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Hong Kong

All Around Town: Tsang's a match for his boss, any time

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John Tsang watches the game with an aide. Photo: SCMP Picture
Tony CheungandJeffie Lam

Ever the social media buff, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah was again in on the act as football reached fever pitch in the city - and seemed to have scored a goal in popularity against Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying while he was at it. Right after Hong Kong's showdown with the China team in the politically charged World Cup qualifier ended in a 0-0 draw on Tuesday night, Tsang uploaded on Facebook a picture of himself watching the match on a tablet computer, running the caption: "Exciting match! @Bucharest, Romania". The post won more than 34,000 likes overnight. Leung, on the other hand, drew brickbats for refusing to show outright support for the local team, instead dodging questions about which team he would back by claiming he could not watch the game in Manila, where he was attending the Apec summit. That surely didn't explain why Leung couldn't do what Tsang did, internet users countered. Shortly after all praise was heaped on his subordinate, Leung wrote a blog hailing the performances of both teams. No prizes for guessing who needs to raise his game.

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The belated football blog written by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying was, unfortunately, too "boring" for words, many internet users sneered. City University political scientist Ray Yep Kin-man, for one, could not hide his disdain. But his use of a euphemism of a swear word crossed the line, according to Leung's information coordinator, Andrew Fung Wai-kwong. Even as the Mong Kok stadium quietened down after an exchange of insults between the fans of both teams, another clash erupted on cyber space. "As a teacher, why do you need to swear?" Fung wrote, and when Yep responded by mocking Fung's loyalty to the chief executive, Fung hit back, saying "I do not need students to surround me" - apparently referring to Yep's recent photo-taking with students at their graduation ceremonies. That comment provoked a friend of Yep's to weigh in with his own rejoinder: "It's late at night and you won't get paid for working overtime!" So what, the former Democratic Party member retorted. Why should he not take pride in "serving the city and the country day and night"? The entire post later disappeared from the blog.

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