A former deputy board chief of the Schools Sports Federation said on Monday that all schools have ample time to apply to join inter-school competitions.

Langton Cheung was speaking after Yan Chai Hospital Tung Chi Ying Memorial Secondary School missed the deadline for its students to compete this year. An appeal for leniency over its mistake was rejected.

Cheung said while it's a painful lesson for the school and its students, organisers must treat all schools in a fair manner.

He said from what he could recall, there has never been any discretion exercised over missed deadlines.

"We have to be gatekeepers for things like athlete eligibility and application deadlines," he said on a Commercial Radio programme.

"These things, there are certainly precedents...Ultimately, we just acted in accordance with the rules. It's very hard to say there's any grey area. There's simply none."

Lobo Louie, a senior lecturer at the Education University's Department of Health and Physical Education, agreed with Cheung.

He said on RTHK that schools are a microcosm of society and the values of this saga have shown that the need to abide by rules is more important than a competition itself.

Lawmaker Tang Fei, of the Federation of Education Workers, said he was worried about the emotional wellbeing of the students denied entry to this year's competitions.

"I'm concerned about the emotional counselling for students since they all prepared a long time for the games," he said.

"Say, even at the Olympics, when a country is banned from competing, athletes who are citizens from that country could still compete."

Over the weekend, the Education Bureau said it would look into the issue, including whether there was misconduct on the part of any teachers.