Hong Kong soccer fans protest football association's support for embattled former Fifa chief Sepp Blatter
Letter claims backing Ex-Fifa head runs counter to effort against corruption
The decision by Hong Kong soccer chiefs to back embattled former Fifa chief Sepp Blatter flies in the face of the mainland's high-profile anti-corruption, drive according to a group of protesting city fans.
By supporting Blatter, the Football Association had offered tacit acceptance of the corruption culture that permeated Fifa during his reign, said the group, which was brought together through an internet radio show for soccer fans.
The Hong Kong Football Association supported Blatter's bid for re-election as Fifa president at a congress of the governing body for world soccer in Zurich. Blatter won the vote on May 29, but resigned days later amid a corruption and bribery probe that has ensnared top Fifa officials.
"We want to remind these people who have the right to vote at these conferences that they have the responsibility to respond to the people of Hong Kong," said group convener Giggs Wan.
Wan and two of his associates on Friday submitted a letter outlining their concerns to the football authority.
"The Hong Kong Football Association is supposed to represent all footballers in Hong Kong. Instead, it voted without consulting the football fans in Hong Kong and just 'joined the herd' This is decidedly childish and disrespectful to Hong Kong football," read the letter, which was signed by about 100 soccer fans.
The document went on to claim that the action by association chief Timothy Fok Tsun-ting was contrary to the spirit of President Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption.
The association responded by pointing to Fifa's "remarkable" revenue growth under Blatter and its developmental support for several small countries.
