Police football fan rumble continues as mainland supporters hit out over Hong Kong bans

Mainland supporters clubs come out in support of city’s law enforcement officers in response to Hong Kong bans

Manchester United Shanghai organiser has written to the English Premier League club asking them to get involved

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Chinese supporters during a friendly match against Palestine in 2018. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:16pm, 3 Sep 2019Updated: 1:16pm, 3 Sep 2019

Many mainland Chinese football fans and supporters groups responded to their Hong Kong counterparts banning serving police officers by coming out in support for the city’s force.

Screenshots of Facebook posts from a number of official supporters groups in Hong Kong were shared on Chinese micro-blogging site Sina Weibo on Monday. Facebook is blocked on the mainland.

Those Facebook announcements by the Hong Kong fan clubs of several English Premier League, Italian Serie A and Spanish La Liga clubs said serving police officers would be banned from becoming members and asked existing members to hand back their cards. Others also banned the families of police officers from joining their groups.

“Shame on you!” wrote Han Yu on his Sina Weibo social media account. Han is described as the “initiator” of the Official Manchester United Supporters Club in Shanghai by China newspaper Global Times. However, the Manchester United website does not list him as either chairman or secretary.

Chinese Manchester United fans wait at the team hotel in Beijing during the 2016 summer tour. Photo: Reuters

Han was writing on his personal “Reds In Shanghai” Weibo page, where he has more than 900,000 followers. There was no message on the official Weibo page for the supporters group.