MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Azkals were saddened by the alleged racial abuse and bottle-throwing incident that marred their recent 1-0 win over Hong Kong in a rather “unfriendly†friendly at the Mong Kok Stadium in Hong Kong and would ask football bodies to take appropriate action.
“It’s unfortunate that this had to happen because the Hong Kong Football Association has been treating us really well. It’s really more of some fans somehow tarnishing it,†Azkals team manager Dan Palami told The STAR.
Palami is preparing an incident report to be filed with the Philippine Football Federation detailing what transpired in Hong Kong Tuesday night. Per witnesses’s account, unruly Hong Kong fans allegedly booed the Phl national anthem, threw bottles and other debris and shouted racial slurs against the Phl section in the stadium.
“The players were okay. We’re used to hostile fans already and we’ve prepared them to be calm in these circumstances. But my main concern was for the safety of the Filipino fans who went there. There were kids and women,†he said.
He recalled seeing some Hong Kong fans giving Pinoy counterparts the dirty finger with some hurling “obscenities, invective and racial slurs like “slave country.†And to be fair to their host HKFA, Palami said security personnel “tried to stop†the unruly crowd.