Actually, it looks like a rather insignificant football game in a rather insignificant tournament. On July 27, teams from Hong Kong and China will meet at the East Asia Championships in Japan. In recent years, however, these duels between the two teams have been anything but ordinary. The political explosiveness behind the sport was too great.
In November 2015, China’s national team played at Hong Kong’s Mongkok Stadium. The memories of the ultimately suppressed pro-democracy protests were still fresh. Between September and December 2014, hundreds of thousands demonstrated in Hong Kong during the so-called “umbrella revolution” calling for more transparent elections. A year later, when the “March of the Volunteers” was the anthem for both teams at the Mongkok Stadium, many Hong Kong fans turned around and booed. The action drew more attention than the game, which ended 0-0.
Pandemic halted sports in Hong Kong
The action was repeated four years later. In November 2019, Hong Kong fans booed again during the anthem. The game against Cambodia was Hong Kong’s last home game before all sporting events were banned in the “Special Administrative Region” and also on the Chinese mainland due to the corona pandemic. All of this came amid rising tensions between the Beijing leadership and the former British Crown Colony, which was returned to Chinese control in 1997.
Hong Kong footballers (Paulinho (left) against China’s Zheng Zhi) qualify for the Asian Cup for the first time in over 50 years
“Regardless of one’s political stance, there is no doubt that China’s control over the special administrative region has increased and that Beijing’s presence in day-to-day politics has become more visible,” Tobias Zuser told DW. The scientist, who deals with sports sociology, cultural policy and digital media, is a lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “The legal framework in Hong Kong has changed a lot in recent years,” adds Zuser, referring to the controversial new laws that came into force in 2020.
Law against booing at anthem
This includes the so-called “National Security Law” that makes it easier for the communist leadership in Beijing to pursue pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Booing at football games is now also a punishable offense. According to the National Anthem Law, anyone who “does not respect” the anthem faces up to three years in prison and a large fine. Human rights activists in Hong Kong and around the world reacted with outrage at the law.
“The Hong Kong authorities have again insulted the right to freedom of expression with their recent attempt to criminalize peaceful opposition,” said Joshua Rosenzweig, deputy director for East and Southeast Asia at the human rights organization Amnesty International.
“Powerful and meaningful protest”
Until then, the football stadium was one of the few places where the opposition could relatively safely express their opposition to Beijing’s ever-tightening control. “Marching to the stadium with other demonstrators was very emotional. And the booing made us feel even more connected,” an opposition figure who wished to remain anonymous told DW. “There aren’t many opportunities to express or even shout out how we feel about Hong Kong and Beijing, aside from protesting in the streets, which has become more difficult and dangerous. Doing this at an international sporting event made it even more powerful for us and more significant.”
Mark Sutcliffe was Hong Kong Football Association boss from 2012 to 2018. The Briton confirms that the national team has increasingly become a symbol of Hong Kong’s identity during this period. “For a certain part of the population, it definitely was,” Sutcliffe told DW. “There were people who didn’t come to the games for the football but to make a political statement. The boos from the stands got us in trouble with FIFA. And they embarrassed the Hong Kong government a bit.”
Corona break
Due to the corona pandemic, no international games have been played in Hong Kong since 2019, so there have been no further incidents. In addition, strict entry restrictions still apply to Hong Kong, which are likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future and make international football matches in Hong Kong rather unlikely. And even if something like normality were to return to Hong Kong, that probably doesn’t mean that political protest will return to the stadium.
“There will be less political activism at games. Even the booing will probably stop because of the new law on the national anthem,” predicts sports sociologist Zuber. “There may still be some form of protest. But then only in a very subtle way that is difficult for outsiders to decipher.”
Football protest whistle?
Nonetheless, the national team is likely to remain an important source of national pride – not least because in June Hong Kong qualified for the 2023 Asian Cup for the first time since 1968, the continent’s biggest and most prestigious football tournament. Actually, the finals should be held in China next year. But the leadership in Beijing gave back the role of host because of corona concerns. The Asian Football Association AFC wants to decide in October where the Asian Cup will be played. Australia, Indonesia, Qatar and South Korea have expressed interest.
The Asian Cup is not only important for Hong Kong because of the FIFA ranking points that are awarded there, says former association boss Sutcliffe. “The players also get the chance to gain international experience in a high-level tournament. The Asian Cup is a stepping stone to the World Cup.”
Hong Kong’s participation in the World Cup would certainly not go down well in China. And if football continues to be a vehicle for opposition protests, it could even mean the end of the Hong Kong national team, says Sutcliffe: “Personally, I think it’s only a matter of time before the Hong Kong Football Association is ousted by the Chinese FA swallowed. This isn’t just about football, it’s also about government policy.”
This text has been adapted from English.