Hong Kong hates Messi – and he deserves it
- Football star leaves tens of thousands of fans outraged and entire city disappointed after sitting out much-anticipated exhibition match
- Messi accused of being uncooperative, snubbing officials and refusing invitation to acknowledge fans
Heaven hath no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a city scorned. That’s why Hong Kong hates Lionel Messi now.
And it’s a totally understandable sentiment, given how the Argentine football star has not only insulted his many fans here by sitting out the much-vaunted exhibition match they paid exorbitant prices to watch, but also rubbed salt on their wounds with his churlish behaviour.
Messi deserves to bear the brunt of public anger, but the minders of his Inter Miami squad, including feckless club co-owner David Beckham, have plenty of explaining and apologising to do as well. Don’t hold out any hope that they will, though – not with the sheer arrogance and air of superiority they seem to be equipped with.
This privately organised show became a very public matter when it was designated as a mega-event to be sponsored by the government to the tune of HK$16 million (US$2.04 million) as part of a wider campaign to raise Hong Kong’s international profile. It set the city abuzz with anticipation, from excited fans snapping up tickets at ridiculous prices to government officials going gung ho to support what they expected would be a morale boost and PR win for Hong Kong.
But it was off to an unpleasant start from the moment Messi and his pink-clad Inter Miami teammates stepped off their plane to a red-carpet welcome on the tarmac. They looked like they didn’t even want to be there or couldn’t care less, and rudely walked off the stage even as they were being urged to stay on because the welcoming ceremony was still under way.
That was nothing compared with what was to come on the day of the big game, when nearly 40,000 fans at the Hong Kong Stadium were led to believe from the breathless beginning to the bitter end that their hero would play for them.
It was not to be. He sat it out on the bench the entire time, all petulant in pink like some unhappy flamingo – we might as well have been looking at a pouty little ballerina in a tutu throwing a childish sulking fit.
Even if his purported hamstring injury rendered him unable to play – unlikely, because he was on the pitch the previous day for a practice run looking perfectly capable – or even if his minders did not want to risk exacerbating his injury, would it have killed them to at least have their precious princess wave at the crowd, perhaps even say a few words to them?
Not only that, he even refused an invitation from his hosts to give away the trophy after the match and skulked at the back to avoid shaking hands with Hong Kong’s leader and his top officials who were all left red-faced at the scene.
The whole bunch of visiting divas received a right, royal booing that rose to a crescendo from the near-capacity crowd in the end when a clueless Beckham tried to thank them for their “incredible support”.
If that didn’t feel much like justice, we can always hope just desserts are coming their way because, along with Hongkongers, many mainland Chinese fans who travelled here to see Messi have been left disgusted and they’re venting their outrage on social media. Suffice to say that there’s a long list of big celebrities and brand names who have discovered, to their regret, that offending the Chinese public comes at a substantial price when they are shut out of the world’s most lucrative market for the goods they’re peddling.
Beyond that, if you look at the highly asymmetric relationship between celebrities and their fans, the flow of affection has always been one-way. Stars inevitably tend to end up looking down upon and treating as a nuisance the very people who put them on a pedestal and whose adoration brought them fame and fortune in the first place.
Maybe if we didn’t idolise them so much, we wouldn’t end up so devastated when they turn out to be selfish jerks instead of the god-like metahumans we imagine they are.
