The incident of the wrong national anthem played by the organizer when the Hong Kong team played in the second leg of the Asian Rugby Sevens has aroused public concern. Chief Executive Lee Kar-chiu said that the Hong Kong police will investigate and take appropriate action. As for the cause of the error, it is still unclear. Local media in South Korea quoted the organizer as saying that the Hong Kong team did not provide the recording of the national anthem as required before the match. However, the Hong Kong Rugby Federation issued a statement to refute that as early as the 23rd of last month, the Asian Rugby Federation had confirmed with the Hong Kong team to play the Chinese national anthem, and stated that if similar situations occur once more, they will immediately withdraw from the match. The Asian Rugby Federation also confirmed that the Hong Kong team had submitted the correct Chinese national anthem last month, and revealed that the employee who played the anti-revision song was an intern, and the mistake was unintentional.
In the Incheon final of the Asian Rugby Sevens Series held in Incheon, South Korea on Sunday, when the Hong Kong team played and sang the national anthem, it mistakenly played the 19-year anti-extradition law demonstration song. The local “Korea Times” quoted a public relations representative of the Korean Rugby Union yesterday, saying that each team was required to submit a recording of the national anthem before the game, but no recording was received from the Hong Kong team. The staff of the alliance searched and downloaded the “Hong Kong National Anthem” on the top of the Internet, and stored the wrong music in the “Hong Kong” folder. According to reports, the Korean Rugby Federation received a reminder from the Asian Rugby Federation that the Hong Kong team should play the Chinese national anthem, but the league did not delete the wrong folder and handed it over to the responsible broadcasting team, and finally played the wrong song.
The Hong Kong Rugby Union issued a statement last evening, stating that as early as the 23rd of last month, the match manager of the Asian Rugby Union directly confirmed to the Hong Kong coaching team that if the Hong Kong team reached the cup final in the subsequent match, the national anthem should be played “March of the Volunteers”, the Hong Kong Lavender Association also has proof of this information exchange. The club added that neither the Hong Kong club nor the Asia club had been informed of the South Korean club’s intention to broadcast the national anthem or any other unauthorized version of the national anthem. The Hong Kong Football Club reiterated that accepting this incident was an unintentional mistake, but described the incident as obviously hurting the Hong Kong team and Hong Kong citizens, and urged the general assembly to avoid recurrence, otherwise the Hong Kong team will withdraw immediately.
Asia Rugby: The incident did not involve ulterior motives
Benjamin van Rooyen, interim chief executive officer of the Asian Rugby Federation, also confirmed yesterday that the Hong Kong team had submitted the correct Chinese national anthem last month, while the employee who played the wrong national anthem was an intern, describing the other party as ignorant of world politics; following communicating with relevant people, he was sure that the incident No ulterior motives involved, just pure human error.
According to the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, according to the initial report of the Hong Kong Lam General Association, it has confirmed to the Lam Lam the link to the Chinese national anthem that has been used in late last month. The Bureau pointed out that there was no mistake when the national anthem was played in Thailand, but the mistake in South Korea is one of the scope of investigation.
Volunteer Secretary-General of the Hong Kong Association and Olympic Committee Wang Minchao said that he would not comment on whether political incidents were involved, but he might not accept the idea that junior staff downloaded songs and played them. He added that each international competition has a procedure to confirm the national anthem. “Before the competition, you must sign to confirm that you have listened to it, so it is not very valid to download these in disguise. It is impossible to download the wrong thing by such a coincidence. There are so many different songs. Whether it was a coincidence to download this one, I think it is a big question.” He pointed out that the incident needs to be investigated in depth, or it is not just an individual who made a mistake, “There may be a group involved.”
Originally published on AM730 https://www.am730.com.hk/Local/Asian Rugby Alleges that the incident is an intern-Hong Kong Rugby General-Retire if the wrong national anthem is played once more/348077?utm_source=yahoorss&utm_medium=referral
