Let Hong Kong athletes focus on sport while officials play right anthem
- New rules introduced after an embarrassing gaffe involving the national song at a rugby match involving Hong Kong place responsibility with organisers and there should be no repeat
The playing of a protest song instead of the national anthem at a rugby match involving Hong Kong has led to serious consequences. Senior city officials have condemned the incident, which occurred at a game in South Korea. The chief secretary met the country’s consul general and demanded it conduct a probe.
Hong Kong police, meanwhile, launched an investigation. The president of Asia Rugby, organiser of the event, flew in to apologise in person.
He stressed it was an innocent mistake not driven by politics.
But it is not only the organisers who have faced criticism. The Hong Kong rugby authorities and team have also come under fire for not doing enough to prevent the blunder and failing to respond appropriately.
The players looked confused and uncomfortable when “Glory to Hong Kong,” a song linked to anti-government protests in 2019, rang out instead of “March of the Volunteers”.
New rules have been unveiled in an attempt to prevent similar mistakes in future and to provide guidance to Hong Kong teams on how to behave should they recur. Team leaders will be responsible for ensuring event organisers have the correct anthem and flag.
The players are to make a “T-sign” if a similar error occurs. They are required to call for a halt to proceedings and not participate further until the mistake is corrected.
A failure to comply may have serious repercussions for sports associations, including a loss of government funding.
The mix-up in South Korea was followed by a revelation that the national anthem had been mislabelled in broadcasts of earlier rugby matches. These mistakes should not occur.
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It is good that the incidents have been handled seriously and steps taken to ensure they are not repeated. The new rules will, hopefully, help the city’s sports teams avoid further controversy.
But the ultimate responsibility does not lie with the athletes. The criticism of the city’s rugby players is unfair.
Their job is to represent Hong Kong by playing rugby to the best of their ability. They did that in South Korea, winning the cup.
The city’s athletes should recognise China’s national anthem, even if they are not Chinese citizens. But the rugby players were not to know how to respond when, unexpectedly, the wrong song was played.
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Their focus at that time, just before the match, would have been on preparing for the important game ahead.
Sports officials should bear responsibility for ensuring the new rules are complied with and taking pressure away from athletes so they can concentrate on sport. Organisers of events must ensure the right national anthems and flags are used.
It is a basic requirement, to be undertaken diligently, so that similar blunders do not occur again.
