Hong Kong’s No 2 official expresses ‘strong dissatisfaction’ with overseas rugby bodies over anthem blunders, says police to investigate
- Chief Secretary Eric Chan says explanations from World Rugby and Asia Rugby over repeat events are ‘ridiculous’ and ‘unbelievable’
- Rugby insider says production staff may have used Google and Wikipedia to find information in one of the incidents, instead of visiting government websites
Hong Kong’s No 2 official has expressed “strong dissatisfaction” with international and regional rugby governing bodies as city police launch an investigation into whether there was criminal intent behind mix-ups involving the Chinese national anthem and a protest song at several matches.
Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki on Sunday said it was “ridiculous” and “unbelievable” that mistakes concerning the national anthem had occurred several times, and accused World Rugby and Asia Rugby of giving questionable accounts on how the incidents took place.
Meanwhile, a rugby insider said it was possible that broadcast production staff involved in one of the incidents might have used Wikipedia and Google to find information about the anthem, instead of visiting government websites, without knowledge of the geopolitical implications.
Chan said: “We were strongly dissatisfied that such incidents had happened repeatedly,” he told the press at a public event. “We will take the incidents seriously. The organisations’ explanations were unconvincing and it is incomprehensible that such experienced bodies can make these mistakes.”
City authorities would write to the governing bodies to express their strong dissatisfaction and demand full investigations into the incidents and more detailed explanations, he added.
