Opinion | Fifa has a cheek to lecture Hong Kong fans about booing China national anthem - but they ought to heed the warning

Two opaque bodies wielding immense global power, riven with corruption allegations. Answerable to nobody, handing down diktats with abandon. Billions of dollars sloshing around, making a skim here and there irresistible to some. Transparency International, Amnesty and similar organisations are not fans. Nor are the US and many other Western governments - though they do have support from the likes of Qatar and Russia.

Yup, Fifa and the Chinese Communist Party have a lot in common - though China's governing body has done more to improve life for the people they represent than football's.

Another thing the two august bodies have in common, it seemed last week, is a clumsy determination to stoke protest in Hong Kong by issuing heavy-handed proclamations.

Just as Beijing appeared hell-bent on stoking passions during Occupy Central by barking orders, so Fifa might have helped guarantee angry scenes from Hong Kong fans in their next World Cup qualifier, against Qatar on September 8.

Fifa sent a letter at the start of the month to the Hong Kong Football Association noting that "according to information at our disposal, the fans of the representative team of Hong Kong booed their national anthem" before the team's first two qualifiers in June. Yes, our own anthem, not Bhutan's or the Maldives'.

"[We] would be left with no other option than to impose sanctions against your association, should such incidents recur," Fifa said. Predictably, when the HKFA revealed this and pleaded (once more) with fans not to boo the again, fans reacted furiously.

"How can you be punished for booing your own national anthem?" was the gist of complaints, but Fifa's "principles of fair play" apply not only towards opposing teams "but also towards your own association and its representative team".