Hong Kong baseball body alerts police after edited video of 2010 match surfaces with national anthem replaced by protest song
- Hong Kong Baseball Association says YouTube user uploaded the now-removed clip in November, showing the match in Taiwan 12 years ago but with anthem replaced
- Latest case follows a string of controversies in which organisers of sporting events had mixed up protest song ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ with ‘March of the Volunteers’
The Hong Kong Baseball Association has alerted police after discovering that an anti-government protest song was edited over the national anthem in a video clip of a 2010 match in Taiwan involving the city’s team.
In a statement on Thursday, the organisation said it received a report earlier in the week about doctored footage uploaded on YouTube showing the pre-match ceremony for the 17th edition of the International Baseball Federation’s Intercontinental Cup, held 12 years ago.
The original three-minute video, carrying the logo of Taiwan TV channel’s Videoland Sports Channel, was uploaded on YouTube by a user in October that year.
The new footage in question surfaced on November 14 this year, uploaded by user “Free Bird @leeabel,” with the Chinese national anthem “March of the Volunteers” replaced by “another song”, according to the association. It was referring to the protest tune “Glory to Hong Kong”, which originated from the social unrest of 2019.
The association said it had reported the case to Hong Kong’s Sports Federation and Olympic Committee, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the World Baseball Softball Confederation, the Baseball Federation of Asia, and the host of the tournament.
It also made a police report on Tuesday, as instructed by the committee.
“The association strongly condemns these kind of actions,” it said, adding that the edited video was removed before midnight on Thursday.