Hong Kong Baseball Association says YouTube user uploaded the now-removed clip in November, showing the match in Taiwan 12 years ago but with anthem replaced. Latest case follows a string of controversies in which organisers of sporting events had mixed up protest song ‘Glory To Hong Kong’ with ‘March Of The Volunteers’. — SCMP
The Hong Kong Baseball Association has alerted police after discovering that an anti-government protest song was edited over the national anthem in a video clip of a 2010 match in Taiwan involving the city’s team.
In a statement on Dec 15, the organisation said it received a report earlier in the week about doctored footage uploaded on YouTube showing the pre-match ceremony for the 17th edition of the International Baseball Federation’s Intercontinental Cup, held 12 years ago.
The original three-minute video, carrying the logo of Taiwan TV channel’s Videoland Sports Channel, was uploaded on YouTube by a user in October that year.
The new footage in question surfaced on Nov 14 this year, uploaded by user “Free Bird @leeabel,” with the Chinese national anthem March Of The Volunteers replaced by “another song”, according to the association. It was referring to the protest tune Glory To Hong Kong, which originated from the social unrest of 2019.
The association said it had reported the case to Hong Kong’s Sports Federation and Olympic Committee, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the World Baseball Softball Confederation, the Baseball Federation of Asia, and the host of the tournament.
It also made a police report on Tuesday, as instructed by the committee.
“The association strongly condemns these kind of actions,” the association said, adding that the edited video was removed before midnight on Thursday.
Screen captures of the edited footage in earlier media reports showed it came with the title “(KUSO) National Anthem of Hong Kong (Hong Kong protest songs)”.
A police spokesman said on Thursday the force had received a related report, with the case temporarily classified as a request for investigation. Police will launch a probe and take enforcement action if illegal acts are found.
The case is the latest in a string of controversies involving the national anthem and Hong Kong sports teams. In earlier incidents, Glory To Hong Kong was found to have been wrongly played at matches, with the first scandal that came to light involving a rugby match in South Korea’s Incheon last month.
Asia Rugby, the organisers of that tournament, apologised for the mix-up, admitting the wrong song was downloaded from the Internet by junior staff.
Video clips of two other rugby matches were also later found to be labelled incorrectly, with Glory To Hong Kong listed on the screen as the Chinese national anthem played.
On December 2, the same protest song was wrongly played instead of the national anthem at the Asian Classic Powerlifting Championship in Dubai, prompting the participating Hong Kong athlete to make a “T” hand gesture to alert organisers.
Hong Kong’s government has requested that Google ensure the national anthem appears as a top search result for certain keywords, but the Internet giant has refused, saying it will not manually manipulate organic web listings. – South China Morning Post
