Hong Kong should file complaint to rugby world body, push to ban South Korea from hosting events, sports chief says over protest song blunder
- Ronnie Wong, honorary secretary general of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, rejects organisers’ apology and ‘honest mistake’ explanation
- He suggests city should stop sending teams to the country, yet ‘try not to affect athletes’
Hong Kong should file a complaint to the world governing body for rugby and push to ban South Korea from hosting such events, a sports sector leader in the city has said over a blunder at a match in Incheon where a 2019 protest song was played instead of the Chinese national anthem.
Ronnie Wong Man-chiu, honorary secretary general of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, on Wednesday said he would not accept the explanation from Asia Rugby, the tournament organisers, that it was an “honest mistake” made by interns.
The regional competition organiser and the Korea Rugby Union which helped in the hosting of the event should still be held accountable, Wong argued, calling for the filing of complaints to higher-level organisations such as World Rugby, the Olympic Council of Asia and the International Olympic Committee.
“South Korea is experienced in hosting multiple large-scale competitions, I don’t understand how it could become such a ‘child’s play’ this time,” Wong told a radio programme.
“I think World Rugby could look into whether [South Korea] should still host large-scale matches, or should be banned or boycotted for a while,” he said, adding one option could be for Hong Kong to stop sending teams to competitions there.
“Of course we try not to affect the athletes.”
Rugby body admits it failed to send anthem after Hong Kong protest song blunder
At Sunday’s final of the second leg of the Asian Rugby Sevens Series in Incheon, the song “Glory to Hong Kong” was played instead of the Chinese national anthem “March of the Volunteers” as the Hong Kong team prepared to play hosts South Korea. The blunder sparked condemnation from city officials and politicians.
Hong Kong went on to win the match 19-12 and the correct anthem was played.
Asia Rugby’s interim chief executive Benjamin van Rooyen admitted on Tuesday his officials had not passed a recording of the national anthem – which it had received from the Hong Kong Rugby Union at an event in Bangkok last month – to their Korean counterparts on the assumption they already had the file in their records.
He added the interns at the Korea Rugby Union who played the wrong song had no understanding of the politics of the world, and harboured no “malicious” intent. “Glory to Hong Kong” was composed during the anti-government movement in 2019 and was often sung by protesters during the social unrest.
Hong Kong leader orders probe after protest song used at South Korean rugby game
The Korea Rugby Union, when asked if it had saved the national anthem used in previous matches, referred the Post to an earlier statement issued by Asia Rugby indicating the “human error” stemmed from a junior staff member who had instead played a song downloaded from the internet.
A spokesman for the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Wednesday said the incident happened between sports organisations in the private sector and the government was aware the rugby groups had “explained enough [to each other] and took measures on the matter”.
Wong said he found the explanation by Asia Rugby unacceptable, adding that there should have been a supervising party for the frontline individual who committed the error.
“The national anthem and flag-raising procedures must be solemnly executed. Representatives of the relevant teams need to listen, review and sign for verification in international matches,” he said.
While some pro-establishment figures had slammed the local rugby players for not walking out or protesting when the wrong song was played, Wong argued that most of the Hong Kong team members were foreigners who were “innocent”.
“They might know the wrong song was played but did not understand the political meaning of it,” Wong noted, adding it was necessary to train team leaders and coaches on how to react if similar incidents occurred again.
