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Hong Kong fans boo the Chinese national anthem at the 2018 World Cup Asian qualifying match between Hong Kong and Maldives. Photo: AP
Opinion
James Porteous
James Porteous

Fifa has a cheek to lecture Hong Kong fans about booing China national anthem - but they ought to heed the warning

It's a wonder they have time to issue lessons on behaviour, but supporters should heed warning not to boo anthem

Two opaque bodies wielding immense global power, riven with corruption allegations. Answerable to nobody, handing down diktats with abandon. Billions of dollars sloshing around, making a skim here and there irresistible to some. Transparency International, Amnesty and similar organisations are not fans. Nor are the US and many other Western governments - though they do have support from the likes of Qatar and Russia.

Yup, Fifa and the Chinese Communist Party have a lot in common - though China's governing body has done more to improve life for the people they represent than football's.

Fifa might have helped guarantee angry scenes from Hong Kong fans in their next World Cup qualifier

Another thing the two august bodies have in common, it seemed last week, is a clumsy determination to stoke protest in Hong Kong by issuing heavy-handed proclamations.

Just as Beijing appeared hell-bent on stoking passions during Occupy Central by barking orders, so Fifa might have helped guarantee angry scenes from Hong Kong fans in their next World Cup qualifier, against Qatar on September 8.
Fifa has been dogged by scandal in recent months, yet it has waded in over the booing of the Chinese anthem. Photo: EPA
Fifa sent a letter at the start of the month to the Hong Kong Football Association noting that "according to information at our disposal, the fans of the representative team of Hong Kong booed their national anthem" before the team's first two qualifiers in June. Yes, our own anthem, not Bhutan's or the Maldives'.

"[We] would be left with no other option than to impose sanctions against your association, should such incidents recur," Fifa said. Predictably, when the HKFA revealed this and pleaded (once more) with fans not to boo the again, fans reacted furiously.

"How can you be punished for booing your own national anthem?" was the gist of complaints, but Fifa's "principles of fair play" apply not only towards opposing teams "but also towards your own association and its representative team".

How can you be punished for booing your own national anthem?

Who better than Fifa to say what's fair, of course. This is the organisation that was compared to the mafia by US Senator Richard Blumenthal during a Senate hearing last week into their ongoing corruption crisis. He did backtrack: "[that was] almost insulting to the mafia ... because the mafia would never have been so blatant, overt and arrogant in its corruption," he clarified.

The same day, Transparency issued recommendations on how to begin cleaning out the Augean Stables in Zurich. Later, former vice-president Jeffrey Webb was on a plane to New York under extradition to face corruption charges, one of 14 men indicted by the US Justice Department. Then sponsors (finally) spoke out.

You wonder how the mandarins can be bothered to hammer minnows like Hong Kong, but life goes on for those of the 400 members of staff in Zurich whose time is not occupied by paper-shredding and panicked telephone conversations with expensive lawyers.

We asked Fifa: who reported the booing (presumably the match delegate, but who knows); has a team been punished before for such a "crime" (the Spanish government made unhappy noises when Basque and Catalan fans booed Spain's national anthem ahead of the King's Cup final between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona recently, but no punishment seems to have been made); and what might happen if the is raspberried again?

What might happen if the March of the Volunteers is raspberried again?

After an initial meaningless statement confirming the warning, they sort of answered: "cannot comment … cannot confirm ... cannot comment". Thanks. We had to laugh when Fifa's ultra-oxymoronic ethics committee proclaimed the very same day that "more transparency" was needed.

What is transparent is that the HKFA will be very worried. Hong Kong Stadium still has not been approved by the government for the qualifier against China in November, sure to be a testy affair.

"High-level talks" are ongoing, we understand, with the government believed to be worried about 40,000 fans seeing the game as an ideal opportunity to rile the mainland.

It could even be played behind closed doors if there's more booing at the Qatar match - which would likely be a relief for the Hong Kong government as it would help them avoid a tricky decision.

So, much as it sticks in the craw to take advice on manners from Fifa, let's hope fans hold their tongues in September.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Fifa has a cheek lecturing HK fans
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