Opinion | Thank you Leo Messi—for uniting Hong Kong

By Philip Yeung, university teacher

PKY480@gmail.com

Thank you Leo Messi. You have managed to unite a divided city against uncalled-for public humiliation. Your half-presence and non-participation in that non-game must surely go down as a moment unique in our history. Never has an event been so hyped, so fought-over, so eagerly anticipated and such a colossal anticlimactic letdown. Never has a slap to our face been so painful and so loud. It is a galactic PR disaster without parallel and without precedent.

Days before the festive lunar new year, 40,000 screaming Messi fans, along with Hong Kong's glittering who's who, headed by their gleeful Chief Executive flooded into the stadium to collectively worship a mighty football god. No fan was without his Messi paraphernalia. A day earlier, Messi was seen in a practice session before swooning kids. But it turned out, this demi-god has dirty feet of clay, and has other ideas. This hoopla cost Hong Kong people a pretty penny, to the tune of a hundred million hard-earned dollars. At an average of four thousand dollars per ticket, being star-struck doesn't come cheap. What did we get in return? A glum-looking 37-year-old player past his prime who has completely forgotten his manners—he walked with hands in his pockets, no wave to the crowd, a deliberate snub of Hong Kong's top leader. Was Messi tortured by muscle fatigue, or a bout of depression, or was he just strutting his indifference? In that stadium, he was disrespect personified. Should we just dismiss the whole thing as misleading advertising? Or is it a crime against decency, a scam against a hospitable city. We have emotionally adopted Messi, but he has unceremoniously disowned us, after we have paid up handsomely. We were duped.

Contrast his disdainful behavior in Hong Kong, where he sat expressionless on the benches, played sick, but once in Japan, he miraculously bounced back to 30 minutes of energetic play, running from one end of the stadium to the other, to the delight of Japanese spectators. Why the discrimination? Why the different treatment?

Messi is due to play two friendlies on the Mainland in March. There is a tidal wave of fury, with growing calls for a total boycott. They promise Messi his payback with an empty stadium. China is now a hammer, not just a nail. If there is anything the Chinese can't stomach, it is an arrogant and disrespectful guest. The best player in the world has botched the biggest fan festival. He will be remembered as the baddest guest in history. In an instant, the Messi magic has vanished. Messi has messed with the wrong country: China is no banana republic. Now, Messi has no market in the Middle Kingdom. Who would still want to be seen wearing a Messi jersey? That would be pampering a pariah.

Conspiracy theorists are having a field day. Sport is supposedly divorced from politics. But in this instance, Inter Miami has given locals a heart-sinking sudden-death experience. You couldn't have picked a bigger stage to humble and humiliate your host. David Beckham, mumbling his apologies, never sounded so phony and so hollow, desperately trying to spin the situation. It was an unforgivable PR malpractice. Messi has given his brand a kiss of death.

The Chinese, locally and from across the country, went out of their way to flatter their idol. Entire families, some from as far away as Xinjiang, flew into the city, at great cost, with little kids in tow, determined to give Messi our unbuttoned family moment. But he chose to spit on our face, wounding the pride of a city and the dignity of an entire nation. Was he committing a public ritual suicide? Was it a calculated snub? Was it the handiwork of the scheming Americans who always want to give China the middle finger? The whole thing is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. We are entitled to an explanation and full restitution.

Just listen to the crescendo of boos. The torrent of Cantonese obscenities never sounded so good. They needed no translation.

Messi came in a super-hero. He left a cursed canine with the tail between his legs. But, unwittingly, he has left behind a precious legacy: a city standing together against an uninvited insult. The Chinese may swallow a scam, but they never forgive or forget an insult or a betrayal.

Now, a lawsuit for commercial scam can begin in earnest, preferably spearheaded by the government. This act of unity is good for the soul of the city. It has never been so united in condemnation against such a public effrontery. In 90 minutes, a football god has fallen to earth. This was Messi's first official visit to the city. I bet it will be his last.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

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