PFF files complaint against 'racist slurs' in HK game

The Philippine Football Federation said on Friday that it has filed a complaint with FIFA over allegedly racist abuse from Hong Kong fans directed towards Filipino fans in a recent game.

President of the federation, Edgardo Araneta, said they are expecting FIFA to investigate the case and impose appropriate sanctions, after they filed the complaint on June 8.

A report by the manager of the Philippine team said Hong Kong fans threw bottles towards their Filipino counterparts, heckled them and hurled racist insults during the 1-0 win.

"They said slaves, you know. 'A nation of slaves,' 'a nation of maids,' something like that. So, it's, I think, it's a racist remark," Philippine Football Federation President Mariano Araneta told Reuters.

"We feel that it demeans our character as a nation," he said.

FIFA could impose sanctions on the fans, Araneta said, especially after it adopted tougher punishments against racist offences at its annual congress in Mauritius last month.

"And they're really serious now about racism. Zero tolerance on racism. So if FIFA determines that those slurs were racist in nature, then we can expect a fine that would be imposed by FIFA," Araneta said.

FIFA has taken an increasingly tougher stance against racism, and the issue was brought to a head earlier this year when Ghanaian player Kevin-Prince Boateng walked off the pitch while playing for AC Milan after abuse from fans during a friendly with a lower-tiered team. Six fans of Pro Patria were given jail terms between 40 days to two months.

Coach Michael Weiss, who oversaw the Philippines' victory at the Mong Kok stadium, said he could hear the Philippine national anthem being booed, but thought the game proceeded with no more hostile incidents.

It was only after their win, he said, when his team were celebrating with Filipino fans on the pitch and were advised to leave due to the hostility of locals, he realized there was a problem..

"We abruptly had to stop the celebrations, because the security, or the people, or ourselves, we thought it was better to escape, because bottles were thrown; you could feel it was not joyful as we thought it would be," Weiss said.

Relations between the Philippines and Hong Kong reached a low in 2010 when Manila police bungled a rescue attempt of a bus load of Hong Kong tourists held hostage by a disgruntled ex-police officer.

The fiasco left eight Hong Kong nationals and the hostage-taker dead, and Filipino migrants living in the island city suffered a backlash after the incident.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) said it submitted an initial investigation report to FIFA about what happened during the match.

It said majority of local fans behaved in a respectful and peaceful manner during the game, and the "allegation of racist and discriminatory behaviour and the initial investigation concerns the behavior of a small minority of people."

HKFA added that it will ensure an 'anti-discrimination officer' would be present in future matches, would consider segregating opposing spectators, and will warn fans against using racist language.  — Reuters