. For example, it claimed Timothy Fok has power on all important subcommittees, including those which select athletes, and those which control finances. The Audit Commission noted that around half of SF&OC's 29 subcommittees had not met for two years. In particular, the legislators asked why the fastest swimmer was not selected to compete, with a slower swimmer selected instead. In July 2020, the
Legislative Council's Public Accounts Committee criticised the
Hong Kong Football Association under Timothy Fok, stating its governance was "appalling and inexcusable". It noted that an internal audit committee, designed to review the association's use of taxpayer funding, was not active between 2015 and 2019, despite receiving HK$34 million in funding for the 2017-18 year. as well as a coach of the
Hong Kong women's national handball team for faking timesheet records. In August 2021, a triathlete who represented
Hong Kong at the 2020 Summer Olympics stated that NSAs had enough funding, but were not doing enough to identify and develop top athletes to funnel them to the
Hong Kong Sports Institute, causing about 90% of qualified triathletes to drop out of the sport. In September 2021,
SCMP published an article which detailed multiple complaints against the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association (HKIHA), from former coaches and players. They accused the association of lacking transparency in corporate governance, as well as conflicts of interest between the chairman and the association, causing the development of the sport to be hampered. In September 2023, local media reported that 2 sports associations under the SF&OC had consistently failed to submit annual audited financial returns; the Hong Kong Weightlifting and Powerlifting Association, and the Hong Kong Tug of War Association. In October 2023,
Bernard Chan wrote that "governing bodies must operate to the highest professional standards, with equally high standards of governance, accountability and transparency." In January 2024, a former Hong Kong elite Olympic coach moved to the UK because she said Hong Kong did not offer enough support for elite coaches, saying she was unpaid. In June 2024, the ex-head coach of Hong Kong football team, Jorn Andersen, said that
Hong Kong Football Association receiving millions of taxpayer dollars every year made the HKFA have no motivation to improve, and said that the HKFA needed to be "more professional, from top to bottom," and did "not do enough" to improve the sport. He also named Eric Fok as not taking enough action for the sport. In August 2024, after complaints that athletes were paid less than minimum wage, Edgar Yang, an official of the SF&OC, said that athletes should consider their stipends as a "perk." After Yang's statement, multiple current and former athletes complained about the financial burdens they endured. In February 2025, a former manager of the Hong Kong China Swimming Association admitted to fraud after he falsely claimed that athletes had attended water polo training, and took most of the government training funds. == Funding ==