OpinionHong Kong’s Lionel Messi disaster certainly made an impression. How long will it take to live it down?
- Hubris of Miami match’s organisers has been exposed by sporting realities: athletes do get injured, and a tight schedule was asking for trouble
- Event leaves fans feeling ripped off and is an unflattering advert for the city, but those who awarded it public money have questions to answer too
Reputation, be it in the world of business, sport or personally, is everything, and once lost can take an age to get back, if at all.
Hong Kong’s, as an influential city that hosts events of global renown, was hard-won, and has been hard to regain after the events of the past several years.
Officials are keen to raise that international profile still further, and the arrival of Lionel Messi – the world’s best footballer of his or, arguably, any generation – with his club Inter Miami should have done wonders.
Alongside the rugby sevens, the Tatler Xfest, of which the game against a Hong Kong XI formed a significant part, had the potential to become a pillar of the city’s social and sporting calendar for years to come.
Instead, it lies in ruins, an effigy to poor organisation, bad communication and the hubris of those who simply had no idea what they were doing.
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Messi mania as football superstar arrives in Hong Kong
If they had, they would have known professional athletes get injured, they would have known to under-promise and over-deliver, and they would have known that shoehorning an exhibition game between three real preseason friendlies was asking for trouble.