Explainer | Why national anthem blunders have left Hong Kong rugby reeling and what is being done to stop same mistakes from occurring again
- Protest song ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ played before rugby sevens game in South Korea, sparking political firestorm
- Two more incidents related to the national anthem subsequently revealed
On Tuesday, after discussion with the Hong Kong government, the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, issued guidelines to sports associations under its wing on how to avoid and respond to similar blunders in international sports events.
In this explainer, the Post breaks down the debacle and the political fallout from the string of slip-ups.
1. How did we get here?
Ahead of the final of the second leg of the Asian Rugby Sevens Series in Incheon, South Korea on November 13, 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 take on the hosts.
“Glory to Hong Kong” was written during the 2019 anti-government movement, becoming a protest anthem sung at rallies and by some spectators at football matches.
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Various pro-Beijing lawmakers also waded into the blame game, with one staging a protest at the South Korean consulate in the city, while urging Seoul to assist the police probe into potential breaches of the national security law and demanding serious punishment for those involved.
Asia Rugby president Qais Abdulla al-Dhalai made a special trip from Dubai to meet Chan on Tuesday, extending an apology in person, and undertaking to ensure similar mistakes would not happen again, the government said.
2. What happened next?
On Saturday, the Hong Kong Rugby Union revealed errors at earlier separate matches.
The union pointed to a match in Dubai between Hong Kong and Portugal during the final qualification tournament for the 2023 Rugby World Cup on November 6. In this case, the TV broadcaster carrying the game displayed the anthem title as “Glory to Hong Kong” while “March of the Volunteers” was played. A video clip shows the city’s rugby team singing along to “March of the Volunteers”.
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The union said competition organiser World Rugby had explained the issue was due to an error of the “graphics operator”, and that it has apologised and attempted to retroactively fix the mistake in later broadcasts.
The same issue occurred in televised coverage of a match between Hong Kong and Tonga on July 23 in Australia by the World Rugby broadcast production crew.
3. Were there any reasons given for the mix-ups?
Asia Rugby, organiser of the Incheon tournament, admitted it failed to send a recording of the Chinese national anthem to its partners in Korea on the assumption they already had the file in their records.
Although the Korea Rugby Union was later told by Asia Rugby that the Chinese national anthem should be played for the Hong Kong side, staff did not delete a mistakenly saved file downloaded from an online search engine and delivered it to the broadcasting team. Two interns eventually played the wrong anthem.
In Hong Kong, a rugby insider also told the Post 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 political implications.
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Another source familiar with sports broadcast production in Asia said the mishaps could partly be due to the Covid-19 pandemic, given Hong Kong had barely taken part in international rugby since 2019.
Francis Fong Po-kiu, honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, said there was no such thing as a Hong Kong national anthem, but with the discussion online about the protest song during the 2019 social unrest, it could have been pushed higher up in the results of online search engines as Google typically showed popular searches.
He suggested the government hire agencies to amend the Wikipedia pages, although it is up to the site’s administrators to approve the edits.
4. What are some of the legal issues involved?
Executive Council convenor Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee said the government could ask for a suspect in South Korea to be handed over to Hong Kong for trial, referring to agreements signed between the two jurisdictions on the transfer of fugitive offenders and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.
But Simon Young Ngai-man, associate dean of the law faculty at the University of Hong Kong, said agreements between Hong Kong and South Korea only required offences to be punishable by more than one year of detention, although he doubted whether insulting the national anthem would be considered an offence in the country.
Meanwhile, under Hong Kong’s National Anthem Ordinance, which states people must stand solemnly and “deport themselves with dignity” when “March of the Volunteers” is played on certain occasions, those convicted of an intentional insult face up to three years in jail and a maximum fine of HK$50,000 (US$6,370).
The bill was introduced in 2017 after local football fans started booing the national anthem in 2015 amid anti-mainland Chinese sentiment in the city.
5. What remedial measures have been identified?
The Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong on Tuesday issued guidelines for associations under its wing to follow when taking part in games overseas.
Under the guidelines, they will be responsible for bringing along hard copies of the correct national anthem and Hong Kong regional flags and should also liaise with the event organisers over the proper use of anthem and flag.
In case an incorrect song is played during a ceremony, an incorrect Hong Kong flag is raised or the Hong Kong regional flag is not properly raised, the team leader should alert the team members, asking them to use show a “T” sign to express an objection to the error made and call for a halt to the proceedings.
If their demand is not heeded, the individual should lead the team out of the ceremonial venue. After the correction is made, the team can line up again to attend the ceremony. And the team leader should also report the incident to the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong.
Any sports associations that fail to comply could be subject to sanction, including suspension of membership by the committee and loss of government funding.
The committee is to host a briefing for sports associations on Thursday.
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Earlier, the Hong Kong Rugby Union warned it would withdraw the team from competition if a similar error occurred in the future.
In the wake of the debacle, Asia Rugby, the regional governing body for the sport, has promised to take the lead in providing the correct anthems to its 36 member unions, which would have to sign an agreement promising not to download or play any other version on their own.
Additional reporting by Ng Kang-chung
